Agency

The proportion of all legal foreign-born residents who have become naturalized U.S. citizens rose to 52% in 2005, the highest level in a quarter of a century and a 14 percentage point increase since 1990, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center.

New research by political scientists concludes that available data does not appear to support the claim that Hispanic immigration poses a threat to American identity. Among the key findings of this study are that Hispanics acquire English and lose Spanish rapidly beginning in the 2nd generation; appear to be as religious and at least as committed to the work ethic as native-born whites; and largely reject a purely ethnic identification and exhibit levels of patriotism equal to native-born whites by the 3rd generation.

As the fight against childhood obesity escalates, the issue of food advertising to children has come under increasing scrutiny. Policymakers in Congress, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and agencies such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) have called for changes in the advertising landscape, and U.S. food and media industries are developing their own voluntary initiatives related to advertising food to children.

Most major mass retailers “Back to School” media plans include an investment in local Spanish TV, Radio & Newspapers. These media buys only serve to primarily reach Hispanic parents and are not effectively reaching Hispanic youth themselves. Traditional Spanish Media, particularly in-language TV, most Spanish Radio formats & ethnic newspapers are lightly & selectively used by Hispanic Youth for news and entertainment or not at all.

These unsettling times of profound social and technological changes have turned upside down traditional marketing models, calling for fresh, new approaches to reaching and retaining the US Hispanic consumer.

The dangers of ignoring this reality –read doing “Business as Usual”– can lead to major mistakes and missed opportunities, not to mention a fruitless and frustrating experience in what’s arguably the most dynamic market place in today’s economy.

A survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) finds the top concerns on the minds of senior marketing executives are “integrated marketing communications” and “marketing accountability”. The ANA asked over 100 senior marketers to select from a comprehensive list of subjects to rank their top three issues that directly impact their marketing decisions and plans.

Emerging cities such as Shanghai and Singapore may outperform traditional metropolises in the new knowledge economy, based on a global study released by the Partnership for New York City and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The study, Cities of Opportunity: Business-Readiness Indicators for the 21st Century, examined 11 major cities using nine indicators and 32 variables, such as broadband capacity, transportation infrastructure, diversity and working age population.

Online Hispanics in the U.S. are “media mavens,” consuming and adopting media and technology at a higher rate than the general population, according to new research released by Yahoo! Telemundo and Experian Simmons Research. The study found that Hispanics lead the general market in “media meshing” and use of key mobile phone features as they spend more than half of each day engaged with television, Internet and technology gadgets. Overall, Hispanics identified 51 hours of total daily activities, including 14 hours with technology and 13.5 hours with media. Online U.S. Hispanics regularly combine TV and Internet to enrich their media experience and would like to see more online options in Spanish.

Global business executives assign nearly 60 percent of the blame to CEOs when companies lose reputation after a crisis strikes, according to a new Safeguarding Reputation survey by global public relations firm Weber Shandwick with KRC Research. This finding did not significantly differ among regions.

Global public relations firm Weber Shandwick released a new study revealing that companies can gain a significant competitive advantage by creating marketing programs that target baby boomers’ expansive relationship networks. The survey, conducted with KRC Research, found that Boomer-to-Friend (B2F) communications are untapped in their potential to influence purchasing decisions for products and services.

Univision Communications Inc. announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved its acquisition by Broadcasting Media Partners Inc. (“BMP”), an investor group that includes Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, TPG, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and Saban Capital Group. The acquisition, at a price of $36.25 per Univision share in cash, is expected to close this month.

For the month of January 2007, commercial foodservice sales rose a modest two percent over January 2006, a slower rate of growth than in any of the five prior months, according NPD Group. This slowdown partially reflects the comparison to a very strong January 2006, when the nation saw its mildest temperatures in 112 years.

New segmentation analyses from Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI) delve beyond demographics to provide marketers with a deeper understanding of the lives of U.S. teenagers. Based on the latest MRI Teenmark study, the various segments focus on the attitudes that often dictate youthful consumer behavior.

Humor can be an effective way to reach young acculturated Hispanics, but using stereotypes can backfire, suggest the results of new market research conducted by New American Dimensions.