New Generation Latino Consortium Launches.

As the Latino market undergoes vast demographic changes a diverse group of Hispanic professionals have united to create a unique organization called the New Generation Latino Consortium (NGLC).

The group, comprised of professionals from the fields of research, advertising, event marketing, public relations, publishing and entertainment, was created with the primary intention of raising the marketing profile of a burgeoning, yet underserved segment of the U.S. Hispanic population that the group has termed the “New Generation Latino.”

With nearly 70% of the U.S. Hispanic market under 35, and 65% of its population growth being driven by US-born Latinos, the NGLC’s mission is to advocate two key points; 1.) New Generation Latinos represent a viable and lucrative media target audience that merits special attention and 2.) Cross-platform marketing resources are available to effectively reach New Generation Latinos who are critical to growing U.S. Hispanic market share now and in the future.

“US-born New Generation Latinos represent an emerging majority within the U.S. Hispanic population that must be included in any forward-thinking marketing plan if advertisers truly want to capitalize on the full potential of the Hispanic audience,” says NGLC co-founder David Chitel, CEO of LatCom Communications, a media and entertainment company that caters to New Generation Latinos.

One of the many hurdles that the NGLC is looking to overcome is the fact that New Generation Latinos are typically thrown into one all-encompassing general market pot and not distinguished as a Hispanic media target of their own. In this sense, interesting comparisons can be drawn with their African-American counterparts who also predominantly speak English, consume English-language media and are best defined by culture and not language. “Although there is and always will be a strong need for Spanish-dominant media, the time has come to recognize that the U.S. Hispanic market is comprised of sub-segments such as the millions of New Generation Latinos who are in a class all their own and merit media vehicles that speak directly to them,” says Yolanda Foster, VP of Programming for mun2, an English-language Latino youth subsidiary of Spanish TV network Telemundo, which is wholly owned and operated by NBC.

The NGLC has been careful not to limit its definition of New Generation Latinos to include only “youth,” as facts suggest that the audience also includes 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation Latinos who are in their 20’s, 30’s and even 40’s. Cultural Access Group Chairman and NGLC co-founder David Perez notes, “New Generation Latinos are best defined by culture as opposed to the more traditional language segmentation approach the market has grown accustomed to over the years. There is now a multitude of research findings to support the fact that marketers cannot rely on Spanish-dominant media alone to effectively target the U.S. Hispanic population. To ignore New Generation Latinos is to sell your product or service short.”

Because of the dynamic make-up of the U.S. Hispanic population, members see the formation of an organization such as the NGLC as long overdue and much needed in the market. “The NGLC and its members represent a new way of thinking about the U.S. Hispanic market that will provide advertisers with clear facts about New Generation Latinos to enable them to target this hugely untapped segment of the Hispanic market from an informed and strategic perspective like never before,” says Jorge Cano-Moreno, publisher of Urban Latino Magazine.

Only recently formed, the NGLC already has over fifteen different companies in the New York and Miami area in its membership roster. With interest spreading to other top U.S. Hispanic markets such as Texas, California and Illinois, it is the goal of the NGLC to begin forming additional chapters outside of New York in the coming months. The NGLC will continue to drive its message home through a variety of B2B efforts that will include public and private panel discussions at conferences across the U.S., online networking and special grass root events.

For those who are interested in finding out more information about the NGLC, its members and/or the New Generation Latino target audience, a website has been set up at http://www.NGLC.net