Estudio Ray Brand News

Are You Missing An Opportunity By Not Marketing To Hispanic Patients?

According to the latest US Census, there are 50.5 million Hispanics in the US (1 in 6 adults, 1 in 4 children). The influence and buying power of the Hispanic/Latino population will continue to grow in the years to come.

Are you losing money by not engaging this large untapped market?

Much of Hispanics’ spending power will be going to healthcare expenses. Some by choice (wellness), and some not necessarily by choice. This presents opportunities for doctors, nurses, dentists, therapists, others, and especially pharmaceuticals.

In 2009, US pharmaceutical companies spent $4.2 billion on DTC (Direct to Consumer Advertising).¹ This is in addition to Direct to Patient (DTP) programs, which are more educational in nature. Of that amount, $38 million was spent on Spanish language advertising via traditional media (print, radio, TV), in addition to some electronic (New) media.²

Two of the biggest Hispanic health issues are diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Type 2 diabetes is 2.4 times greater than for non-Hispanic Whites.³ What do both of these say about obesity rates? How about cholesterol levels, sleep disorders, etc.?

Where do you fit in?

Much of the time, Hispanics are diagnosed and treated at lower rates. Reasons for this include a lack of awareness and disease state literacy. Often, the lack of information specifically targeting Hispanic patients can create obstacles to getting treatment.

Are health care professionals assuming that all that is necessary is translation? Or if Hispanic patients are fully fluent in English, that there is no need to back things up a little bit to educate and explain?

If you’re trying to reach Hispanics with generic messaging and translated materials, don’t waste your time. Make sure your materials include images of them. Speak to them on an emotional level that resonates. Educate.

It’s about communicating a culturally relevant message to people. You may have to change how you say something. What resonates with mainstream audiences may not resonate the same with Hispanics.

Also, it’s important to know that Hispanics generally have a perception of illness/disease that varies from the mainstream.

Where do you fit in?

Next up: Overall Characteristics of Hispanics and their view of healthcare and patient preferences and responses.

Sources:
1) SDI Health VONA audit, TRx comparison calendar year 2009
2) Univision, Nielsen AdViews
3) US Census

Branding the Bronx Zoo Cobra

One of many brainstorming sketches w/ the cobra in mind

If you haven’t heard yet, there’s an Egyptian cobra that has been missing from the Bronx Zoo since Friday, March 25. They can’t find it.

However, the cobra has turned up on Twitter. As of today at noon EST, it has close to 200,000 followers at @BronxZoosCobra

Brilliant!

This is a cobra from the Land of the Pharaohs and obviously of higher intelligence. I’m in awe. At first I wasn’t but now I am.

Here are some musings as to why:

The first time I saw the cobra was in Tijuana, outside an upholstery shop. She had been drinking all night with a bunch of us when she got into a hissing spat with a zebra painted burro and a surfer dude from San Diego State wearing an SD Aztecs t-shirt. We had to break things up and scatter before the cops got there. That's the last time I saw that pinche cobra peleonera. Who by the way still owes me $20.

Now, have you ever known a cobra to do all that?

I have a message for this cobra…come back! Please!

I’d like to talk about building your Cobra brand. Let us develop an identity and positioning for you, let me help with your entire image and packaging. Let’s go after the Latino market! You’re a natural fit as a multicultural entity. The Village Voice has said you’re the new Ed Hardy. We can do better than that.

You’ll be bigger than Quetzalcoatl ever was! You’ve got the social media buzz and a great cult following so far! Our Aztec ancestors worshiped that feathered serpent, and he never had any of that. You do.

I’ll go with you to the Luxor Pyramid in Vegas, plenty of feathered headdresses and boas to be found, and get you on Don Francisco’s show, along with Cristina’s stage as well.

For old school Lucha Libre fans, we’ll have you take on El Santo (okay, El Hijo del Santo), in 3-D and bill it as SANTO vs LA COBRA DEL BRONX ZOO.

We’ll package and brand Cobra energy drinks, cereal, tequila and a chingon clothing line. You’ll have your own reality show.

I want to spearhead your branding.

Come back, little Cobra!

5 Points to Consider When Creating a Hispanic Focused Food/Beverage Brand

Buying power for Hispanics in the US is expected to reach $1.5 trillion during this decade.

This places food retailers (specialty and mainstream) in search of new brands and products to sell to this growing population. This includes authentic new and traditional foods & beverages for Hispanic consumers as well as the mainstream.

The mainstream/general population has also acquired a taste for authentic ethnic flavors and food trends. They’re looking to go beyond the “safe and unadventurous” flavors of yesteryear.

