A Golden Opportunity for Companies to Engage Hispanics

Hispanic Impact on United States Population Numbers

PHOENIX (Contacto) March 10, 2010  —  The 2010 U.S. Census is expected to find Hispanics number more than 50 million in this country, and they command $1 trillion in buying power.

Yet 50% of U.S. advertisers, who acknowledge the cultural impact of Hispanics, do not include Hispanics in their marketing efforts.

The field is wide open for companies that recognize the incredible power of Hispanics as a driver of their businesses.

That’s the key finding of a new Hispanic marketing trends survey commissioned by Los Angeles-based Hispanic advertising agency Orcí sent to 9,300 senior marketers at Fortune 1000 companies.

The survey, conducted via email in February of 2010, was designed to offer a broad and deep look at advertisers’ strategy, spending plans and viewpoints of the U.S. Hispanic market.

Respondents included senior marketing and advertising executives of B2B,
consumer, small, medium and large Fortune 1000 businesses across the country.

Hispanics comprise more than 15% of the U.S. population, and are predicted to rise to 50 million in the 2010 Census, an increase of 42% since the last Census in 2000. In the 2000 report, the Hispanic growth rate of 24.3% was more than three times the growth rate of the total U.S. population (6.1%).

Yet the Orcí research showed 51% of respondents do no marketing to Hispanic consumers. And, 82% have no plans to begin or increase existing efforts aimed at American Hispanics in the next 12 months.

This despite the fact that the great majority of respondents — more than 8 out of 10 — agreed that Hispanics will impact U.S. companies’ product and service offerings in the next five years, particularly in food tastes, fashion and technology.

“I am not surprised by the findings,” said Hector Orcí, co-founder and chairman of the agency, which handles such accounts as American Honda Motor Company and Jack in the Box. “For the last 30 years a minority of companies that have been smart enough to take advantage of engaging Hispanic consumers have seen their Hispanic Marketing Survey Reveals Untapped Opportunity 2 efforts make a difference to their bottom line.

Now more than ever, businesses need to think about how to tap into the opportunity the Hispanic market presents.”

The survey also found that 78% of respondents do not use social media to engage Hispanics despite the fact that Hispanics are the heaviest users of wireless access through mobile phones and laptops than any other ethnic group.

In addition, close to 80% of Hispanics engage in some kind of online socializing.

The survey found that among those companies who do use social media to market to Hispanics, Facebook was the site of choice with Twitter a close second.

“Hispanics are tech savvy, young trend setters with incredible spending power,” Orcí said. “Companies that recognize the potential of the market by effectively engaging them will see a return on their investment.”

Other key results of the survey include:

• 89% believe Hispanics will somewhat or significantly impact American taste in foods in the next five years

• 87% believe Hispanics will impact fashion and beauty

• 82% expect Hispanics to impact entertainment

• 78% believe Hispanics will impact technology/communications