Some
advertisers ignore growing Hispanic market
BY
CHRISTINA HOAG
choag@herald.com
April
22, 2004
Growth in Hispanic advertising has mushroomed
at four times the pace of the general market over the past four
years, but several key industries are still not investing in marketing
to Spanish-speaking consumers.
That was the finding of a study of the $3 billion
Hispanic advertising marketplace released Wednesday by the Association
of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, which begins its semiannual
conference today at The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
''We're very encouraged that progress has been
made,'' said Aida Levitan, president of AHAA and vice chairman
and chief information officer of Bromley Communications in Miami,
at a news conference. ``But there's still not as many advertisers
that we would like to see investing, and some are not investing
at all.''
The study, carried out by Santiago Solutions
Group, looked at spending by the nation's top 671 advertisers
to reach Hispanic consumers over the past two years.
According to AHAA, advertisers should have
allocated 8.6 percent of their advertising budgets in 2003 to
Hispanic advertising.
That number is based on the estimated percentage
of Hispanics in the U.S. population -- 13.9 percent -- and takes
into account those Hispanics reached through English-language
advertising.
Leading the way in the Hispanic market were
consumer electronics retailers and food and drug retailers, which
allocated 18 percent and 10.4 percent respectively of their ad
budgets to reach Hispanics. Telecommunications providers were
No. 3, with 7.3 percent.
Levitan said she was disappointed that pharmaceuticals
and financial services, which are big advertisers in the general
market, fall at the bottom of the list, with 0.9 percent and 2.1
percent, respectively.
''There are still too many myths about this
market, such as Hispanics don't have health insurance,'' said
Levitan, who will be handing the reins of AHAA to Manuel Machado,
chief executive of Machado Garcia-Serra Publicidad of Coral Gables,
at the conference. ``Sixty percent have health insurance.''
The study found that while major advertisers
such as PepsiCo, Sears, Wal-Mart and McDonald's continued to drive
Hispanic advertising growth, smaller companies are increasing
their Hispanic ad budgets, too, said Carlos Santiago, president
of Santiago Solutions Group.
''The next [biggest] category of competitors
has realized all of a sudden the value of the Hispanic market
and has increased its allocations,'' he said.
Spending on Hispanic TV advertising increased
from 4.7 percent of media buys to 7.4 percent, while print buys
doubled but still constitute only 1 percent, the study said.