Here are some things to consider if you’re planning to develop a Hispanic focused brand:

1. Is it something that Hispanics will recognize and be drawn to?
2. Is it authentic? Is the name and positioning on target?
3. Is it aspirational? In a clear and genuine manner? Inexpensive products don’t have to look cheap/generic. Everyone wants value, and consumers want a taste of the good life. Hispanic consumers are no different.
4. Does it make an emotional connection? Will consumers have a desire to purchase this? Will they spread the word?
5. Does the packaging and everything else about the brand support each of these 4 elements?

A successful brand will engage its audience (and others), as well as provide a positive and consistent experience which meets/exceeds their expectations. Many successful brands do great in the mainstream, yet forget (or disregard) due diligence and discipline when expanding into Hispanic food and beverage categories.

It’s important to be smart and invest wisely as you go into this category. Develop a strategy, be efficient and be innovative.

Source: Packaged Facts, 2009 and US Census Bureau

Taking care of those dirty Texanas and Tejanas.

I was at an outdoor mercado in Phoenix the other day; enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells around me on a beautiful sunny day.

Walking in the area where all things vaquero are featured, I noticed a couple of hand written signs on some of the vendors’ stands that read SE HORMAN/LIMPIAN TEXANAS (see photo). I didn’t give it much thought till later.

If you were learning Spanish, you would probably have thought the sign to read something along the lines of WE SHAPE/FORM AND CLEAN TEXAN WOMEN. Tejanas.

The possibilities for a raunchy Tex-Mex song are pretty good here. Check out the photo. Think ZZ Top collaborating with Los Lonely Boys. What would Selena have said about this? Tish Hinojosa would probably punch someone.

This is just one more reason NOT to use literal translation when communicating with another language/culture. What the sign actually means is: WE SHAPE (FORM) AND CLEAN COWBOY HATS. The most common hat this refers to are felt cowboy hats. The Texanas in question here are felt hats, such as Stetsons.

They offer the shaping/reshaping and forming of felt cowboy hats.

Another reason to avoid literal and literal translations.

So, go into a bar and start talking about clean and shapely Tejanas and see where that gets you.

¡A Huevos Me La Pagan, Cabrones!

Back at the Brits in Top Gear who slammed Mexicans with Derogatory Comments

In case you haven't seen or heard about this online yet, here's the what: On the BBC’s Top Gear, some comedic dialogue was going on about the development of a new sports car made in Mexico. They proceed to bash and poke fun about how flatulent and lazy Mexicans are, and how we sleep all day, etc. Typical outdated frat boy/morning shock-jock humor. By the way, the "guys with the best jobs in telly" call this car The Tortilla.

I originally saw this on Laura Martinez’s Mi blog es tu blog but today I wasn’t able to view the video again today. Seems the BBC has blocked it due to copyright issues. Maybe it’s on PutoVision now?

Anyway, it is offensive stuff.

Yes, I have a sense of humor but I’ve grown tired of hearing this type of mierda.

A lot of folks are offended. It’s said the Mexican consulate was demanding an apology. But as my cousin Carmen likes to say, “el gobierno vale puro sorbete.”

A friend of mine suggested a group of us head across the ocean to the Brits’ turf, armed with machetes, tequila and cumbia mixes. Once there, we will proceed to take their women. Only then will Brit women will finally see how much fun real men can be.

How much fun can these Brit guys possibly be? Besides Mick Jagger (who's 67), how many of these guys even dance? Some shots, some margaritas (we’ll even bring the limes), some cumbias, some rock en Español and one big invasion, pachanga style. Courtesy of our neo-armada.

Danny Trejo (of Machete), will lead the charge on land and we'll play a song like Rayando el Sol as their women gather around...

The Brit guys will all just stand around listening to each other with stiff upper lips and their arms crossed.

Los Mocosos

It’s late January, we’ve experienced a bunch of 1s in the atmosphere regarding days, hours and dates.

I have no idea what that means in numerology but being an optimist, it’s a good start to the year. Plus, the Chinese zodiac tells us that we are entering the Year of the Rabbit in a couple of weeks. I read somewhere that it was actually a metal rabbit.

Anyway, the Super Bowl is in Dallas and features the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers in what should be a terrific game. Plus, we’ll see some really good commercials.

In order to get to the big Big Dance, the Steelers beat the NY Jets the other day. They beat Mark Sanchez, the 2nd year QB from USC... The next Nammoth. Savior of The Jets. El Broadway Vato.

Mark also has Super Moco Powers. But to no avail.

In case you missed it, during the game Sanchez picked his nose then wipes it on backup QB Mark Brunell. I’m still laughing at poor Brunell’s reaction on that one. Disgusting guy humor I guess. One of my favorite bloggers, Laura Martinez put up a post almost immediately after the game with some good commentary. Video included.

I’ve got the perfect endorsement opportunity for Mark…MocoSpace! I wrote about Mocospace a couple of months ago. Mobile technology is where we’re heading. Look for some breakthrough advances and campaign successes in this area, especially in social media. Latinos are already big users, and that’s only going to grow much further.

