Latino Media in the Seattle Area

This just in - a study of Seattle-area Latino adults and their Spanish-language media consumption by Portland's Rojo Research illustrated a clear preference for Univision.

In fact, Univision earned 67% market share, followed by KDDS 99.3 FM – La Gran D which saw 42.7%. Note that I'm not sure whether they were measuring actual consumption of the local Univisión affiliate (over-the-air) or the national network channel.

The study involved traditional media (versus online). In May, Rojo Research interviewed 485 Latino households in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Skagit, Thurston, Kitsap, and Island counties for a 58-question, 22 minute study. More than 33,200 households were contacted; 55% of participants preferred to respond in Spanish.

The Top 10 Seattle Latino Media Ranking according to this 2009 Rojo Research study:

1. Univision
2. KDDS 99.3 FM - La Gran D
3. Telemundo
4. Spanish-Language Outdoor Advertising
5. TV Azteca
6. KKMO 13360 AM - El Rey
7. KTBK 1210 AM - Ke Buena
8. Sea Latino Newspaper (now defunct)
9. El Mundo Newspaper
10. La Raza del Noroeste Newspaper

Latino media consumption is based upon a 7-day cume for TV and radio, a 4-edition cume for weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly publications, a 6-month cume for business directories, and a 4-week cume for outdoor advertising. The researchers captured over 400 data points on local media consumption, purchasing plans, shopping behavior and personal demographics. Seattle-area Hispanic media will leverage the data to highlight the value of their offerings, and be able to better justify a return on investment for their advertisers.

This is it, folks - if your company or organization wants to benefit from the patronage of our Hispanic population, please consider getting involved in Hispanic marketing now while rates are at an all-time low and your message will shine bright! Once the 2010 Census data is out, Hispanic media rates and availability will change forever. Make sure your brand is the one Latinos are thinking of, starting NOW.

Imagine: Your brand can be the category leader for the largest minority and the fastest-growing population here and nationally.

And, of course, we can help. Call me at 206-621-2185 and let's talk!

Positive Buzz from Local Latinos

The Seattle Latino/a Networking Professionals, a group founded by Junior Torres, celebrated a meetup last night that was abuzz with positive stories and achievements:

• Violeta Alano and Teresa Jones from Univision local affiliate KUNS were there. Their team has put together an incredible Latino Business Awards program with American Family Insurance--stay tuned for more info on that.
• Oscar Flores talked to me about ESPN Deportes radio, and how the new-ish 24/7 sports en español will be moving to the FM dial this summer!
• I chatted with a guy named Roger who is originally from Mexico City and now lives here. In the last year he's been pretty busy building a business from scratch--a commercial cleaning business that is now across the country and employs 300 people! Kudos to Roger and his entrepreneurialism.
• Laura, a current student, talked with me about the National Society of Hispanic MBAs scholarship opportunities. (More on that later.)
• And many more professionals were there, meeting new people and sharing their stories.

The bar at the new Olive 8 Hotel hosted the event for this month's meetup, and concocted two special sangrias for the group which were fantastic. Unique for a hotel bar--unusually open and public-feeling, with lots of glass. Terrific-looking foods (which I passed on but others enjoyed).

RECENT LOCAL RESEARCH
The positive buzz echoed what we'd learned in an online survey of Latino professionals earlier this year, when participants were asked how they feel during the present economic crisis in relation to various aspects of their lives. As it turns out, shopping behaviors have taken a hit, but otherwise Hispanics are fairing well comparatively.

• In regards to work, 41% reported feeling better than average or great, 43% feel average, and 17% feel worse than average.
• In terms of their social life, 52% feel better than average or great, 40% reported feeling average, and only 8% feel worse than average.
• When it comes to shopping, responses showed that 22% of participants are feeling a positive effect, 37% are not feeling any change whatsoever, but the majority, 40%, are feeling negatively affected.
• When asked how the economic crisis is affecting their ability to send money home to their families, the majority (62%) have not felt a change, 11% feel better than average, and 27% are feeling negatively affected.

The Sounders FC put Seattle on the map!

The brand-new Sounders FC team starts its season one week from today!


Exciting stuff! At Market to the Max yesterday, we learned from keynote speaker Adrian Hanauer that the club executives had made group decisions on everything from uniform color (check out the "rave green"!), to sponsor (Microsoft XBOX 360), to a marching band (Drew Carey's idea), to the fact that this will be known as the high-tech soccer club.

The best part? The focus has truly been on getting world-class players on the field.

