Tomás Thinking Aloud :: For the sake of arguement let us say – 33% of Hispanics speak only English, 33% are bilingual & 33% speak only Spanish – so if Obama spends his $20 million tagged for Hispanic outreach on Spanish language media… read on

…he would only potentially reach 66% of Hispanics. Advertising on a national Spanish news TV program would reach only 39% of Hispanic voters⁴ Check out the stats below granted these aren’t the latest numbers but it all boils down to relevancy and for a very large percentage of Hispanic Spanish Language marketing and media is not the best way to go.

Out of AdAge.com “Paul Mendieta, director of Hispanic marketing at Coors Brewing Co., said, “Hispanic media is not doing a great job. They depend upon the fact that Latinos like to communicate in Spanish. But more and more of the growth is coming from the U.S.-born Latino who is bilingual and chooses according to content [quality], not langauge.” This is where HispanicTips and other blogs comes in.

Some Interesting Hispanic Data:

• 44.3 million Hispanics in the US ¹
• 33.5 million (75%) of us speak only English or are bilingual ⁴⁺
• Of 28.2 million Hispanic adults (18+) ²
  • 15.8 million (56%) use the internet. ⁵⁺⁺
  • 4.6 million (29%) get news from the internet ⁴⁺⁺
  • 3.5 million (75% of 4.6m) get all of their news on the internet in English ⁴⁺⁺
  • 64% of native-born Latinos get all their news in English. ⁴
  • 78% of English-dominant Latinos use the internet, compared with 32% of Spanish-dominant Latinos. ⁵
  • 51% think English media does a poor job of providing relevant news – this jumps to 65% for English-only Hispanics ⁴
  • Of those expressing an interest in news
    • 53% were English-only ⁴
    • 40% were Bilingual ⁴
    • 23% were Spanish-only ⁴
• Where do Hispanic voters get their news
  • 53% get all their news in English ⁴
  • 40% get their news from English and Spanish media ⁴
  • 6% get their all their news in Spanish ⁴
• Advertising on a national Spanish news TV program would reach only 39% of Hispanic voters⁴
• 54% of eligible voters registered in November 2006 ³
• 5.6 million (60%) of these registered voters actually voted representing 13% of the total Hispanic population ³

1. US Census – 7/1/2006 – PDF
2. US Census – 7/1/2005 – Excel Spreadsheet
3. Hispanics and the 2006 Election – 10/2/2006 – Pew Hispanic Center
4. Changing Channels and Crisscrossing Cultures: A Survey of Latinos on the News Media – 4/19/2004 – Pew Hispanic Center
5. Latinos Online – 3/14/2007 – Pew Hispanic Center
6. + means that I calculated a number using statistics from 3,4 or 5 with Census data #1
7. ++ means that I calculated a number using statistics from 3,4 or 5 with Census data #2

• Bilingual ballots may be coming to Hall – Growing Latino population could require voting material be available in Spanish – Gainesville, Georgia
• La ‘éne•bé•a’ (NBA) campaign targeting Latinos is making big ‘esplashes’
• In the 8 states poised to gain congressional seats, Latino voter registration grew 45% and Latino voter turnout expanded 50% between 2000 and 2008. – In the 11 states poised to lose seats, Latino voter registration grew 50% and Latino voter turnout expanded 62% between 2000 and 2008.
• On Monday November 16, The Clorox Company will launch a new TV campaign for the Hispanic market created by Alma DDB in which Pine-Sol will put four traditional cleaning fragrances to really work, so that they do much more than just aromatize.
• State elections official fired after poking fun at Spanish-speaking voters – Texas
• Featured children’s bilingual book: Rene Has Two Last Names/Rene tiene does apellidos
• Greater civic engagement will make Latinos a political force – This year’s elections in key Massachusetts cities have marked some important milestones for Latinos.
• Stanley Works Launches Its Hispanic Marketing Campaign to Help Grow Skills and Build Knowledge Among Hispanics in the Trades
• Republican Party courting Latinos in Nevada (and elsewhere)
• The New Latino Vote Under Obama – A Rift Between 2008 Latino Obama Supporters and the Republican Party.
• NY village gets new voting system to aid Hispanics – A federal judge imposed an unusual election system on a suburban village Friday
• Low Latino voter turnout in NJ and VA elections reveal a return to the old ways
• Build A Word-Of-Mouth Campaign
• Hispanic Voter Turnout Remains Low – voter turnout rate of just 21% in Yakima, WA
• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has selected interactive agency Sensis to launch a targeted advertising campaign to increase participation in the E-Verify program
• SAG seeks more Spanish – 100-200 bilingual guild members perform dubbing
• First Bilingual Educational Toy Brand, Ingenio(TM), Hits the U.S. Market
• Study Emphasizes “Economic Value” of Spanish in U.S., Brazil – salaries of bilingual Hispanics in US are 2.7% higher on average than those for Hispanics who only speak English.
• Un estudio subraya el “valor económico” y potencial de crecimiento del español
• The Corzine campaign is airing a television ad unveiled over the weekend that features President Obama telling viewers in Spanish that the future of New Jersey is in their hands — “El futuro de Nueva Jersey esta en tus manos,” the president says.