So, MocoSpace is on to something. It’s a great way to connect with hip young mocosos.

If you like being a mocoso.

In case you didn’t know, moco means booger in Spanish. But I had also been informed that this network wasn’t aimed at Spanish speaking Latinos. Okay, por QLC (Que La Chingada) do they have MocoSpace Latino in Spanish then? Of course the non-Latinos behind the Moco love having fun with it. Are they laughing with us or at us? Perfect, get Mark as your pitch man.

Hysterically, his first action should be to dab a little moco on them.

3 Kings Day: Celebrating with Latinos on El Dia de Los Reyes

Thursday (The 12th Day of Christmas), January 6 is El Dia de Los Reyes...3 Kings Day, which is celebrated in Mexico and Latin America. No Drummers drumming, but a very well celebrated holiday equal to Navidad.

January 6 marks the day that the
3 wise men arrived bearing gifts for Jesus way back when, in Bethlehem. And you thought everyone was taking the decorations down and getting into the 2011 swing of things, didn’t you?

Here’s a little bit about how El Dia de Los Reyes is celebrated in Mexico (it’s my understanding that other countries have their variances as well):

• Kids write letters to Los Tres, much like is done to Santa in the US. Traditions in Mexico can vary from sticking the letter inside a shoe under an altar, next to a Nativity set or under a Christmas tree. I’ve heard of some traditions that involve burning the letters, allowing the smoke/wishes go up to the heavens.
• On the 5th, the day before, kids start getting ready for the arrival of Los Tres. Kids are sent to bed early for the arrival of Los Tres but prior to that, customs include putting out gifts for Los Kings, as well as a little something for their camels such as water, hay, grass, etc. They’ve come a long way and they’re pretty tired.
• On the morning of the 6th, kids get up early, start the commotion, fight over who got what, etc., similar to Christmas morning in the US. However, the payday isn’t as big as what we’re used to here in the US. Anyway, lots of smiles and laughter ensue.
• For grown ups and the rest of the family, there are the get togethers at each others’ homes and celebrations. Lots of food and laughter. One traditional baked good is Rosca de Reyes, a sweet bread that’s round, shaped like a crown. It’s fruitcake, but with a different (better) taste. One custom is to have a little baby figurine baked inside the Rosca. This symbolizes how Jesus was hidden from the Romans as a baby.

Some folks continue the celebration later on, into early February with Candlemas Day. This has a deeper, more religious meaning to it.

So, if you’ve been marketing to US Latinos or to those in Mexico, did you consider this Holiday? If not, there’s always next year when doing your planning.

In the meantime, you can go to most Mexican/Latino bakeries and get Rosca de Reyes now.

Go try something different!

Special thanks to Yucatan Living.

INSPIRATION

It’s that time of year. The Holidays are here. Christmas decorations are everywhere. Inspirational music is in the air. People start feeling a little warm and fuzzy. A little bit of Santa comes out in most of us.

Are you inspired? If so, how? Why? Is it the season? Is it because it’s the end of the year and the thought of a new one is inspiring as a new start? All of the above?

We each get our inspiration from different sources. Inspiration means different things to each of us. Maybe you’re inspired to do the best you’ve ever done with a project you’re just beginning or ending the year with. What brought that inspiration on?

Was it dialogue with others that inspired and fired you up? Was it a competitive feeling that was triggered by something you saw or heard?

I find inspiration to be about improvement. Improvement upon what I do on a day to day basis, as well as improvement at doing something special. That special something could be for myself or it could be for others. As I said, inspiration means different things to different people.

Is it selfish to say that you are inspired to improve yourself and do better for yourself this season? I don’t think so. I think it’s part of centering. You’re the center. We’re all the center, right?  Work on/fix the center and all else around it get better as a result. Don’t you think?

What do you do to inspire yourself? What about inspiring others?

I try to be positive, especially in the face of adversity (which this past year has raised its ugly head on more that one occasion). I like doing it with humor whenever possible…life’s too short to be taken too serious. I attempt to forge ahead inspire those around me to do the same. And in the process, let’s do something good for others.

We shouldn’t have to wait for just that “inspirational time of year” to do something for others. Let’s do it more often.

We’re all better for the inspiration. Right?

Just don’t expect me to start singing any of those pinche Christmas tunes.

MOCO-A-GO-GO. El MocoSpace.

NOTE: This post is a correction/retraction of an earlier post where I incorrectly identified MocoSpace as being from Nokia. Not so, it’s from JNJ. My bad.

Meet the Many Faces of Moco.

So reads the greeting on MocoSpace, a social network from JNJ mobile. The Moco mission statement states they want to be the best place to find friends, have fun and stay connected on your mobile phone.

