Agency

In a continued step towards enhancing its diversity sales and marketing efforts, the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB) announced the release of the first Hispanic Cable Facts guide. Hispanic Cable Facts is a research tool designed to provide advertisers and their agencies intelligence that guides them in targeting the Hispanic consumer and the Latino television market viewer in particular.

A new study released by the US Internet Industry Association disputes widely accepted perceptions of minorities as second-tier Internet users. In fact, it shows English-speaking minority groups to be leading the nation in the adoption
of modern communications technology.

“Customer-centric” is the marketing buzzword on everyone’s lips. Coupled with an increased emphasis on customized communications, it means we need to understand consumer attitudes and motivation in greater depth than ever before. This gives account planners a central role in the new marketing paradigm, but only if they – and their agencies – can find new ways of working to take advantage of the opportunity.

Verizon Wireless is reaching out to the New York Metro area’s growing Hispanic population this month with a new Spanish-language advertising campaign featuring man-on-the street testimonials from local Latino customers describing why they chose the company’s trustworthy network.

The growth of the Hispanic population has made it one of the most sought-after market segments in this decade. Because Hispanic purchasing power in the U.S. is estimated to reach as much as $1 trillion by 2007, it is obvious why so many businesses want to capitalize on this growth. In her new book, Marketing to Hispanics: A Strategic Approach to Assessing and Planning Your Initiative, Terry Soto provides an in-depth view of the strategic planning process companies need to apply to effectively create market entry strategies that are in sync with not only the environment in which companies compete for a share of this market, but also with their strategic, operational and organizational goals and metrics.

GlobalHue has launched an innovative television spot that was originally developed to target new compact car intenders in the Hispanic consumer market. However, the spot, “Lightweight, A Lot Of Character,” is so powerful in its appeal that Dodge executives have translated it into English to be aired in general market programming. The spot will also air in Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe.

Epsilon Interactive announced results of consumer research showing leading retailers are missing significant opportunities to grow sales and build customer loyalty online. In particular, the study shows strong interest in online bill payment options for retail credit cards, traditionally a rich platform to capture incremental sales by optimizing transactional and service messaging with relevant cross-sell/up-sell offers. The study also reveals increasing interest in using online transactional services as a result of recent postal increases.

The Chief Executives’ Confidence Measure, which had improved to 56 in the final quarter of 2005, edged up to 57 in the first quarter of 2006, The Conference Board reports in its latest survey of CEOs. But more CEOs expect employment in their industry to decline.

When Wal-Mart Stores recently persuaded Coca-Cola Co. to change the sweetener in a new diet drink, it was seen by many as a case of a retailer strong-arming a supplier.

But such moves may become more common. Retailers are keen at recognizing customer buying habits and are developing viable private-label competition to branded products. This combination makes retailers’ suggestions hard to ignore.

As consumers grow more dependent on an array of digital devices to get them through the day, so grows the multimedia content and services available to them. Download study.

As expected, retail industry sales continued to climb with positive gains in March as home improvement and furnishing categories continue to see significant increases. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), retail industry sales for March (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) rose a solid 7.2 percent over last year and increased 0.3 percent seasonally adjusted over February. In fact, last month’s sales were stronger than originally reported. February sales were revised up from 7.2 percent to 7.8 percent.