FH Hispania Plaza

This Week in las Noticias

Hispanic are More Likely to Seek World Cup Coverage Online (Experian Hitwise) - According to a recent study conducted by Hitwise Intelligence, websites covering the World Cup are more lively to be visited by Hispanic users. Univision.com ranks second after Yahoo! Sports in capturing the highest number of World Cup-related traffic in the United States.

6-month Old Online Music Property Vevo Finds Hispanics Niche (BrandWeek) - After its release last December, the music video-centric online property Vevo has obtained 44 million unique visitors during April. Vevo not only has surpassed Hulu in terms in traffic, but also obtained 6 million U.S Hispanic visitors for the same month.

IF AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ISN’T COUNTED, IS SHE THERE?

This past week, the top two Republican candidates vying for the Senate seat Mel Martinez will be vacating, engaged in a war of words over whether the  Census should count illegal immigrants in its tally of the US population. The pragmatist, Charlie Christ, looked at the issue from the point of view of his current governor’s perch, arguing that not counting illegal immigrants would stem part of the flow of Federal dollars to the state (not surprising given his support for the stimulus bill last year), while the new poster child of the conservative movement in Florida, Marco Rubio, angled to gain political points with the party’s base by stating that illegal immigrants should not be counted.

 

It is all kind of a moot point because the Census count has already started, and I am not too interested in exploring the politics of it all in this forum, but the whole brouhaha got me wondering as to what would happen in the marketing sphere if Rubio’s point of view was somehow adopted by Congress or a future Administration.

 

Funding for Hispanic marketing in the US has been on the rise for quite some time, but not enough can be said about the boost in attention it received after the count of the 2000 Census showed that US Hispanics had become the country’s largest minority and were well on their way to leaving everyone else far behind. What would happen to marketing funds for Hispanic programs if all of a sudden the Census eliminated what could arguably be 20-25% of the Hispanic population in the United States? Would the lower figure become the new gauge of market size, and depress interest in the segment, or would marketers figure out a way to adapt and project for the real number of Hispanics living in the US. The issue might be compounded because so many of the geodemographic segmentation systems used by marketers in the US are based on Census data and cutting out illegal immigrants from those models would certainly skew the profile of Hispanic audiences. At least it looks like it will be another 10 years before the possibility arises of us having to wrestle with these answers.

Helping Haiti: U.S. Hispanic Charitable Donations are Strong

As Ivette pointed out in her post last week, international and Latino response to the horrific earthquake that struck Haiti has been tremendous.  Eight days after the quake, the Red Cross had received a total of $137 million in donations from Americans alone. 

How much of that was from U.S. Hispanics?  No one really knows for sure, but you can bet it was significant.

Hispanics have a long history of giving back.  Often giving takes the form of service or in-kind donations, such as helping to care for elderly or sick family and friends, serving up home-cooked meals at community events or rallying together to address local community causes in the U.S. and in countries of origin.

In fact, there’s not much data on the amount of money Hispanics donate to non-profit organizations, though a 1998 Gallup poll found that nearly 63 percent of Hispanics gave to charity, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported in 2002 that"Latina and Latino giving in the United States actually equaled or surpassed that of Anglo-Americans.”

So it should come as no surprise that there have already been scores of local Hispanic fund raisers for Haiti relief, such as the 12-hour radiothon hosted by all of the Spanish Broadcasting Systems radio stations in Miami, where staging centers for donation collection in Hispanic neighborhoods “were running out of space” and a live music marathon in Chicago.

On a national level, Univision is partnering with the Red Cross to support fund raising efforts with PSAs and special live reports from Haiti, and it aired a star-studded "Unidos por Haití" telethon hosted by Don Francisco this weekend.

Of course Hispanic celebrities have also stepped up with their own efforts.  Ricky Martin visited Haiti together with Habitat for Humanity and his own foundation.  Jennifer Lopez appeared on the CNN telethon two weeks ago.  And Enrique Iglesias lent his talents to a collection of songs people can download for donations.

To find out what you can do to help, visit the Google information site in English and Spanish.

Unidos por Haití con Canto y Baile

Since the recent devastation that was cast upon Haiti, we have seen numerous corporations and individuals come together to offer support.  Organizations such Latinos in Social Media worked with the AARP to match funds donated under #latism and tomorrow, Univision will air a special edition of “Sábado Gigante” with a star-studded line up for ”Unidos Por Haití” relief.  This will air across the United States and in 10 Latin American countries and feature artists like Alejandra Guzmán, Chayanne, Daddy Yankee, David Bisbal, Gloria Estefan, Graciela Beltrán, Luis Fonsi, Natalia of La Quinta Estación, Olga Tañón, Pee Wee, Ricky Martin, Shakira, Thalía and Willy Chirino, among others.

Other Latino artists like Shakira and Juan Luis Guerra will be participating in the MTV Telethon tonight and holding benefit concerts, respectively.

Mexico city will present  "Querida Haití, Haiti Chérie, Concierto en Solidaridad"  a benefit concert this Sunday and organizers have asked participates to bring items for donation to Haiti. The lineup for this presentation includes Djuvens Colas, whom is Haitian, and bands like  Yo i Yo, Estación Jamaica and  Bombástica.

On January 31, the Dominican Republic will  hold “Artistas unidos por Haití" which will feature more than 30 local artists in the merengue, salsa, pop and bachata music genres.

Our Latino communities both here in the states and around the globe are all pulling together for Haiti and the reach and support can be anticipated to be wider and larger than in past relief efforts. Social media and online news coverage have been instrumental in casting a wider net at much faster rates in terms of promoting relief efforts and technology has made it possible to better organize communities and individuals wanting to lend a hand.

