Posted by Elena del Valle on October 9, 2006
Aterciopelados
Photo: Nacional Records
Aterciopelados, the platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated pop/alternative Colombian band is back. They will be releasing “Oye,” their first new studio album in five years on October 24. It is the follow up album to “Gozo Poderoso” and will include the single “Complemento” (Nacional Records)
With the critical and commercial success of their previous Grammy-nominated album “Gozo Poderoso,” Aterciopelados landed on the Top 10 of the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and made an appearance on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Aterciopelados means velvet ones in Spanish.
Aterciopelados co-founders Andrea Echeverri (vocals, guitars) and Hector Buitrago (bass, arrangements, producer) each released solo albums in the past year (Echeverri’s received two Grammy nominations), building anticipation for the band’s new studio set. The new album was produced by Buitrago and mixed by Thom Russo (Johnny Cash, Juanes, Kinky).
“Oye” is described in promotional materials as an organic rock sound reminiscent of the band’s early work on albums like “La Pipa de La Paz” (Peace Pipe). “Complemento,” the album’s first single, is designed to be an upbeat declaration of love from someone who has found her soulmate. The album also features Aterciopelados’ trademark social and political commentary on songs like “Oye Mujer” which asks of women “are you a human being, or the erotic fantasy of some guy?” Another song, “Pace,” is a call to action for peace. In support of the new album, Aterciopelados will kick off a major market U.S. tour in late October and will return to the States for additional tour dates in 2007.
Aterciopelados formed in Bogota, Colombia in the early 90s debuting with the 1994 album “Con El Corazon en La Mano” rising to fame in Colombia and internationally. They have performed at the Hollywood Bowl and Mexico City’s Auditorio Nacional.
To listen to the single “Complemento” from the new album “Oye” click on the play button below.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on October 6, 2006
GoldLeaf Jewelry tiara and pendant for quinceañeras
Photos: GoldLeaf Jewelry
A Quinceañera, the Hispanic equivalent of a Sweet Sixteen celebration, can be the most memorable day in a young woman’s life. The preparations for it however, can be as stressful as a wedding. They can affect mothers reliving their childhood, fathers worried about losing their little girls and teenagers expected to be perfect and beautiful on their special day.
GoldLeaf Jewelry is attempting to take some of the stress away by offering for sale traditional tiaras, rosaries, and charms to help young Latinas celebrate their 15 birthday. The jeweler, one of several offering Quinceañera jewelry, specializes in 14K gold, with prices ranging from $100 to $700. The company works with more than 100 manufacturers from four continents to obtain quality materials.
Renada Dukalskis
“Throughout my research it became clear to me that not only could GoldLeaf meet a market need as a place where girls could go online for beautiful, traditional, high-end Quinceañera jewelry but that we could also become a leader in a segment where there isn’t one,” said Renada Dukalsis of GoldLeaf Jewelry.
Robert and Renada Dukalskis, a father-daughter team from Oregon, founded an online store specializing in jewelry for coming of age celebrations. Robert, who has many years of retail experience, focuses on the logistics of the company. Renada handles the marketing. After years of marketing experience she is centering her attention on the growing family business. The company will donate a portion of sales to the MS Foundation for Women, a non-profit organization focusing on women’s issues. — Melissa Gonzalez
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 5, 2006
Wayne Eadie, senior vice president, Research, MPA
Photo: Magazine Publishers of America
New York, New York – According to a recent phone survey of 901 respondents conducted by Synovate on behalf of the Hispanic Magazine Coalition and the Magazine Publishers of America, Hispanic respondents of the survey have more trust in magazine information and advertising than any other media outlet including TV.
The study focused on “the richness and strength of Hispanics’ emotional connection with magazines.” Working with Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), the Hispanic Magazine Coalition, a group of nine companies with interests in Hispanic magazines, presented the findings to advertisers in a seven-city road show. The findings are based on 901 Hispanic telephone interviews with magazine and non-magazine readers conducted this summer by the market research company Synovate. It is described as the first industry-supported look into consumer engagement with Hispanic magazines.
“We’ve undertaken this initiative to better understand the Hispanic magazine reader,” said Wayne Eadie, senior vice president, Research, MPA. “Currently, Hispanic magazines get four percent of total media spending compared to 17 percent for the general market, which represents the gap in understanding the strong connection that magazines have with Hispanic consumers versus other media.”
“This study clearly establishes the viability of the Hispanic magazine market,” said Lou Lopez, vice president, Synovate. “The research also demonstrates that Hispanic magazines are able to generate readership engagement levels on a par or exceeding general market magazines.”
Forty three percent of the respondents trust magazine advertising, 38 percent trust TV by 38 percent and 25 percent believe in Internet advertising. Similarly, 47 percent of Hispanic magazine readers in the study trust the information reported in magazines, while only 37 percent of those surveyed deem Internet information to be credible. The research also shows that 85 percent of those surveyed read magazines, which is on par with the general market.
