MRM Worldwide & MSN Partner to target 2nd-generation Hispanics.

MRM Worldwide is developing a digital marketing program for MSN Latino that will enable the Internet portal’s advertisers to more effectively reach second-generation Hispanics in the United States.

MSN Latino is the first organization to tap into the agency’s new practice in targeting this fast-growing consumer demographic.

MRM Worldwide CEO Reuben Hendell said of the new practice, “MRM is dedicated to delivering supremely targeted, relevant, and compelling consumer messages on behalf of our clients. We believe that targeting second-generation Hispanics is a major step in the ever more precise science of one-to-one marketing.”

MRM Worldwide, the global, digital and direct-marketing arm of McCann Worldgroup, an Interpublic Group-owned network, will design and implement programs with MSN for the portal’s own online advertisers in tapping into this consumer segment.

Taking advantage of MRM’s expertise, MSN Latino will provide advertisers with multiple creative and analytics packages aimed at optimizing the campaign performance of advertisers tapping this emerging consumer target.

Maria Lopez-Knowles, a 20+ year marketing veteran and svp, group account director at the agency, is leading the new practice.

“As a second-generation Hispanic I am very aware of the need for marketers to invest in this consumer segment through targeted, digital/direct programs that are linguistically, culturally, and intellectually relevant,” said Lopez-Knowles. “This expanding consumer segment has been under-served. They are the bridge generation that translates the language and interprets the U.S. culture for their forebears and are key brand influencers in multi-generational families, yet they haven’t been effectively reached to date. ”

In support of the new discipline, MRM Worldwide and MSN conducted quantitative and qualitative research on both the first-generation Hispanic population in the United States, and the children of those immigrants–the second-generation.

Mike Hard, vice president of advertising sales at Microsoft Corp., said, “Joining with MRM on the Latino study reinforces the significance of the second-generation Hispanic community as an important consumer segment. Research enables us to highlight the quality of our audience on MSN and specifically MSN Latino. Advertisers are beginning to realize that marketing to diverse communities and hiring diverse employees is critical, and we feel these types of studies highlight its importance.”

Second-generation Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the U.S., and the report, The Online U.S. Hispanic: First and Second Generation Insights, shows the differences in how each group consumes media and responds to communications messages.

Among the findings:

–Second-generation Hispanics reported that they are more influential on family members than their forebears in driving brand consideration and purchase.

–More than half of second-generation respondents reported that family members tried what they recommended compared to less than 40 percent of first-generation Hispanics.

–Many respondents from both generations said they would respond more positively if marketers approached them in a culturally relevant way.

–One-to-one marketing is key, and cultural relevance is paramount in effectively influencing this group’s brand preferences.

Other information from the report:

· Second-generation Hispanics in the U.S. are significantly better off than first-generation Hispanic Americans in terms of income.
· Hispanic households are larger than those of non-Hispanic U.S. households.
· The second-generation spends more time online than the first generation.
· Their top two activities were 1) personal Internet use and 2) work Internet use, followed by TV and then radio.
· Although they are mostly bilingual, second-generation Hispanics prefer to consume English-language media.
· While most second-generation Hispanics said they were comfortable conversing in Spanish, more than 40 percent reported that they were not as comfortable reading/writing in Spanish. In some cases, bilingual second-generation Hispanics said they couldn’t read/write Spanish at all.
· The second-generation respondents overwhelmingly preferred English when consuming printed-word media.
· This group uses Spanish most frequently when conversing with immigrant relatives, especially parents, and a mixture of Spanish/English when talking to siblings, friends and children.
· More than half of the study’s second-generation respondents speak to their children in English either most of the time or exclusively.
· More than 50% of second-generation Hispanics use English on the Web and in email.

In an attempt to better understand this segment and their needs, MRM conducted online research on the English-language MSN site and on the Spanish-language MSN Latino (latino.msn.com) site during Hispanic Heritage Month (mid-Sept/mid-Oct, 2007).

The sample size of the MRM/MSN Latino Study totaled 951 individuals and was comprised of first and second-generation Hispanics.

The survey instrument contained 17 questions intended to elicit detailed information in the following areas: ethnic/cultural affiliation; age, education and income; media consumption patterns/habits: online; off-line; by activity/language; response to Hispanic marketing practices; brand influencer status; and, brand loyalty.

Additionally, in August MRM formed an American-Hispanic Advisory Panel made up of marketing professionals who were either first- or second-generation Hispanics.

To secure qualitative insights, these executives convened at MRM’s New York headquarters in September for a roundtable discussion. The findings from this focus group confirmed what was revealed by the online survey and offered additional key insights about this demographic sector.

Conclusions

The availability of online channels has made it possible for marketers to target and effectively communicate with this consumer segment as never before.

As Lopez-Knowles explained, “Behavioral targeting, geo-targeting, contextual targeting and registration-based targeting are some of the ways that marketers can now minimize waste and augment efficiency when reaching this audience.”

With this new discipline, MRM Worldwide offers ongoing campaign analytics and program optimization that provide shorter learning-cycles and maximum ROI.