The Reason: A marketers guide to engaging cliques

Powerpoint Stats: African Americans embrace Twitter

A recent Pew Internet study shows that African Americans are more likely that any other ethnic group to use Twitter or another online status update service.  In fact, 1 in 4 African Americans online use Twitter or a similar service. No reason for me to reiterate the entire study, check it out here.   

General Market Advertising

A recent Ad Age white paper “2010 America” highlights some key points begging the question for me – What’s The Reason for general market advertising?

 

For instance, the author Peter Francese writes -- Minorities are the new majority.

• In the two largest states (California and Texas), as well as New Mexico and Hawaii, the nation's traditional majority group -- white non-Hispanics -- is in the minority
• In the nation's 10 largest cities, no racial or ethnic category describes a majority of the population

 

If you’re like me, you read those two bullets and said… “word.”  That’s right… the concept of a general market is dead.  It’s no wonder so many people think advertising sucks… most of its not targeted to anyone in particular. 

 

So, what do we do with this information?  The easy answer – focus on consumer lifestyles and integrate your brand within those lifestyle by figuring out ways to add value to those peoples lives.

Powerpoint Stats: Digital Divide no longer exists

The Digital Divide is a relic of the past.  The Reason... mobile devices.  

That's according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.  The study concludes -- African Americans are the most active users of the mobile internet -- and their use of it is also growing the fastest. When mobile devices are factored into the mix, the digital divide between African Americans and white Americans diminishes.  

Highlights of the study...

• 48% of African Americans have at one time used their mobile device to access the internet for information, emailing, or instant-messaging. National average is 32%.  
• 29% of African Americans use the internet on their mobile device daily.  National average is 19%.

Powerpoint Stats: ESSENCE research on African-American women

ESSENCE is once again arming multicultural marketers with insight on African-American women by releasing its Smart Beauty IV research study, developed in conjunction with Vision Critical Group.  The study is designed to inspire real change in marketing to women of color by identifying their buying power, influence, needs and desires in the prestige beauty category, inclusive of cosmetics, skin care, hair care and fragrance.

Highlights of Smart Beauty IV:

• Regarding spending power -- African-American women spend 80% more on cosmetics annually and nearly twice as much on skincare products than general market women do annually. 
• Regarding the mindset of African-American women -- her self-confidence is evident in describing herself as intelligent, independent, attractive, ambitious, sexy and fabulous more often than general market women.
• Regarding what informs the purchase decision for African-American women -- reflecting her personal style, being a brand she trusts, offering high-quality ingredients and being suited to her needs all stand out as key attributes to compel purchase across cosmetic, skin and hair categories respectively.

Seen on Target Market News

Powerpoint Stats: CPG trends driven by multicultural consumers

Nielsen recently released a study which projects growth in multicultural populations will drive consumer packaged goods (CPG) trends over the next 10+ years.  The study points out that while non-Hispanic white consumers will dominate the aging population, the majority of new families will be multicultural in less than two decades.  This presents both challenges and opportunities for CPG brands.  The most obvious challenge is also the most obvious opportunity -- will CPG brands make the shift away from mass marketing to more niche focused marketing plans.  

I've said it before and I'll say it again... mass marketing is probably the most effective way to NOT connect with anyone.  Mass marketers still believe in a world where you can target the 18-49 year old consumer.  I feel a tangent coming on so before that happens, check out Nielsen Wire for more info on the study.

Powerpoint Stats: Minority kids become majority kids in T-14 years

My friends... the demographics of this country are rapidly changing.  An article in the Denver Post cites that roughly 1 in 4 kindergarten kids in this country are Latino.   Compound this with census data released last week showing that Latinos make up about one-fifth of all K-12 students.  The multicultural markets -- Latinos, Black, and Asian-American make up about 40% of the pre-college population in this country.

As mentioned in previous posts, minorities are projected to become the majority of the overall U.S. population by 2042.  Again I ask... what will the phrase "general market advertising" mean in a few years?  Any thoughts? 

Powerpoint Stats: Ethnic Trends in Media

In the next 40 years, more than half of the country will be non-white... true story, check the census.  I  guess the term general market won't make much sense.  Unless it becomes a euphemism for saying white, kind of like how urban is a moniker for black or Hispanic.  I guess the future of marketing is multicultural marketing... glad its my specialty. 

Speaking of multicultural marketing...  Nielsen has just released "Ethnic Trends in Media,"  a report profiling African-American, Asian, Hispanic and White households in the U.S.  The report examines household characteristics, television usage, timeshifted viewing and popular programming genres for each group.

Key findings include:

• The median age of a TV viewer is 45, but African-American, Asian and Hispanic viewers tend to be younger (40, 39, 32, respectively)

• Participation variety shows, such as Dancing with the Stars and Biggest Loser 6, are the most popular genre for total U.S. viewers, and are near the top for all ethnic breaks.  Fox NFL Sunday Football was the top or near-top program for all ethnic breaks except for Hispanics, who favored the telenovela “Fuego En La Sangre” on Univision

Powerpoint Stats: The Multicultural Economy

The Selig Center for Economic Growth at The University of Georgia recently published "The Multicultural Economy 2008."  Here are some excerpts...

2008 Buying Power... buying power is essentially personal income available after taxes

• Combined buying power of African Americans, Asians, and Native Americans was $1.5 trillion—more than triple its 1990 level of $454 billion—which amounts to a gain of $1,030 billion or 227 percent.

• Black buying power rose from $590 billion in 2000 to $913 billion in 2008, and its forecast to reach $1.2 trillion in 2013.  African-American consumers’ share of the nation’s total buying power in 2013 will account for almost nine cents out of every dollar that is spent.

• Native American buying power in 2008 was $61.8 billion and its forecast to reach $84.6 billion in 2013. Entrepreneurial activity is one of the forces powering the growth of Native American buying power. The 2002 Survey of Business Owners showed that the number of American Indian-owned firms increased by 67 percent from 1997 to 2002 whereas the number of all U.S. businesses increased by only 10 percent.

• The Selig Center’s data for Asians combines two race categories, including those who identified themselves as Asian or as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. At $509 billion in 2008, the U.S. Asian market already outshines the entire economies of all but seventeen countries—
  it is smaller than the 2007 GDP of Turkey but larger than the GDP of Sweden.

• By 2013, one person out of every six in the U.S. will be Hispanic. Between 1990 and 2008, the Hispanic population increased by 107 percent compared to 14 percent for the non-Hispanic population and the 22 percent gain for the total population. Hispanics controlled about $951 billion in spending power in 2008.

Powerpoint Stats: Top 25 Most Visited Sites by US Hispanics

The below chart shows the top 25 most visited sites by US Hispanics in 2008. Those in dark green show websites that grew their Hispanic audience by up to 25%. Those in bright green grew their audiences by more than 25%. Meanwhile those in red saw their Hispanic audience shrink in 2008.

Thanks for the info Portada Online

Powerpoint Stats: Top 10 Hispanic Magazines

 Wondering who received the lion's share of ad dollars in Hispanic Magazines last year.