mun2 launches Latino Youth-only study.

mun2 in conjunction with Look-Look, a consumer research, marketing and trend forecasting company specializing in youth culture, will host me2: Understanding the Young Latino in America, a groundbreaking look at the values that drive the highly-coveted 14-34 Latino demographic.

The half-day conference, to be held at the Nokia Theatre in New York City on February 28th, will focus on young Latinos in America and serve as a discussion forum for the advertising community and multichannel distributors. Through presentation of the research findings, and discussions among highly-acclaimed academic experts, “me2” seeks to help advertisers and marketers reach a better understanding of the 14-34 year-old Latino audience.

The event will center on a presentation of the first major Latino youth-only national study commissioned by mun2 in mid-2005. The study examined some of the complex issues of this demographic including identity, the unique intersectionality between the Latino and non-Latino worlds, the use of language, the nexus to culture and heritage as identifiers, rites of culture, and the defining role of family and media, among many more. These findings, arguably the most personally revealing of this demographic, provide new insights into the young Latino identity.

“As mun2 embarked in its first stage of metamorphosis last year, we made a non-negotiable commitment to lead the data-mining of this elusive demo, and truly understand—organically—what makes them tick. We’re excited to share what I believe are rich and novel findings about a demo long ignored or misunderstood by many. Simply, it’ll be hard to condense in just one morning’s presentation!” said Antoinette Zel, Senior Executive Vice President Network Strategy at Telemundo.

“We are at the tipping point of an emerging new lifestyle category that will greatly effect American and global culture. Young Latino Americans are in the process of innovating their own customized culture that encompasses music, language, fashion, food, entertainment and beyond,” said Sharon Lee, Co-President/Co-Founder of Look-Look, Inc. “It’s an exciting time and this young community is absolutely aware that that they are the next big thing.”

The findings to be presented arose from Look-Look’s innovative qualitative and quantitative research methods designed to elicit and understand an in-depth psychographic profile of young Latino adults. The study was executed in an inventive, unique and multi-tiered style, using progressive methodology including ethnographies, blogs and visual journals, as well as formal quantitative techniques to survey a total of 1,800 young adults in the top 10 markets where 14-34 year-old Latinos concentrate.

“We applaud mun2’s pioneering efforts to better understand this fast-growing and complex demographic,” said Alan Wurtzel, president, Research and Media Development, NBC Universal. “Their use of innovative and cutting-edge methodology helps paint the most accurate and insightful picture possible of today’s 14-34 year-old Latino viewer.”

“Good marketing always focuses messaging on the value to the consumer and this study offers invaluable insight to marketers on the thoughts and behaviors of the youth Latino population reached by mun2,“ said Steve Mandala, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Telemundo and NBC.

In addition to the research presentation, the event will feature a keynote speech by Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center. A former journalist and foreign correspondent, Suro has 30 years of experience writing on Hispanic issues and immigration and has written numerous reports, articles and other publications regarding the growth of the Latino population and its implications.

Academic panelists include: Marcelo Suárez Orozco, tenured professor of Human Development and Psychology at Harvard and co-founder of the Harvard Immigration Projects; Carola Suárez Orozco, Chair and Professor of Applied Psychology at NYU with a focus on immigrant and minority youth experiences; Carmen Fought, associate professor of linguistics, Pitzer College in Claremont; and Millie Carrasquillo, Senior Vice President of Research at Telemundo and one of the leading research experts in Spanish-language media.