Friday, October 14, 2005
You go Girl ..
The adventurous Latina Dora the Explorer released her latest CD the Associated Press reports. She's even singing a duet with Carlos Santana! Her "Super Babies" movie is up to #4 from #8 last week on Billboards list of top VHS rentals. What's next, telenovelas?
Nickelodeon is scoring big with the Latino characters, and recently spun off "Go Diego Go" from Dora the Explorer. Not quite like the Jefferson's spinning off from All in the Family, but, hey, it's something.
Others are jumping in the mix in hopes of luring the bilingual and assimilated Latino audience. Kids are only learning words like "vamonos" and "mochila" but at least they're not just learning the swear words from their friends at school. (C'mon, I'm sure you know how to say the "F" word in at least 3 languages). "Jay Jay the Jetplane" from PBS is adding a Latina character this month, Marketing y Medios reported.
All I can say is at least they're not being typecast as cleaning people or gardeners!
Nickelodeon is scoring big with the Latino characters, and recently spun off "Go Diego Go" from Dora the Explorer. Not quite like the Jefferson's spinning off from All in the Family, but, hey, it's something.
Others are jumping in the mix in hopes of luring the bilingual and assimilated Latino audience. Kids are only learning words like "vamonos" and "mochila" but at least they're not just learning the swear words from their friends at school. (C'mon, I'm sure you know how to say the "F" word in at least 3 languages). "Jay Jay the Jetplane" from PBS is adding a Latina character this month, Marketing y Medios reported.
All I can say is at least they're not being typecast as cleaning people or gardeners!
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Acculturation, huh, what is it good for …
… absolutely everything!
I read a nice article from Kathleen Megan in the October 11 Hartford Courant about Latino families striking a balance between tradition and culture. The article profiles a few families trying to maintain their roots while raising children in an Anglo society. The article also mentions a new book by Carmen Inoa Vazquez called “Parenting with Pride – Latino Style: How to Help Your Child Cherish Your Cultural Values and Succeed in Today’s World.” A good read I’m sure for those of us who can related to raising little Latinos and Latinas.
The take away for marketers is that acculturation is a critically important consideration. About 22 percent of Hispanics speak only English, and about 9 percent speak only Spanish.
So, for those of you inteligente marketers who love to simply translate your existing English materials to Spanish take note. Ask yourself, how is this approach effectively reaching the other 60 percent of us that are bi-lingual to some degree?
I read a nice article from Kathleen Megan in the October 11 Hartford Courant about Latino families striking a balance between tradition and culture. The article profiles a few families trying to maintain their roots while raising children in an Anglo society. The article also mentions a new book by Carmen Inoa Vazquez called “Parenting with Pride – Latino Style: How to Help Your Child Cherish Your Cultural Values and Succeed in Today’s World.” A good read I’m sure for those of us who can related to raising little Latinos and Latinas.
The take away for marketers is that acculturation is a critically important consideration. About 22 percent of Hispanics speak only English, and about 9 percent speak only Spanish.
So, for those of you inteligente marketers who love to simply translate your existing English materials to Spanish take note. Ask yourself, how is this approach effectively reaching the other 60 percent of us that are bi-lingual to some degree?
Latino Lingo Launches!
Welcome to the first blog post for Latino Lingo! Wilson Camelo of Mason y Bauzá here with commentary and postings on all things dealing with marketing to the Latin, Latino, Hispanic, Hispanic American (What ever!) population. Regardless of how we are identified … we are fast becoming a coveted market segment for more and more general market (i.e. mainstream) companies looking to get a little bit of our dinero.
This blog addresses the importance of marketing to Hispanics, the subtleties of the culture and outlines why just because you took 2 years of Spanish in High School or had a semester abroad doesn’t make you an expert!
Despite being 40 million strong and growing (and these are just the ones that “count” if you know what I mean), and coming from 21 different countries, we are still marketed to as a single entity. Why? Primarily because our common language is Spanish (don’t e-mail me if you’re from Brazil or Portugal … I know what you speak!). You tell a Puerto Rican that he or she should be spoken to like a Mexican or tell a Cuban they are no different than a Guatemalan because each speaks a form of Spanish. Just let me know when you do it so I can get some popcorn to watch the fireworks show.
So, sit back, buckle your seatbelt and let’s enjoy the ride of going where no brown man has gone before …
Thanks to Jack Nork, The Mason Technologist, for turning me onto the world of blogs!
This blog addresses the importance of marketing to Hispanics, the subtleties of the culture and outlines why just because you took 2 years of Spanish in High School or had a semester abroad doesn’t make you an expert!
Despite being 40 million strong and growing (and these are just the ones that “count” if you know what I mean), and coming from 21 different countries, we are still marketed to as a single entity. Why? Primarily because our common language is Spanish (don’t e-mail me if you’re from Brazil or Portugal … I know what you speak!). You tell a Puerto Rican that he or she should be spoken to like a Mexican or tell a Cuban they are no different than a Guatemalan because each speaks a form of Spanish. Just let me know when you do it so I can get some popcorn to watch the fireworks show.
So, sit back, buckle your seatbelt and let’s enjoy the ride of going where no brown man has gone before …
Thanks to Jack Nork, The Mason Technologist, for turning me onto the world of blogs!
