The 2010 Hispanic Investment Trends Analysis done by the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) shows that advertisers allocated 5.4 percent of ad dollars during last year’s recession to reach and connect with Hispanic consumers, up from 5.1 percent in 2008 and slightly below the 5.6 percent historical high in pre-recession 2007.
Although ad spending targeting non-Hispanics by the Top 500 advertisers dropped by 9.5 percent in 2009, Hispanic spending declined by only 4.4 percent. Preliminary trend analysis indicates marketers allocated a higher proportion of available resources to Hispanic media, shifting non-Hispanic media dollars to tap into the Hispanic market potential and optimize their overall results.
The report analyzes trends over three years, 2006 through 2008 and focus in company and category changes in allocation and assigns the top 500 advertisers in the country to one of five spending tiers: Best-in-Class, Leader; Follower; Laggard or Don’t-Get-It. In 2009, companies in the Best-In-Class tier increased their aggregate Hispanic spending an impressive 25 percent over 2008 compared to their non-Hispanic spending increase of only 11 percent.
The number of companies in the Best-In-Class category, defined by their allocation of more than 11.8 percent of ad budgets to Hispanic media, increased from 32 to 40 last year with an average allocation of 21.4 percent. Among Best-In-Class marketers are subscription TV giants DirecTV (allocating 40% of every media dollar against the Hispanic segment), Time Warner Cable, and Dish®; leading international brewers FEMSA (Tecate; Dos XX), Modelo (Corona), Heineken and SABMiller (MGD, Coors); auto insurance leaders State Farm and Allstate; telecom movers Metro PCS and T-Mobile; multinational packaged goods – foods corporation Groupe Danone, leader in fresh dairy products and bottled water quick service restaurants appetite pleasers El Pollo Loco, Domino’s Pizza and McDonald’s personal care, cosmetics skin care category leaders Guthy-Renker (ProActiv) and Avon; shoes and apparel retail giants Collective Brands (Payless) and JC Penney; consumer packaged goods visionary Colgate-Palmolive; financial services firm and world’s largest tax preparation service H&R Block; media, music and video games conglomerate Vivendi; health club leader Bally’s Total Fitness and the energy beverage Red Bull.
"The reversal in allocation to the Hispanic market during the recent economic challenges is a clear indication that marketers are recognizing the value of the profitable Hispanic consumer segment", says Gisela Girard, chair of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) and president of Creative Civilization – An Aguilar/Girard agency.
The data, analyzed by Santiago ROI, is provided by The Nielsen Company and reflects only measured media in TV, Radio and Print tabulated using Nielsen Monitor-Plus™.
