Chris Day is Group Director of Public Relations and Promotions (Cartel Impacto) for San Antonio's The Cartel Group. His group is currently working on the national Hispanic PR and Promotions plan for the U.S. Army, portions of the multicultural plan across all ethnic segments for Church’s Chicken, a portion of the Hispanic grassroots outreach efforts for Western Union and concept development for some projects that they are hoping to launch with Rent-A-Center.
Chris received his degree from Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Before joining Cartel he had fairly varied background that covers everything from Newspaper and Magazine publishing, Event Marketing, and PR Services to musical performance. It was while he was working in PR a couple years ago that we had the chance to meet, and have kept in touch since then. Last year, I had the opportunity to attend, as Chris' guest, the Hispanic Media 100 Awards, which he singlehandedly launched.
I am really glad that Chris agreed to share the experience he's had regarding the Hispanic Market with us... Enjoy.
Hispanic Trending: How does someone named “Chris Day” lead the PR team for one of the nation’s leading Hispanic advertising agencies? Tell us a funny story related to this.
Chris Day: Well, growing up in New Mexico gave me some pretty extensive exposure to certain parts of Hispanic culture very early in my life. I went to La Cueva High School. I lived off of Paseo del Norte in Northeast Albuquerque and my school mascot’s name was “Oso.” I met my wife, who is from San Luis Potosi, Mexico during a year hiatus from College which led, obviously, to an even deeper attachment to and understanding of Hispanic culture, values, families, politics, and differences. Finally, when I was helping to run a Public Relation’s services firm in Denver, I had the opportunity to launch the Hispanic Media Awards which looks at the top Spanish language and bilingual journalists in the country. That project really threw me entirely into studying all of the different Hispanic groups from Seattle to Iowa to Maine and of course markets like Miami, New York, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles as well. At the time, it did not take a particularly wise individual or even a recent census to show that the Hispanic market was a great place to be from a business perspective and I happen to like it tremendously on a personal level as well. In many ways I’ve been a student of different cultures my whole life and have been led down a path that has given me the right kind of experiences to help guide a team at Cartel Impacto in this very unique in this industry.
What are some unique issues you face marketing to Hispanics and ethnic groups generally?
Marketing to any ethnic segment is a challenge because you must understand the cultural nuances that exist among each group’s subsegments and understand that they are truly important to those individuals that make up the marketplace. I’ve found that many agencies and individuals understand the raw numbers that create the marketplace but they do not understand the psychology of the culture. It is critical to realize that there are multiple dimensions of a culture and each culture is made up of individuals that themselves have numerous dimensions. Thus, you end up with marketing plans and efforts that must evolve and change just as individuals do. Otherwise, you are always one step
behind.
What trends are you observing on the Hispanic market growth?
The simplest answer to this is the ongoing growth rate of the market segment and the increasing importance of consideration among small and large businesses alike for the Hispanic consumer in planning marketing strategy and implementing programs. I think the more interesting question is to try looking out 20, 30, or 50 years from now and asking how will the trends and growth within the Hispanic market today effect business a decade from now and beyond. The entire makeup of this nation’s culture is shifting and it is incredibly interesting to be a part of it. Hispanic is not defined by a specific country of origin or a specific language and depending where you are in the country the definition of what describes a Hispanic in lifestyle terms tends to shift.
How do you refer to the largest minority in the country, Latino or Hispanic? Why?
I refer to the group as Hispanic. The reason why is very simple. When I launched the Hispanic Media 100 Awards several years ago, I called journalists and business contacts across the country and got feedback as to the most commonly accepted term and the least politically sensitive term. Hispanic is where it landed. I am aware of the nuances and differences in the terms, but think that Hispanic is the generally accepted reference. If you talk to companies about the “Latino” market, they aren’t always quite sure what it means depending on where you are. The term “Hispanic” tends to be clearer.
What language should be utilized when marketing to Latinos…Spanish, English, or Spanglish? Why?
Well, that’s not a fair question unless I get to ask you at least a dozen questions to clarify things... But to attempt an answer to your question, I would say that it depends on the product, the sub-segment of Hispanics you want to reach, the age, where you are trying to reach them (i.e. OOH, TV, Radio, promotions, PR, etc.), are they first generation immigrants or someone who’s family has been here for two hundred years, where in the country are you looking at, etc., etc.? All of these things will start to tell you how you want to speak to a group. As is the case in any sales process, you want to identify the key lifestyle segment issues that are important and then appeal to it. Whether it’s English, Spanish or a combination of the two can’t be identified without at least some study.
What diversity, if any, do you notice among Hispanics? What would be the main differences among the Hispanic sub-cultures? How do you segment the Latino market?