One of their top advertisers, Nokia is using MocoSpace to promote 2 of their new phones, the Nokia Nuron and Mode. Both phones focus on the MocoSpace target of 18-24 year olds (1/3 Hispanic and 1/3 African American).

In this case, Moco stands for Mobile Community. Are the members/followers called Mocosos? What’s next, the PendejoSpace? I know I would call them Pendejos, sort of like many politicians, but that’s another story.

Meanwhile, back to the Mocos...

I first came across MocoSpace on my LinkedIn, account which took me to a write up on Portada. In the Portada link, the objective and brand intro is laid out nicely. Very well done, very well presented and very smart. Except for the name.

In case you’re not familiar with the Spanish language, what does moco mean? A moco is a booger. Or snot. Take your pick. The next question you're probably asking is why that name? How did they arrive at that name? ¿Que la chingada? Or simply WTF?

I don't know the answers to any of those questions. I do know that every Latino (from different parts of the US) I've spoken to online about this, laughs then say it's not a good idea. Everyone thinks I'm kidding, until I send the actual Moco link.

To be fair, maybe those of us decrying this aren’t the demographic, maybe we're the parents speaking out. When I came across the posting of MocoSpace, on LinkedIn, there was a mention by the Director of Ad Sales for MocoSpace. He stated: "MocoSpace has been around for 5 years with 15 million members in the US today. Over 40% of our audience identify themselves as Hispanic in their profile."

They did research the name, right? I'm hearing that things are going very well for MocoSpace.

Here's where I (and others) question this. We've all seen and heard of companies doing "research" in the Hispanic/Latino market before. Did they really do their research? Who did it? Was it done so that the results were what they wanted to hear? Lost in translation? Perhaps.

They sound pretty serious. The Ad Director said they have over 2x the number of unique Hispanic mobile visitors than Univision claims to have in their mobile network. He believes in the power of the MocoSpace, as he should. He sounds highly committed and behind his service/product. He sent me this link. He's the type of rep each of us enjoys working with.

Is this aligned with their advertisers' brands? More importantly, is it aligned with US Latinos? How about internationally, when you consider Mexico and other Latin American countries? Do they think no one will find this offensive? How about large groups of people finding it offensive? Plus, I understand that MocoSpace is well funded by prominent VC firms.

If you're going to get all Moco in your face and/or rebellious, is this a way to do it? Should it be more extreme/youthful? Or is this more ridicule and demeaning portrayals?

I'm curious to hear feedback on this. In a few years, will this be another business case study where corporate bucks went after the Hispanic market and flopped? If so, will it be due to the misalignment of the brand name?

In MocoSpace no one can hear you scream.

What do you think?

Día de Los Muertos & US Hispanics: As American As Apple Empanadas

November 2 is the Mexican holiday and celebration known as Día de Los Muertos/Day of the Dead, which is widely celebrated in the US to the point of being almost as American as apple empanadas and Corona w/ lime. It is not part of Halloween, or as we know Halloween in the US.

Most people notice the celebrations via art, crafts and festivals as well as altars. These altars are devotional and highly personal in origin. However, they seem to have become as much a part of the American pop lexicon as Posada style skeletons, sugar skulls and Frida Kahlo images.

A quick, short and very brief history of Día de Los Muertos, for those not familiar with it:

For more than a couple thousand years, the indigenous peoples in what is now Mexico, had rituals which appeared to mock death but were actually more celebrations of life.  The Spaniards arrived over 500 years ago and were appalled and saw it as sacrilege and overall not such a good idea. They tried to eliminate it but somehow it morphed into what has become this holiday in Mexico where folks come together to pray and remember the departed. It’s a celebration and remembrance of life, as well as a way to honor the ancestors.

US Hispanics celebrate this holiday in a very familiar manner, especially in the Southwest. One thing to keep in mind is that these celebrations carry traditions of food and beverages that may have been favorites of the departed. Pan de Muerto is traditional fare as well. It's tasty and comes in varying shapes. Also, part of these celebrations include colorful sugar skulls (This makes it more agreeable than collecting the real thing for trophies, as the Aztecs did), and marigolds. It’s a time of reflection and partying.

In Mexico, these celebrations are traditionally held in cemeteries. Here in the US, it's usually a park or a cultural facility of some sort. I’ve always stressed the fact that Hispanics are not a monolithic group. These celebrations and customs also vary in different parts of Mexico.

I’m amazed at how many companies and marketers here in the US are "focusing" on the US Hispanic Market but haven't a clue about this holiday or (my favorite) "it's kind of spooky & morbid, so maybe not right now".

Whatever. It's your loss.

Día de Los Muertos has become part of the American landscape. It popularity continues to grow and become more widespread.

Do you celebrate Día de Los Muertos? If so, how?