According to Synovate’s analysis Hispanics in the study appear to be less jaded by advertising than the general market. For example, Synovate found that 54 percent of survey respondents believe that magazine advertising provides them with something that they can’t find in other media such as TV, radio or the Internet. Additionally, 73 percent of respondents said that magazine advertising gives them good ideas about what to buy.
Synovate’s research reveals that Hispanics value magazines for qualities that are similar to that in the market such as education and personal escape. However, Hispanics show a greater propensity to value magazines for social connection, aspiration and cultural relevance than the general market.
The Hispanic Magazine Coalition revealed the survey findings in New York, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Coral Gables (Miami market), Florida; Los Angeles and Torrance, California; San Antonio, Texas; and for the Detroit market, Birmingham, Michigan. Members of the Hispanic Magazine Coalition include AARP Segunda Juventud, Hogar Latino LLC, Editorial Televisa, Latina, The National Association of Hispanic Publications, Meredith Hispanic Ventures, Muevelo, People en Español, and Selecciones.
Magazine Publishers of America is the industry association for consumer magazines. Established in 1919, MPA represents 240 domestic publishing companies with approximately 1,400 titles, 80 international companies and 100 associate members. Staffed by magazine industry specialists, MPA is headquartered in New York City, with an office of government affairs in Washington, DC.
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 4, 2006
By Tony Malaghan
CEO, Arial International
Tony Malaghan, CEO, Arial International
Photo: Tony Malaghan
In a previous article, Business Spanish Call Center Certification –Improving Customer Satisfaction, I talked about the differences between Hispanic customer care and the general market and how this impacts your call center operation. I also looked at the areas of your operation that need to be addressed in a Business Spanish Call Center Certification program. Typically, as with most business decisions, deciding to certify your call center comes back to ROI. In this article I have attempted to address some common questions raised and the resultant benefits to certification.
Should my call center be certified?
The disadvantage that many call center managers have in a bilingual operation today is that senior managers only speak English. This leaves them at a great disadvantage and at the mercy of vendors such as translation companies, recruiters, etc., and their bilingual staff to manage and gauge the operations’ performance, compliance, and customer satisfaction. It is impossible to effectively manage an operation if you don’t have all the information and the consequences can be very damaging to your brand and customer base.
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Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations book
To purchase a copy of the Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations book featuring “Effective Translations,” a chapter by Tony Malaghan, CEO, Arial International visit the HispanicMPR.com Resoures Section
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 3, 2006
Jeff Humphreys, director, Selig Center
Photo: Jeff Humphreys
According to “The Multicultural Economy,” a report on minority buying power from the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, Hispanic buying power in the United States will draw even with African-American buying power in 2006 at just under $800 billion; and is projected to exceed it in 2007.
Hispanics surpassed blacks as the nation’s largest minority group five years ago, based on population counts. In terms of spending power, the Selig Center indicates that 2007 will mark the first year that Hispanics control more disposable personal income than any other U.S. minority group.
The Selig Center estimated Hispanic buying power will be $863.1 billion in 2007, an 8.1 percent increase over 2006, while black buying power will reach $847 billion in 2007, a 6 percent increase.
“The economic clout of Hispanics has risen from $212 billion in 1990, when I first started doing this study, to $798 billion this year and I expect it to be almost $1.2 trillion five years from now,” said Jeff Humphreys, director of the Selig Center. “That’s more than 450 percent growth from 1990 to 2011. Non-Hispanic buying power is growing closer to a rate of 176 percent over the same period.”
“Still, even as Hispanic buying power overtakes African American buying power at the national level, it is important to recognize that in the majority of states the African American market will continue to be much larger than the Hispanic market,” he said. “This insight reflects the fact that Hispanics and their buying power are much more geographically concentrated than non-Hispanics or African Americans. For example, California alone accounts for 27 percent of all Hispanic buying power in the U.S.”
The Selig Center’s annual report includes state-by-state projections of buying power for the nation’s three most populous racial groups, as well as Hispanics, who are categorized by the U.S. Census as an ethnic minority and not a racial minority. Buying power, also referred to as disposable income, is the total personal income available for spending on goods and services after taxes.
The remarkable gains in Hispanic buying power are largely explained by immigration and population growth, Humphreys said. Between 1990 and 2011, the beginning and ending boundaries of the study, Hispanic population is expected to increase 126.4 percent, compared with 15.4 percent for the nation’s non-Hispanic population
Better employment opportunities and higher business ownership are the other driving forces boosting the Hispanic consumer market. The number of Hispanic-owned businesses grew by 31 percent between 1997 and 2002, triple the 10 percent rate of growth for all U.S. businesses.
