Tag Archive for 'Hispanics'

In The Heights

Published
by
Lynn Currie
on October 21, 2008
in Generally Speaking
. 1 Comment

Guest post by Adrienne Pulido

“In the Heights” on Broadway is a magical bicultural, bilingual, biflavorful night of great theatre.  You could tell Latinos filled the back rows last Friday night, and it wasn’t just because you could smell our doggy bags from dinner.  It was because we waved our hands to “Pa’arriba esa Bandera,” we cried to “Alabanza Señor”  (tribute to all Abuelas), and we were on our feet for the “I’m Home” Finale.

I had the honor of being accompanied by la líder Becky of Mambo and the infamous Nora Comstock, founder of Las Comadres who promises that she’ll bring the show down to Texas soon.  “In the Heights” is good theatre in any culture, but for a Latino, it hits hard.  The masterful Lin-Manuel Miranda created the show (he’s only 27 years old, chihuahua!); and with it, captured every push & tug of generations of Latinos.  I flashed back so much you’d think I had some bad tequila.  I could swear he knew how much I missed my abuelita, that my mom was that sexy hairdresser, and that I ditched my high school boyfriend (el más chulo) because he skipped-out on college.

We’ve heard it before & it’s true, we Latinos live parallel lives.  “In the Heights” has found the thread that ties us together.  It is a joyful, raucous declaration of what keeps us bound to our roots and to each other.

Profile: Dennis, Market Manager

Published
by
Matt Reyes
on October 10, 2008
in Profiles and Research
. 1 Comment

We here at the Mambo like to do research at the grassroots level. Throughout the coming weeks, you’ll be seeing a rollout of profiles highlighting Latinos across the USA.

Of course, we thought we’d start it off simply by introducing one of our very own:  Dennis.

Dennis is a marketing manager that works on various client projects and tours.  Originally from north of the border, his story is a unique, but really interesting one!

Here is what he has to say, eh!

What part of the world are you from?
Toronto, Canada
Age Range:
30s
Language(s) Spoken:
English/Spanish
Top Plays on iTunes Library:
Deftones, Killswitch Engaged, John Mayer, Coldplay
Where do you get your clothes/kicks from?
Mall
Favorite Food:
Italian
Magazines Read:
Mens Health, Rolling Stone
Hobbies:
Graphic art, sports

Stay tuned!  There’ll be more!  Have a great weekend!

How to LOL in Spanish

Published
by
Matt Reyes
on August 12, 2008
in Online and Social Media
. 4 Comments

Per Becky’s post, Hispanics are More Tech Savvy than People Think, you might be asking yourself, “Hmmm.  I wonder what Spanish speakers use instead of LOL.”

In case you didn’t know, LOL refers to “laugh out loud“.  You might have learned in English class that this is called an acronym.  These “acronyms” are used in conversations online to shorten the amount of time spent typing an e-mail, instant message, or on a forum/social media site.

So, how does one LOL en español?

Well, I took a survey of some Spanish speaking coworkers and asked what they use online when talking to their friends on Facebook, IM, or e-mail.  Here’s what I found:

NTC - No Te Creas (I’m just kidding)

NTPA - No Te Puedo Ayudar (Can’t help you out)

Ke or K - Que (What?)

Wey - Güey (Dude!)

Pa - Para (For)

PQ or XQ - Por que? (Why?)

T - Te (Your)

TMB - Tambien (Also)

RPTT - Repórtate (Give me a call)

VDD - Verdad (”True”, as in, You called me, right?)

Grax - Gracias (Thank you)

CDT - Cambiando de Tema (used when changing the subject)

George Lopez made a new one, but you might have to e-mail me @ matt [at] mercurymambo dot com to find out what it is.  I’m trying to keep this blog PG-13.

What are some other Spanish acronyms that you’ve come across?

Hispanics are More Tech Savvy than People Think

Published
by
becky
on August 5, 2008
in Hispanic Marketing, Hispanic Marketing and In-Store Marketing
. 2 Comments

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……..