A recent survey by Vertis Communications revealed that Hispanic consumers are not only more tech-savvy than often considered, but also more likely to spend money on big ticket electronics. For those of us in the industry, this is really not earth shattering news. Hispanics have long been considered early adopters when it comes to electronics, wireless technologies and even some internet technologies.
The report also shed light on which media most influences buying decisions among these consumers. TV of course ranked number 1, followed by advertising inserts/circulars and then the Internet. The Vertis study goes on to report that 42% of Hispanics are researching products online prior to buying. So this got me thinking….which computer companies are asking for this order??
A quick check of the Dell, Apple, Gateway, and HP websites revealed that virtually none of them are!?! None of these companies provide a quick, easy to find link to the Spanish versions of their websites. On most, the visitor must scroll down and select a Spanish speaking country from their “global” offerings in order to view the content in Spanish. HP is nice enough to put the country selection right on top of the page, but sadly offers up “United States - English” as the first and only United States option.
Fortunately for Hispanic computer shoppers, Best Buy and Office Depot get it. Both websites provided a quick click to their Spanish language content. With Christmas just around the corner, I’m just saying, if I were Dell or Apple or HP……..
A new survey just out by the Advertising Research Foundation revealed that “in-person events” can increase purchase intent as high as 52 percent! The study defined “in-person events” as brand-sponsored events including sports championships, walkathons and theme parks. While these “brand experiences” drove purchase intention from 11 percent to 52 percent among consumers, researchers indicated that such purchase intent translated directly to sales about 50% of the time. William Cook, an ARF bigwig, proclaimed in amazement. “We used two research firms and three different analyses and it all ended up at the same place: experiential marketing works,”.
Well, that’s something we’ve known here at Mercury Mambo for quite some time. And we’ll go even one step further and proclaim that our “in-person events” can raise purchase intent to levels in the 60, 70 and even 80 percent ranges as was evident in our recent 2007 Dr Pepper Sampling program targeted to Hispanic consumers in Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Although I don’t have an exact conversion rate, we did see entire pallets of product disappear during the course of a 2-hour event in Los Angeles!
Our secret? We realize that event marketing, unlike any other marketing element, has the power to walk that consumer through the ENTIRE purchase funnel in one encounter. Events can definitely create Awareness, encourage Consideration, reinforce Preference, motivate Purchase and finally instill Retention.
We believe it really goes beyond having the right product with the right message at the right time. Our goal is to extend that experience beyond that one encounter. To make a positive and meaningful impact! And that not only drives purchases, it creates fans.
Sometimes I feel like in-store merchandising and POS are like Cinderella at the Marketing Ball. Overshadowed by their broadcast brothers, ignored by glamor-craving creatives and often an afterthought by budget wielding brand managers. Interestingly enough, last week’s Ad Age, called “shopper marketing” or in-store merchandising, “the hottest medium around” and quoted a study by Deloitte proclaiming that it’s growing faster than Internet advertising! Are CMOs and megalamedia agencies finally realizing what those of us in the trenches, or should I say grocery aisles, have known all along??
In-store marketing works!
POPAI The Global Association for Marketing at-Retail, has done extensive studies across multiple channels, all supporting this fact. POP has the power to persuade, the power to motivate, the power to create brand experiences on a very personal level day in and day out. I’ll take that over a Super Bowl spot any day.
Welcome to the first installment of our new agency blog! We hope that you find your time well spent here at Cup ‘O Mambo and that you walk away with some fresh insights into Hispanic Consumer Marketing - Mambo Style! We’ll share out thoughts on how we create exciting sales promotions and event marketing programs designed to motivate Hispanic consumers to take action. We’ll highlight great programs we see out in the marketplace and maybe some not so great ones. And we’ll give you a peek under the tent as to what truly is the Mambo Magic!
We also want to hear from you. Ask those burning questions about Hispanic marketing, sales promotions, events, street teams, you name it. We’ll give you our best thinking and also bring in the experts to provide you with the information you want to know. And we encourage you to chime in too! Don’t be shy. We want to hear what you have to say.
Okay, so sit back and enjoy a Cup ‘O Mambo!
