According to a recently completed study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, described here in Hispanic Business, stories containing substantial references to Hispanics constituted less than 3% of news stories during a six-month period.  The majority of these stories revolved around the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court (more than a third of stories), the outbreak of the swine flu virus in Mexico, and the Mexican drug war.  Rounding out these stories was coverage of immigration, though this made up very little of the Hispanic-centered stories.

The article notes that of all minority groups, Hispanics received the most coverage, more so than Asians and African-Americans.  Two conclusions can be reached from this story.  One is that articles that put a spotlight on the issues facing U.S. Hispanics are woefully missing from mainstream media coverage, leaving Spanish language media to pick up the slack.  The other is that minorities, Hispanics included, are so integrated into the fabric of American life that there is less of a need to devote “special stories” to them.  I tend to think that the former holds more weight than the latter, although the article concludes, “Hispanics were much more of an American story—58 percent of the coverage with significant references to Hispanics involved domestic news,” the study reported.

We applaud the work of bilingual and Spanish-language media outlets in covering a population that makes up 1 in 6 Americans.  We also hope the mainstream media further integrates Hispanics into its overall coverage of an increasingly diverse United States.

Almost a foot of new snow fell in the Sierras over the past 24 hours and I will be heading up shortly to enjoy.  However, before I put the get all my gear together and put the boards in the the car I wanted to share some information about how Vail Resorts has adapted to the changing climate to help get the message out to snow enthusiasts everywhere.

I am assuming that everyone reading this has at least heard of their flagship resort Vail.  What many may not be aware of is that Vail Resorts Management Company is the owner of this as well as four other resorts (Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Keystone, and Heavenly in Lake Tahoe) as well as twenty hotels and six golf courses making it a major player in the recreation and travel industry.  Cited in an Advertising Age About Digital report the CEO of Vail Resorts Rob Katz discussed recent changes to their marketing strategy.

According to Mr. Katz, there were recently two major “explosions” that led to major rethinking in their strategy.  The economy, which has led visitors who traditionally have booked four to six months in advance to last year having the majority of bookings within two weeks, and Media which has been rapidly changing. Essentially he stated that everything that they thought about marketing a couple of years ago has completely changed.

With traditional media outlets of which the majority was print magazines such as Outside Magazine, Mens Health, Ski, Skiing, Conde Naste Traveler and the like they would be required to commit four to six months in advance to the campaign and message that they wanted for the season.  Traditionally by this time almost 80% of their marketing budget would already be committed.  This year the print budget has been greatly reduced and they are currently retaining almost 80% of their budget in reserve to allow for continuous changes to the messaging.  While newspaper, online display advertising, and search engine marketing continue to play an important role, social media has taken a leading role.  In the past the industry made a decision prior to the season and lived with it, now at least in Vail’s case, the decisions and messages are on a weekly calendar.

One of the items cited in the video was the importance of video in selling their product.  Myself a connoisseur of “ski porn” a term he used for the conveyence of emotion in ski videos that are watched by avid skiers understand this.  Not only is their the video displaying the acrobatics of professional skiers on bottomless powder days, but there is also quick access to live cams and weather reports.  By embracing social media and the latest technologies Vail Resorts can change their message quickly to reflect the changing conditions and changing industry environment.  While currently the economic environment is one of caution and bargain hunting, as their changes they can adapt their message.

To see examples of how Vail Resorts is embracing social media all you need is a quick search in outlets such as Facebook, Twitter or others.  In one quick search in Facebook there were pages of groups associated with the company as well as fans of their properties that can serve as models for those thinking about as well as working with social media.

 

“Continued Hispanic growth and expected total Latino purchasing power of more than $1 trillion by 2011 means marketers should be strong and steady with their advertising and marketing efforts” (Hispanic Market Weekly – November 2009)

 

Business Wire San Antonio hosted a meet-the-media luncheon that provided attendees information to help them reach the estimated $713 billion Latino market. Today, there are 46.9 million Latinos in the United States, which means 1 out of every 6 U.S. residents is Hispanic. San Antonio and Austin Hispanic media members joined a group of communicators interested in knowing more about their publications and marketing trends in order to target their communication efforts to this ever-growing consumer market.

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San Antonio continues to be a growth and action leader in the Hispanic unviverse. It will grow even more important as UTSA attains 1st tier Research University status and the USAF brings it’s Cyber Security Command on line, both creating jobs and attracting major investment in the region. — Mark Stacey

Though this blog aims to look at reaching Hispanics in advertising, we are also interested in news that reflects the growing Hispanic population in the U.S. and its impact on broader U.S. culture. Before any major brands can begin directing advertising towards this audience, they first need to understand the demographics of Hispanics in the U.S. Studies like the one described in a previous post break down the Hispanic population in ways that benefit advertisers (i.e., home ownership data, etc.). Yet politically, the impact of the U.S. Hispanic population is growing, and is expected to keep growing in the coming years.

National Journal recently published a study showing that fewer congressional districts are predominantly white.  What’s more, whereas minority populations were previously concentrated in certain urban regions and didn’t extend far beyond, new data show that minority groups- defined as all groups except non-Hispanic whites- are more dispersed than ever.  Thus, more and more Congressional representatives represent districts with at least one third of residents who are minorities.  As the article notes, “monolithically white districts are the exception: The number of districts where minorities constitute less than 20 percent of the population has plummeted from 245 in 1993 to just 145 today. Those preponderantly white districts represented an absolute majority of the House (56 percent) in 1993. Today they account for just one-third of House seats.”

The article also notes that many Congressional representatives have had to catch up: distributing materials in languages such as Spanish, Urdu and Korean; hiring staff members who speak these languages, and listening to the concerns of constituents with unique, international concerns. One Congressman noted the political advantage to his staff organizing citizenship workshops: “It is personally rewarding,” he says. “It also turned out to be great politics because I can hardly go anywhere in the whole city of Houston without running into someone who says, ‘You helped my uncle or my aunt become citizens.’ ”

Most significant for advertisers is the paragraph describing the geographic dispersion of the minority population: “But 34 states now count at least one district where minorities make up at least 30 percent of the population. States as different as Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia all contain multiple districts with that percentage of minorities. Only New England, the Upper Midwest, and the Appalachian swath from western Pennsylvania and southeastern Ohio down through West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee have been largely exempt from this change.”

The effect of an increasingly Hispanic America will continue to be seen at the polls.  For now, we will continue to monitor the effect that this widely dispersed community is having on advertising.

In the spirit of the yearly onslaught of best and worst, top ten or other such lists I thought that I would pass this one on from the Wall Street Journal. The key that makes this year’s lists interesting is that in most cases they were completed with significantly smaller budgets than in previous years. While low cost for the worst may be the only salvation for the brand that contracted the agencies, this is obviously a huge win for those that landed at the top.

The question will be: Can the Advertising world return to getting the past rates? As in most industries, especially those that are highly competitive it is much more difficult to raise prices than lower them. Advertising is probably one of the most affected, with the proliferation of new service providers and media outlets almost weekly if not daily. 2010 will be an interesting year.