Available for purchase as a pre-packaged book and CD, “The Multicultural Economy” estimates minority buying power by applying economic modeling and forecasting techniques to data from U.S. government sources. The model developed by the Selig Center integrates economic forecasting statistical methods with those of marketing research. In addition to the state-by-state breakdowns, the 2006 report also projects minority buying power for all metropolitan areas and counties in Georgia and Florida.
The Selig Center was established in 1990 in memory of Atlanta entrepreneur Simon S. Selig Jr., a 1935 Terry College graduate, by his son, Steve Selig, and daughter, Cathy Selig.
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 2, 2006
Mabel Valdiviezo, film producer, director
Photo:Suzanne Cancilla-Fox
A podcast interview with Mabel Valdiviezo, producer and director, “Soledad is Gone Forever” is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, she discusses making films for Hispanic audiences with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Mabel is a principal of Haiku Films. She is the writer, director and producer of the short films “The Water’s Muse” and “Strange Machines: Music Boxes” that screened at the International Latino Film Festival and the de Young Museum in San Francisco. In 2005, Mabel was series producer and editor behind Peralta Community College Television’s (PCTV) new program “Talk Back,” a fast-paced show that brings the current issues faced by San Francisco’s East Bay communities into sharp uncompromising focus.
“I am a filmmaker born in Peru, a country whose human rights violations duplicate those committed in Chile under the infamous Pinochet era,” said Mabel. “The memories of those atrocities affected a whole generation of exiles, who, like myself, have started the healing process by freeing our voices and telling our stories.”
Mabel is currently developing the feature length version of “Soledad Is Gone Forever.” She is also developing “Silhouettes,” a series of short documentaries exploring emigration/immigration through the eyes of Carlos Cartagena, a Salvadorian born artist and his interaction with immigrants in cities across the nation. Mabel has edited the feature length narratives “Counting The Days” and “My Camera” as well as several other films. She serves as co-chair of the National Association of Latino Producers (NALIP) San Francisco Chapter.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Mabel Valdiviezo,” click on the play button or download it to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. You can also subscribe to the podcast by right clicking over the podcast box and selecting “copy shortcut” then inserting the URL address in the podcast section of your iTunes program listed under the “advanced” column. The podcast will remain listed in the October 2006 section of the podcast.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on September 29, 2006
Baby Abuelita Productions founders Hilda Argilagos-Jimenez, Carol Fenster and Laura Santamaria with the grandparent dolls
Photo: Baby Abuelita Productions
San Antonio, Texas – Baby Abuelita dolls, produced by Baby Abuelita Productions, have been singing success with 35,000 dolls sold since May 2005. The Spanish-lullaby singing dolls made to resemble Hispanic grandparents and a baby come with Latin themed attire like guayaberas, batas de casa and eyeglasses. The grandparent dolls Abuelita Rosa and Abuelito Pancho sell for $29.99 and are available for purchase online and at major retailers. The baby doll, Baby Andrea, sells for $24.99 and may only be purchased on the company website.
The grandparent dolls are available for purchase at 126 Wal-Mart, 286 Target, and 94 Toys R Us stores. They are available at Navarros Pharmacy, Sentir Cubano, Lavins Baby Store, La Ideal Baby Store, and Baby Love in South Florida; The Learning Center in New Jersey, Spanishtoys.com and Language Land in the United Kingdom also sell the dolls.
Abuelita Rosa sings: “Arroz con leche” (Rice Pudding), “Que linda manito que tiene el bebé” (What a Pretty Little Hand the Baby Has), “Esa niña linda” (This Beautiful Baby Girl), “Pon, pon, pon el dedito en el pilón” (Put, Put, Put, Your Little Finger on Your Palm), “Azótate la mocita” (Pat Your Head), and “Duérmete mi niña” (Go to Sleep, My Baby).
Abuelito Pancho sings: “Los pollitos dicen” (The Baby Chicks), “Aserrín, aserrán, los maderos de San Juan” (Aserrín, Aserrán the wood craftsmen from San Juan), “Tengo una vaca lechera” (I Have a Cow), and “Campanitas” (Bells). Baby Andrea sings: “El patio de mi casa,” “Tengo una muñeca,” “A la rueda rueda,” “Amambrocha,” and “Duermete mi niña.”
Baby Andrea
Company representatives believe Baby Abuelita Productions’ rapid growth and acceptance by consumers, is a result of the company’s interest in preserving Hispanic traditions among young children and a shared vision for creating a product that promotes appreciation and love for the Hispanic culture. The dolls are meant to promote positive attitudes about the traditions of Latinos through childhood songs.
“There is an extraordinary demand and an unmet need for products that authentically capture and reflect the culture and traditions of Hispanic-Americans particularly as it relates to music,” said Hilda Argilagos-Jimenez, co-founder and president of Baby Abuelita.