What are some other things you’ll be doing or watching in support of our neighboring nation? Please let us all know by commenting below.

This Week in las Noticias

By shifting more dollars into Spanish-language media, brands can reach an untapped and broader audience (Ad Week) – If you want to reach women with children, consider that 21 percent of U.S. moms are Hispanic, and in key markets that percentage is even more dramatic. In New York, 33 percent of all moms are Hispanic. In Dallas, that figure now hits 32 percent. And in Los Angeles, it's nearly half at 47 percent.

Hispanic media group to meet in Albuquerque (New Mexico Business Weekly) – The National Association of Hispanic Publications will hold its 25th annual convention and business expo in Albuquerque from March 10 to 13.

Happy 3-Kings Day!

Los Tres Reyes Magos… For some Latino children, the Holidays are not yet over and today is the happiest day of the season since they receive the visit of The Magi, The Three Wise Men: Los Reyes Magos.  This tradition, strong in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain and Latin American countries, marks the Epiphany—the day when the Magi brought gifts to baby Jesus.

For kids, it goes something like this: collect grass from your yard and put it in a shoe box (or a shoe), leave it under the bed, go to bed early, BE GOOD ALL YEAR, and wake up to a shoe box full of toys! And to top it all off, have a bite of the sweet rosca de reyes.

(photo from Univision.com)
 

In the United States, families who observe this tradition, work hard to preserve it.  Many cities hold events and festivities to mark this special occasion.  Read on for a sample of happenings in San Antonio, New York and other cities. 

• KENS TV (San Antonio): Retailers hope shoppers cash-in on Three Kings Day deals Christmas has come and gone, but Josephina Montelongo is still shopping for her five grandchildren. She says what Santa Claus did not bring the children hope get from the three kings. In Mexico and other parts of Latin America Dia de los…
• CBS 2 (New York) Noted Artists To Lead NYC's 3 Kings Day Parade  NEW YORK (AP) ― A Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, a Broadway composer and an influential artist will lead New York City's festive Three Kings Day Parade on Wednesday. Thousands of children are expected to march through Manhattan's East…

In Hispanic media, Univision’s morning show “Despierta America” did a nice feature on the celebration in Mexico in addition to other coverage, and below is the front page of New York’s El Diario La Prensa:
  

While the imagery of the tradition is not present in most public places and Holiday decorations have already been stashed away, those who celebrate the Holiday still may have their Christmas trees up and more importantly, the Nativity set.  I for one hope my kids preserve this tradition and Holiday for generations to come.

PS: Kudos to LATISM for the 3-King Day Holiday Toy Drive… Thanks for thinking of the importance of Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar and for bringing smiles to these kids!

Do you celebrate the Holiday?  Welcome your anecdotes and notes!

This Week in las Noticias

Univision to open its own TV production studio (Los Angeles Times) – Spanish-language TV giant Univision Communications said Monday that it was creating an in-house production unit -- a move that reflects consumers' changing viewing habits and a sign that the company no longer wants to rely as heavily on its longtime partner in Mexico for its most popular shows.

Record avocado movement expected for Super Bowl (The Packer) – If it meets expectations, Super Bowl 2009 also will easily surpass Cinco de Mayo 2009 as the largest single event for avocado sales ever, DeLyser said. About 63.6 million pounds were sold then.

This Week in las Noticias

Montoya the man of the Miami moment (ESPN) – Montoya has touched a culture in the Hispanic community that NASCAR was unable to tap into before his arrival three years ago.

Telemundo affiliate launches in Richmond, Virginia (Radio Business Report) – ZGS Communications announced the launch of WZTD-LP Richmond, VA as a Telemundo affiliate, the first local Spanish-language television broadcast station in the market.

Oye Pepe, La Familia Still Works

This Sunday, Miami’s PBS station was airing a marathon of a TV gem from the 70’s: Que Pasa USA?  I had to stop and watch.  According to Wikipedia, the show is the first PBS-produced sitcom. I grew up catching episodes that aired in Puerto Rico and as I tuned in again to the going ons of the Pena family, it struck me that the use of bilingualism or, more appropriately, dual language during the series is still very relevant and innovative.  The show centered a household that included grandparents from the Cuban exile, their daughter and husband and their two teens, a girl and a boy. The marathon, promoting DVD sales of the 39-episode run of the show, included commentary in Spanish airing.

For those who may not have seen the show, the characters bring you into their multigenerational world and flip languages according to the emotional/behavioral content of the dialogue or which generation is leading the conversation.  That is the way many households speak still today, except we don’t have to add the layer of helping the viewer along to fully understand the show in English or Spanish that the show had.  It originally aired from 1977-1980 and its most recognized actor is Steven Bauer of Scarface fame.

Here is a link to the favorite episode among viewers who participated in social media efforts supporting the marathon.  It deals with citizenship.  For fun, check out the Que Pasa USA.org website’s Spanglish dictionary.

Now, what do you think are some other examples of good programming portraying Latino families in the U.S.?  Drop us a line and help us build a top 5 list.

This Week in las Noticias

Dolphins' Monday Night Fiesta Was Hispanic Done Right (Ad Age) – Yes, they watch Monday Night Football in Panama. And they recognize that the Dolphins have embraced a Latino fan base, not just as a Hispanic Heritage-month marketing exercise, but as an authentic and relevant part of the brand.

Univision, Time Warner Cable Launch Spanish-Language On-Demand Channel (Broadcast Newsroom) – Time Warner Cable and Univision Communications have launched the operator's first free Hispanic on-demand channel.