Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Hispanic businesses boom
Many news outlets picked up the U.S. Census released a report yesterday on the growth of Hispanic-owned businesses.
The report said the number of Hispanic-owned businesses grew 31 percent between 1997 and 2002 — three times the national average for all businesses. The report — called Survey of Business Owners: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002 — said nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses generated nearly $222 billion in revenue, up 19 percent from 1997.
Other highlights:
-- In 2002, nearly 3-in-10 Hispanic-owned firms operated in construction and other services, such as personal services, and repair and maintenance.
-- In 2002, Mexican-owned firms accounted for more than 44 percent of all of them.
-- There were 29,184 Hispanic-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or more.
-- There were 1,510 Hispanic-owned firms with 100 employees or more, generating more than $42 billion in gross receipts.
-- States with the fastest rates of growth for Hispanic-owned firms between 1997 and 2002 included New York (57 percent), Rhode Island and Georgia (56 percent each), Nevada and South Carolina (48 percent each).
The boom in the service sector in places like Rhode Island and Georgia tells me that Hispanics are largely responding to the rapidly-growing Hispanic population in areas not generally thought of as huge Hispanic areas (like, say, a NYC or Miami).
Just like Goya started decades ago to fill a void for "food from home" for mass Puerto Rican migration, these Hispanics (like other minority groups) are setting the example in terms of filling a real need for general market companies to follow.
The report said the number of Hispanic-owned businesses grew 31 percent between 1997 and 2002 — three times the national average for all businesses. The report — called Survey of Business Owners: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002 — said nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses generated nearly $222 billion in revenue, up 19 percent from 1997.
Other highlights:
-- In 2002, nearly 3-in-10 Hispanic-owned firms operated in construction and other services, such as personal services, and repair and maintenance.
-- In 2002, Mexican-owned firms accounted for more than 44 percent of all of them.
-- There were 29,184 Hispanic-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or more.
-- There were 1,510 Hispanic-owned firms with 100 employees or more, generating more than $42 billion in gross receipts.
-- States with the fastest rates of growth for Hispanic-owned firms between 1997 and 2002 included New York (57 percent), Rhode Island and Georgia (56 percent each), Nevada and South Carolina (48 percent each).
The boom in the service sector in places like Rhode Island and Georgia tells me that Hispanics are largely responding to the rapidly-growing Hispanic population in areas not generally thought of as huge Hispanic areas (like, say, a NYC or Miami).
Just like Goya started decades ago to fill a void for "food from home" for mass Puerto Rican migration, these Hispanics (like other minority groups) are setting the example in terms of filling a real need for general market companies to follow.
Monday, March 20, 2006
VW has some "turbo-cojones"
VW's decision to market its new GTI to Hispanics by using a black-and-white billboard with the car and the words "Turbo-Cojones"in big, bold letters, has caused an uproar in Miami, the Sun Sentinel reports.
For those of you who didn't learn swear words in Spanish, cojones literally means testicles. Though, the word -- like its English counterpart "balls" -- has been adapted to mean "daring" as in someone has "cojones."
According to the article, Clear Channel Outdoor refused to put the billboard up in Miami, but CBS Outdoor put it up in Little Havana. Then the complaints came forcing VW to pull it down. They also took it down in New York and LA, though the story says there wasn't an uproar like in Miami.
"We wanted something that broke out of the mold and carried the connotation of being strong and gutsy," Daniel Marrero, creative director for CreativeOndemanD, is quoted as saying in the article. He goes on to say, "This is a word adapted in the American vernacular. We never thought it would be an issue."
But, the issue clearly is how the message would be interpreted by Spanish-dominant speakers. Clearly, it took "cojones" for VM marketing to agree to Marrero's creative recommendation. Then again, perhaps this double meaning -- the car having "turbo cojones" and VM having "turbo cojones" for putting such a message in Miami -- is why they did it. However, it backfired. If they wanted to create "buzz" perhaps this wasn't the approach to use in a city like Miami.
For those of you who didn't learn swear words in Spanish, cojones literally means testicles. Though, the word -- like its English counterpart "balls" -- has been adapted to mean "daring" as in someone has "cojones."
According to the article, Clear Channel Outdoor refused to put the billboard up in Miami, but CBS Outdoor put it up in Little Havana. Then the complaints came forcing VW to pull it down. They also took it down in New York and LA, though the story says there wasn't an uproar like in Miami.
"We wanted something that broke out of the mold and carried the connotation of being strong and gutsy," Daniel Marrero, creative director for CreativeOndemanD, is quoted as saying in the article. He goes on to say, "This is a word adapted in the American vernacular. We never thought it would be an issue."
But, the issue clearly is how the message would be interpreted by Spanish-dominant speakers. Clearly, it took "cojones" for VM marketing to agree to Marrero's creative recommendation. Then again, perhaps this double meaning -- the car having "turbo cojones" and VM having "turbo cojones" for putting such a message in Miami -- is why they did it. However, it backfired. If they wanted to create "buzz" perhaps this wasn't the approach to use in a city like Miami.
