Julie Liesse, writing for Advertising Age, says “as the U.S. Hispanic market evolves, new media are playing an increasingly important role in the lives of Hispanics.”
In the same article titled “Digital Work“, José López-Varela of ADN Communications and Chairman-elect of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies states “Hispanics have really embraced new technology… You don’t hear the term ‘digital divide’ in terms of Hispanics anymore. In fact, a lot of things that the general market still is not using, Hispanics have embraced.”
José López-Varela’s remarks are echoed by Adriana Waterston, VP Marketing and Business Development for Horowitz Associates. “What has been true for the 15 years we have been researching this market is that Hispanics tend to be much more heavily engaged in new technologies and entertainment services than non-Hispanic whites.”
Matías Perel, who founded Latin3 in 2000, guiding the company to a market leadership position as one of the top interactive marketing agencies in the U.S. and Latin America, comments by saying ”A disappointing fact about the U.S. Hispanic market is there is a limitation of content in this market. There are not enough sites directed to Hispanics. Because of that, a lot of Hispanics consume content from Latin America.”
What’s clear is the sentiments of many, including Sergio Zyman, a leading U.S. marketer who wrote that the Hispanic market was one of the largest, fastest growing, and most overlooked market in the United States. [He wrote this more than two years ago]. With rapidly evolving and new technologies to address the Hispanic market, few companies are capitalizing on this critically important market by providing media and content that’s relevant to the market. Matías Perel’s comments only reinforce that the lack of Hispanic targeted content in the U.S. is influencing the way Hispanics seek out and access media.
In the end - the subtitle for this article is relevant and echoes the sentiments of one of the fastest growing U.S. markets - “Hispanic Consumers are evolving and embracing all kinds of new media. Warning: Content Publishers, Technology Providers and marketers lag behind at their peril.”
