Hispanics called an untapped market
S.L. conference looks at the exploding population
"Utah is witnessing a change," Luz Robles, director of the Utah Division of Ethnic Affairs, said at the "Embracing the Exploding Hispanic/Latino Market" conference Thursday at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center. "A change in population, a change in the way we do business, a change just in the last 10 years."
Hispanics make up 14 percent of the nation's population, making them the largest ethnic minority group in America and at $700 billion in purchasing power one of the economy's primary players, said Lupita Colmenero, president of the National Association of Hispanic Publications and owner of The Hispanic News, a Texas-based newspaper.
"We are the most enterprising of all Americans," Colmenero said. "It is impossible to imagine an America without the Hispanic component. Our contributions have begun defining America."
In Utah, Hispanics make up 10.6 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 American Community Survey. From 1990 to 2004, the state's Hispanic population saw a growth rate of 194 percent, Robles said. At this rate, she said, Utah's Hispanic population will be 20 percent of the total by 2030. At last count, the group's purchasing power topped $4.2 billion.
Still, what marked the discussion Thursday was less the present than the future.
About one-third (33.6 percent) of Hispanics in Utah are under the age of 14, Robles said. The population is young, its families are large and its purchasing power is projected, in 2006, to reach $5.2 billion.
Smart businesses will pay attention and will do what it takes to capture the largely untapped market. But smart businesses know that it will take more than a Spanish-language translation of its marketing plan, said Gladys Gonzalez, president of Hispanic Marketing & Consulting and publisher of the Mundo Hispano newspaper.
"It is not enough to have an excellent advertising campaign," Gonzalez said. "Businesses need to penetrate the fiber of the community. They need to breathe the air Hispanics are breathing. They need to go to their soccer fields and be where they live."
This requires the commitment from the executive level on down of the entire staff, Gonzalez said. And staff diversity is a vital component.
Colmenero agreed. "Every time I see an advertising campaign that really touches my heart, that really touches who I am, I know that there was a Hispanic behind the scenes," she said.
Smart businesses also know that it isn't enough to target "minority groups" in general that, apart from being very different from Asians or black Americans, for example, the Hispanic/Latino community itself comprises diverse cultures, which will respond differently to different marketing campaigns. So, Robles added, it's important to know as much about the target audience as possible: who they are, where they are and what they need.
From banking and finance to telecommunications and retail, the impact of the Hispanic market will demand change, Colmenero said. Smart Utah businesses are seeing it happen and are reaching out to meet that change, said Tom Love, president of Love Communications and partner of Hispanic Marketing & Consulting.
"There is no going back," Love said. "I think this really represents a point in Utah marketing where mainstream or general market companies begin to embrace the enormous population out there, culturally, employment-wise, marketing-wise, strategy-wise and budget-wise."
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com
Comments
- Somali insurgents behead 7 people 7:42 a.m.
- Obama: Recovery 'a ways off' 7:39 a.m.
- May trade deficit drops to $26B 7:33 a.m.
- 400,000 flee homes after quake 7:22 a.m.
- Funds for new courthouse approved 1:48 a.m.
- Godfrey vetoes Ogden budget 1:48 a.m.
- Odd Fellows Hall move 1:47 a.m.
- 2 country groups to perform 1:47 a.m.
- Rumor has Boozer with Bulls 1:20 a.m.
- Jazz in back of line for free agents 1:19 a.m.
- Rumor has Boozer with Bulls
- Jazz in back of line for free agents
- Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
- Okur signs two-year extension
- Restaurant destroyed by fire
- Jazz won't meet Lopez on Europe trip
- A primer for the 6th Potter film
- Jazz rally for OT win at Orlando
- AK will not play for Russia this summer
- Mall owner seeks to retain zoning
- Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
140 - Letters: Palin mistreated
136 - Teachers struggle with district cuts
134 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
123 - Rumor has Boozer with Bulls
89 - Fairness of BCS debated
81 - Moon landing: Let's hear from you
75 - Chaffetz eyes challenging Bennett
73 - Services bids farewell to Jackson
70 - Letters: Time for a revolution
69
Through the years, I've always raised eyebrows whenever I tell people...
The photographs are mysterious, brooding, dark. They show dimples and...
Ha ha ha, Brad Pelo, you fooled us even though you never technically said the...
For government to tackle health care is a devastating blow to our economy and...
Dave is a great guy and a great worker. The unsung hero on the Saratoga Farm...
Could you explain, oh wise one, how the temperature of the earth is derived?...
DN states CA property taxes are in the middle compared to other states. But...
The Fed represents big banking, not a constitutional system of sound money....
JOE WAS A GREAT FRIEND ! I WORKED WITH JOE AND ENJOYED MANY HOURS OF...
Let's be honest the only reason this person objects is because it would...
Skeptics of climate change are critical for the continued supremacy of the...
Watch more Fox Hate network! The uninformed run for god and guns spewing...




You can be the first to comment on this story.