In fact, I asked Adrian at the event about all the soccer fans in this region who happen to be Latino. "There are about 100 Hispanic soccer teams in the Greater Seattle Area, and I know that Seattle Sounders had been reaching out to Latinos. How is Sounders FC accomplishing that?" I asked.

The answer really impressed me. Besides the fact that they're building a Spanish-language website, that they're working with community members, and the fact that I've seen their print ads etc etc, he added the following (not exactly verbatim):

"A lot of people approach us about this and suggest that, with all the Mexicans here, we should get a Mexican player on the team to draw in that segment. But we know that Latinos are sophisticated soccer fans, and what they want is quality players no matter where they're from. So we're not going to pander to them by including a Mexican player for the sake of including a Mexican player. We're assembling the very best team we can."

And because of that, 21K+ season tickets have already been sold (more than for the Mariners!), for a team that hasn't even played a true game together yet. But they've been busy at practice and are ready to show Seattle what the sport is really about: PASSION!

Check out their site!

OPPORTUNITIES

Ke Buena will be broadcasting every game en español on 1210AM, and KUNS, the local Univision affiliate, is kicking off its weekly Sounders FC en Acción 30-minute recap show. We've been hearing about terrific opportunities to reach Latino soccer fans in the region by partnering with both media outlets; let us know if you'd like to hear more!

Contact us at info@conexion-marketing.com or 206-621-2185

Shortest distance between co. & consumer? HipCricket

I just finished reading an amazing article written by Rita Chang in the 1/26/09 edition of Advertising Age, titled "Mobile marketers target receptive Hispanic audience." Let me know if you'd like me to send you a PDF of that article. Good stuff.

This article reiterates that Hispanics are generally more engaged with their wireless devices than the general population. Some 71% of Hispanics consume content on their cellphones, while just 48% of general market consumers do!

In addition, the median age reported in this article significantly differs--the Latino consumer's median age is 27.6, whereas the general consumer median age is 36.6. Mobile marketing helps companies target that 18-34 Hispanic that is so valuable as a consumer.

So one last statistic that will close the deal: 6% of Hispanics interact with text messaging campaigns. Just half--3%--of the general market group interact similarly.

This is why companies should seriously consider SMS campaigns, especially to Hispanic consumers. And HipCricket, based across the lake in Kirkland, Washington, does just that.

Local Univision affiliate KUNS and Bustos Media have already figured out that HipCricket can help them interact in real time with their audiences and have engaged HipCricket for sponsorships and contests; KUNS has the UniText51 Club; Bustos is even crafting an employment text club for announcement later this year.

So I asked the folks at HipCricket if they would be so kind as to join my Hispanic marketing panel at Market to the Max in Seattle this March. Looks like we'll have CEO Ivan Braiker on the panel!

Save the date: Wednesday, March 11, 2009. More to come!

Univision Upfronts

Last Thursday evening I enjoyed the Univision Upfronts at Fisher Plaza, with our hosts the KUNS sales team: Rich Roberge, Violeta Alano, Teresa Jones and Harold Avelar. It was a lovely event and great people there, but I think it may have been overshadowed by last year's grand Launch Party.

Turns out, I was in Spain at the time, right after the network affiliate launched here in Seattle, and just before its weeknight newscast went local. Apparently I missed THE party--big crowd, dancing, a real party. This time it was much more subdued, say those who attended both. We heard from a band I think was called New Age Flamenco, a guitar-strumming duo that were really terrific (especially enjoyed Hotel California). What was a little surprising was the music between sets was....(drumroll)...Gypsy Kings! Yes, the band from France. A decades-old recording. ¿Cómo? We have sooo much wonderful talent (and/or Grammy winners and/or club favorites) on the Latin music scene; I wondered why none of those were selected.

But all in all the event was wonderful; I met some new folks, a nice mix, whom I will be contacting (some have already followed up with me -- ¡gracias!). Saw many familiar faces, too; people who have been around and continue to be an integral part of this community. Newscaster Jaime Mendez wasn't there (bad back), but it was great seeing the sales team out of their regular environment and they are some cool people. Everyone was introduced to the Fisher executives, and to the coming seasonal programming on 51 over-the-air (for me, stuck with Millenium-turned-Broadstripe Cable, KUNS airs on Channel 16). In the national portion of the video we saw, they tried to tell us that novelas weren't just soap operas, they were adventure! Love! Exotic places!

Guess I'll have to tune in to more than Jaime's newscast.