In 2005, three working mothers, a teacher, a lawyer and a psychotherapist, developed the Hispanic themed grandparent dolls concept and established Baby Abuelita, the Miami-based maker of the dolls. Additional information is available online at BabyAbuelita.com
Posted by Elena del Valle on September 28, 2006
Johnny Cobos, CEO, Parlante
Photo: Parlante
A national Spanish-language health magazine, Médico de Familia (“Family Doctor”) is being readied for a January 2007 launch, a joint venture between the Interamerican College of Physicians and Surgeons (ICPS) and Parlante Inc. Médico de Familia articles will be written by ICPS-member doctors who the publishers feel will be especially familiar with the needs and concerns of Hispanic patients.
An initial qualified monthly circulation of 60,000 will be distributed at over 20,000 medical clinics in major Hispanic markets. Javier Martínez de Pisón serves as managing editor and Carlos Bernales is creative director of the new magazine.
“Besides lack of insurance coverage, the single biggest barrier to adequate health care in the United States is language. By using one of the most trusted members of the Latino community, the family doctor, as intermediary, Médico de Familia will help bridge that gap,” said Johnny Cobos, CEO, Parlante.
The Interamerican College of Physicians and Surgeons (ICPS) was founded in 1979 to promote cooperation among U.S. Hispanic physicians and advance their professional and educational needs. ICPS is one of the largest associations of Hispanic physicians in the nation, reaching 39,000 Hispanic physicians the United States and Puerto Rico and a growing number of health professionals in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Spain through its publications, conferences and links to Hispanic medical societies.
Since its inception in 2002, New York city-based Parlante has provided an advertising medium for national and local companies to tailor their marketing messages to the Hispanic community. The company principals, Neil Porter and Johnny Cobos, develop Spanish-language advertising and custom-publishing solutions.
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Filed Under: Media
Posted by Elena del Valle on September 27, 2006
By Elena del Valle, MBA
Principal, LNA World Communications
Elena del Valle, MBA
Photo: Cristian Lazzari
You are a spokesperson for your company, representing it for public speaking and media interviews. You are going about your everyday affairs, granting media interviews on a new product or service your company launched or a timely topic of general interest. All is going well and a Hispanic media representative calls. What should you do?
Should you respond to the request as you do with other general market requests? If you are wondering about the reach and importance of Latino media and Latino audiences nationwide, note that Hispanic buying power is estimated at around $700 billion a year and increasing rapidly. At the risk of stereotyping, remember Latinos are loyal buyers, especially for high ticket items, spend more than mainstream and other minority market buyers on basic products and like to purchase the best they can afford.
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“Latino Media and Hispanic Media Training” audio recording
Presenters Federico Suverbi, Ph.D. and Elena del Valle, MBA
To purchase a downloadable or CD audio recording with presentations on Hispanic media training by Elena del Valle and on Latino media by Federico Subervi, Ph.D. visit the HispanicMPR.com Resources Section
Posted by Elena del Valle on September 26, 2006
Conference panelists Paco Olavarrieta, president and creative director, OLE; Gustavo de Mello, vice president and strategic planning director, Lapiz USA; and Ida Chacon, manager, Ethinic Marketing Capabilities, Procter and Gamble
Photos: Elena del Valle
The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) held its 21st Semi-Annual Conference in Miami September 19-21, 2006. During the event, hundreds of advertisers listened to presentations about Hispanic advertising and the nature of Latino identity. On Wednesday, Carl Kravetz, chairman, AHAA dedicated an hour to “A New Latino Identity.” Immediately after his presentation five panelists shared their insights on the topic during “Putting Identity to Work” in a standing room only session.
A second panel of six continued the discussion in the afternoon during the “Ask a Latino” session. The following morning the Latino identity discussion was furthered by another panel during “Judges of Character.” “Latino Characters: Drawing the Line” focused on El Hijo del Santo and Baldo. From 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. six panelists and a moderator discussed “Rewarding Identity.” The final panel group met on the afternoon of September 21 to discuss country specific issues during “Not so Secret Identities.”
Conference attendee Samantha Balassa
“I liked the sense of ‘unionship’,” said Samantha Balassa, a representative of Motive, a New York music production company. “It feels like everyone is part of this one group and that is great about this conference.”
Lunch meetings during the two-day conference were dedicated to account planning, youth creativity awards and the Eduardo Caballero Lifetime Achievement Award. The 8th Annual Advertising Age Hispanic Creative Advertising Awards were presented during the closing gala.
Advertising veterans and first time attendees mingled in the hallways and meeting rooms. Exhibit booths peppered the entrance area for the main meeting room with exhibits for American Airlines, Diario La Estrella, MegaTV/Spanish Broadcasting System, Geoscape, Rumbo, and TransitTV among others.
