Agency

The California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) released a new report finding that people of color, communities of color and rural towns are more likely to receive higher-cost home loans, and that people of color in California could be paying $50 million more than white borrowers every month as a result of higher-cost home loans.

Hispanic Americans are “living large”, as in large screen TV, according to a recent GfK NOP Hispanic OmniTel Technology survey. When asked about which consumer electronics they currently own, Hispanic Americans were more likely than the population in general to claim ownership of big ticket items such as large screen (32 plus inch) TVs. In contrast, Hispanic Americans are less likely to own PCs and DCs (digital cameras) than the general population.

Culture is one of the most complex concepts for an individual to understand and grasp, even when it is dealing with one’s own culture. To further complicate this issue, there are deeper concerns that comprise the basis of each individual cultural group.

Today’s U.S Marketplace consists of approximately 43.5 million Hispanics, who by 2009 are estimated to reach $923 billion of annual buying power . This statistic alone illustrates the importance of the Hispanic market in both the U.S and global marketplaces.

Marketers often consider income as a factor in determining whom to target in a household with sales and marketing messages — individual income should no longer be a primary factor.

Young consumers are using more technology at a younger age to connect with more people than ever before, according to a survey of more than 5,000 US and Canadian online youth between the ages of 12 and 21 by Forrester Research Inc.

According to Gary Bassell, Chairman and CEO of The Bravo Group, the complex world of advertising and marketing is to be divided between “thinkers” and “doers.” As far as media is concerned, he said in front of a crowd at the agency headquarters, Bravo will only consist of “doers.”

The Annual RQ 2005 study conducted by Harris Interactive measures the corporate reputations of the most visible companies in the United States. According to this year’s Reputation Quotient (RQSM) survey, for the seventh consecutive year, Johnson & Johnson ranks No. 1 with an RQ score of 80.56. Coca Cola ranks second (79.69), and new to the 60 companies measured in this latest study, Google ranks third, with an RQ score of 79.52.

Total advertising expenditures for the first nine months of 2005 increased 3.0 percent to $104.1 billion compared to the same time period in 2004, according to data released today by TNS Media Intelligence, the leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing information. Total ad spending during the third quarter of 2005 was down by 0.3 percent compared to 2004, during which the Olympics and Presidential election greatly impacted the overall ad market.

The growing Hispanic population promises to have a major impact on retail demand and housing choices in the United States, providing real estate investors with substantial investment opportunities in both sectors, according to The Rising Influence of the Hispanic Population on U.S. Real Estate, a newly released report from Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI(R)).

It’s that time of year when employees and bosses look forward to company parties, but some wonder later what they should have done differently, according to Richard Bayer, chief operating officer of the Five O’Clock Club.

The busiest shopping season of the year is in full swing and consumer confidence is up for the third consecutive month, according to the December results of the RBC CASH (Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household) Index. Retailers are likely to react favorably to this upward trend as more optimistic shoppers should equate to strong sales over the holiday season.

Chivas Regal (Pernod Ricard USA) has appointed Coral Gables based Accentmarketing as its Hispanic Promotions agency of record for the South Florida market.

The vast majority of undocumented migrants from Mexico were gainfully employed before they left for the United States, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report released today. The report suggests that failure to find work at home does not seem to be the primary reason that the estimated 6.3 million undocumented migrants from Mexico have come to the U.S.

Next year we look for better advertising growth in the U.S.. In the upcoming even-numbered year of 2006 the difficulties and expenses of complying with Sarbanes-Oxley should moderate.