Agency

Hispanics and Asians remain the fastest-growing national segments of the population, with television households increasing by 4.4 percent among Hispanics and 3.9 percent among Asians over last year, according to The Nielsen Company. In local markets, Nielsen estimates that Los Angeles continues to remain the number one Hispanic market, followed by New York, Miami, Houston and Chicago. Los Angeles also has the country’s largest Asian community, followed by New York, San Francisco, Honolulu and Chicago. New York is the largest African-American TV market, followed by Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia.

Real median household income in the United States climbed between 2005 and 2006, reaching $48,200, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the second consecutive year that income has risen.

Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate declined for the first time this decade, from 12.6 percent in 2005 to 12.3 percent in 2006. There were 36.5 million people in poverty in 2006, not statistically different from 2005. The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 44.8 million (15.3 percent) in 2005 to 47 million (15.8 percent) in 2006.

Finding the right hotel room at the best price is a top concern for many travelers. But searching for the right accommodations has not always been an easy task for those who prefer to book in Spanish.

Latino culture is at the heart of Scott Brand’s latest national Hispanic marketing initiative. The campaign dubbed, “Comparte tu Dicho” (Share your Dicho), seeks to compile the world’s first dicho-nary, or dictionary of Spanish-language proverbs.

Team up with your creative partner and account managers, tell us your story in all its greatness, attach your work and send it in. Join in the celebration.

GfK Roper Consulting announced findings from its annual GfK Roper Reports® Worldwide Power Brands study revealing the continued decline of global brand strength among consumers worldwide with U.S. brands losing ground to their European and Asian counterparts. The brand power scores are based on consumer response regarding three key variables: “familiarity”, “really like”, and “advocacy.”

The Nielsen Company announced that beginning today it will produce all national Hispanic ratings through its National People Meter (NPM) panel, the same sample that is used to produce ratings for non-Hispanic networks. This will put national Spanish-language television on a level playing field with English-language television, providing a common ratings number for all national networks.

The Nielsen Company estimates that the total number of television households within the U.S. (including Alaska and Hawaii) will be 112.8 million by January 1, 2008, an increase of 1.3 percent since last year. Nielsen also estimates that the number of viewers aged 2 plus increased by 1 percent to 286 million. These estimates, along with breakdowns by age and demographics, are effective August 27, 2007 and will be used for the entire 2007-2008 television season.

Maybe the average Hispanic agency has moved a little slower than some clients and media outlets might want regarding a shift from a traditional Spanish only marketing model, but progress is occurring for inclusion of multi-facetted linguistic and cultural marketing models that represent the entire cross section of Hispanics in the USA. Even though Hispanic agencies need to continue to grow their expertise, their contact point models and their research capabilities. They are still the experts on reaching Hispanic Adults 18-49, Hispanic Women 18-49 and Hispanic Men 18-49. Core demos with buying power, along with the growing Hispanic 12-17 segment.

Hispanic marketing has a language all its own. You say to-ma-to, I say to-ma-to. What does it matter? I say beans, you say frijoles…or is it habichuelas? Those Latinos all sound alike. After all they all speak Spanish. Or do they?