There is tremendous cultural diversity among Hispanics. The Hispanic market is made up of individuals from so many countries, economic backgrounds, and experiences that just as you cannot blanket the “General Market”, you also run a huge risk if you treat the Hispanic market as an autonomous unit. However, that does not mean you have to take precious marketing dollars and split them in so many ways that you end up being completely ineffective with everyone. I tend to prefer segmentation on lifestyle terms. When you do that, you look at what is similar among the target individuals and cater to that. In a situational analysis using lifestyle segmentation models, you have to be aware of the differences among segments, but you focus on the similarities instead. My experience is that you can achieve a broader customer base and better results with lifestyle segmentation models.
Which source of information would you recommend to someone interested in learning more about the Latino Market?
First, I’d suggest they take some trips. Visit Miami, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Kansas City, New York, Chicago, Denver, San Juan P.R. and Portland. Don’t go to the tourist sites but immerse yourself in the differences that you’ll see everywhere. If you can’t get the time or resources for those trips, do it virtually and study culture, music, business(big and small), family histories, artwork, language, the history of business in countries of origin. Then read the papers. Read the magazines, look for the websites, the Blogs, go to the conferences and become a sponge for information.
Hispanics family values vs. Non-Hispanic whites family values… How would you say they differ?
While I don’t really like speaking in stereotypes, there are some significant differences in la familia and the family. The Hispanic family tends to be much more centralized. Hispanics tend to stay closer to their roots and provide a much broader and deeper foundation of support than today’s average Non-Hispanic family unit. While not always the case, the Latina tends to be more family focused and willing to fulfill the traditional role of mother and the central support of the family. However, there is an evolution or change in the multigenerational Hispanic female role in the family as the Hispanic segment acculturates and the Latina takes on both the family and professional role. It is very clear that as you move from studies of the new arrival Hispanics to the second, third, or fourth generation, the differences in the family values diminish.
Who is doing a great job marketing to Hispanics? Why?
I’ve been impressed by a lot of what Ford has done, MGM Mirage has started some really good things on the Diversity outreach side of things, and Bank of America has done some really good TV, Radio, and POS.
Who is doing a terrible job marketing to Hispanics Why?
No names here, but there are a lot of huge entities out there who have completely ignored the Hispanic market. They have been doing business the same way for a long time and they have ignored the changing face of the nation or mistakenly believe that it doesn’t affect them. Some of them resort to tokenism in their spending against the Hispanic space which is even worse than ignoring them because it shows a complete lack of intelligence and zero business sense. If you believe that there isn’t a place for your business in the Hispanic market, I’d challenge anyone to write me a well thought out reason for it. Give me a day, and I’ll show you how the reason isn’t accurate.
What should non-Latino businesses do to effectively cater to Hispanics? In what industries would you say Hispanics are being underserved… do you have an idea/opinion why is that and what could be done (or needs to be done) about it?
The first step is to pay attention to them as you would any customer group. Identify what the needs are and deliver a solution. That’s Business 101 regardless of who you’re talking to. I think that the financial services industry and the travel industry are missing out in a huge way. A handful of businesses in these industries are doing good work, but most are way behind.
Should businesses have a multicultural /bilingual staff?
If you don’t have a multicultural staff, you aren’t in complete touch with your customer. I don’t care what kind of business you are in. These days, it is also extremely important to have bilingual staff. It doesn’t matter if you are in Iowa or East Los Angeles, there are going to be individuals that are your customers who prefer or have to speak Spanish.
Which are the most usual misconceptions, bad assumptions and mistakes that you have encountered made by non-Hispanics about Latinos?
The biggest mistake is to stereotype all Hispanics as a recent arrival, Spanish language preferred, low income individual. It is far from accurate.
Should companies offer options to their customers to access their Website/Literature/ Answering Services… in Spanish? Why?
Probably. But, as I mentioned before, identifying the appropriate language type, style, or mix can’t be completely determined unless we look at the product or service, the goals, and then decide.
What is your perception regarding Hispanics and their use of general market/English media?
A huge number of them, read it, watch it, listen to it, etc. There is a place for Spanish language media as well, but regardless of whether it’s good or bad, much of what is on the English media frequently drives huge segments of the Hispanic population. The emerging bilingual media(especially Television) is interesting to watch as well as it further illustrates the changing dynamic in the marketplace.
Vanessa Arteaga, a ten-year film industry veteran has worked in the world of content development and distribution. Arteaga is currently the Executive Producer of Latin America for Jaman - an online film community for people passionate about world cinema - where she is charged with online audience development, content integration, marketing and community outreach.
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