Posted by Elena del Valle on September 1, 2010
Part one of a series
By Hilda Luisa Díaz-Perera
Hilda Luisa Díaz-Perera
Salsa is Cuban. The bolero is Cuban. So is a cigar worthy of the name, the Cuba Libre, the mojito and also, believe it or not, the guayabera. I can’t remember life without it. I bought my Chinese-Cuban-American grandson his first guayabera, the tiniest thing, when he was barely a few days old: “Little man” I said, “Welcome to our culture!”
The guayabera is solidly etched in the psyche of a Cuban woman of my generation. I think most of us are emotionally bound to it through memories we hold very dear of fathers, grandfathers, and older family patriarchs wearing them. I can remember the day my then young and very conservative grandfather, finally gave in to my grandmother’s pleas to wear long-sleeved guayaberas instead of sitting through his meals fully suited, in the hot, Cuban weather.
Click here to read the entire article La Guayabera, part of a multi-part series.
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 25, 2010
By Adrienne E. Katz Katz
Adrienne E. Katz Katz
Mankind has walked on Earth for thousands of years, but women have been allowed to vote for only ninety years! It took 131 years after the U.S. Constitution was adopted before American men grudgingly granted women the right to vote.
Every woman today who has in her own name a job, a bank account, a credit card, a lease, a car, a mortgage, a diploma or a pension has these because she is standing on the shoulders of millions of women who fought for those privileges.
The United States is celebrating Women’s Equality Day on August 26, commemorating the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment gave women the right to vote on this date in 1920.
Click here to read the entire article Look how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 11, 2010
Photos: Babyspot.com, Todobebe.com
Our nation’s birth rate has declined in the past 20 years. During that time period new mothers have become more likely to be older, better educated and less likely to be white. Fewer white women are having babies while an increasing number of babies are born of Hispanic moms, according to a recently released report. One in four births in 2008 was to a Hispanic mother. Although white women still represented more than half of mothers of newborns that year that was less than the 65 percent of white women who gave birth in 1990.
More than half of mothers of newborns in 2006 had spent some time in college which was an improvement over the 41 percent of women who had some college education in 1990. Older mothers of newborns, those 35 years of age and older, were much more likely to have some college education (71 percent).
James Rivera, co-founder, Babyspot
“I do see evidence of your findings, our site agrees with most of your data. Our traffic has increased in the last year, it’s around 30 percent increase,” said James Rivera, co-founder and chief executive officer, BabySpot, Inc. when asked if he sees evidence of these trends.
Women are also waiting longer to have babies than they did twenty years ago. While in 1990, teenagers had a higher share of all births (13 percent) than did women 35 years of age and older (9 percent) by 2008, the reverse was true with 10 percent of births to teens and 14 percent to women ages 35 and older. This increase in older mothers held across ethnic groups.
More unmarried women by far (41 percent) had babies in 2008 than in 1990 (28 percent). Black unmarried women were the most likely to have babies compared white and Hispanics.
“There are 4M (million) births per year and 1M (million) are to Spanish speaking parents, 25 percent of the newborns. This has been a constant for the past two years and is based on U.S. Census Live Birth Statistics,” said Cynthia Nelson of Todobebe.com. “We have a 20 percent increase in moms that join Todobebe in the past year and about 55 percent of our moms are pregnant at any one give time. There is no one month during the year that there are more births with the exception of the slight increase in September (December holidays trigger this event).”
In 2008, there were 4.3 million births in our country slightly more than in 1990 when there were 4.2 million. Between 2003 to 2007 the number of births increased each year and then declined by about 66,000; the researchers believe the decrease is the result of the economic downturn.
Immigrants tend to have higher birth rates than the native born although those rates have declined in recent years. The share of births to foreign-born mothers, 15 percent of U.S. births in 1990, grew 60 percent through 2004. In 2004, births to foreign-born women represented the majority of Hispanic (61 percent) and Asian (83 percent) births.
Although it is hard to think about our nation’s demographic profile in 40 years, according to Pew Research Center population projections and assuming current trends remain steady, 82 percent of the nation’s population growth through 2050 will be produced by immigrants who arrived in our country after 2005 and their descendants. The researchers estimate 142 more million people will fuel our population between 2005 and 2050; of these 50 million will be the children and grandchildren of new immigrants.
The report, The New Demography of American Motherhood, was written by Gretchen Livingston and D’Vera Cohn of the Pew Research Center based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the Census Bureau. It also included the findings of a national Pew Research Center survey about parenthood.
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 4, 2010
By Harald H. Vogt
Founder and chief marketer, Scent Marketing Institute
Harald H. Vogt, founder and chief marketer, Scent Marketing Institute
Photo: Scent Marketing Institute
This just in: A group called “Teens turning Green” chimes in on the safety (better, the lack thereof) of fragrances in consumer goods, body care products and fine fragrances that people buy to enjoy – or simply to smell better.
As sure as the kids go to camp, every summer the scent-adverse special interest groups pick up reports from organizations such as “The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics” that lament the fact that there are health risks resulting from “secret chemicals” in fragrance. Usually such advocacy groups are also anti-commerce and against aggressive marketing. At least with TTG that isn’t the case since they sell their own range of products via their web site while they criticize the products of others right next door. For just $130 the whole range can be yours’…
Click here to read the entire article Transparency – the new consumer demand
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 14, 2010
By Robin Blakely
Partner, Get There Media
Robin Blakely, partner, Get There Media
Photo: Get There Media
So you have a book, you’ve established a Latino following, and now you have your eye on the mainstream marketplace. Here are four key things you need to know to leverage your culture and connections to keep your momentum mobilized.
1. Focus on a different kind of culture.
Stop thinking of your audience as Latino or not Latino. Transcend that way of thinking. Instead, think of your target market as gifted, or funny, or heartbroken, or entrepreneurial. Focus on who they are as clean freaks, or foodies, or mystery lovers, or knitters. Your audience—whoever they are—has a culture of its own that doesn’t have to be described as Latino or non-Latino. Think about the culture your audience shares as a group. Without relying on a description that involves ethnicity, ask yourself:
Click here to read the complete article
Click here to buy PR Therapy
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 30, 2010
By Hilda Luisa Díaz-Perera
Hilda Luisa Díaz-Perera*
I knew it was the 4th. Yesterday had been the 3rd, so I was positive today was the 4th. I thought about the American Embassy in Caracas and regretted I had not yet registered there. They were probably hosting a celebration for American citizens living in the capital. I couldn’t explain why today my vocal chords had locked themselves on the words of Home on the Range quietly singing them away in my throat. The day had started out very early as it usually did for me: I had brought the dog down to the yard where he began to bark back at another invisible barking dog hiding somewhere in the dawn’s early light.
I had had my breakfast, not with my American Folgers, since I had had no time before I left the States to buy some to bring with me. I sat down at my sewing machine and got busy finishing the kitchen curtains. The 4th faded slowly away into the stitches, the minutes, the hours, the barking dog and my cat Maggie. Home on the Range had survived my busy-ness and indeed, the skies had not been cloudy all day. At 5 pm my oldest sister in-law called to invite us for dinner at a wonderful restaurant in Playa El Agua that stands right on the sand. From the terrace, you can see the wide expanse of ocean and your ears become full of the sound of the waves.
Click here to read the entire article My Venezuelan 4th of July
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 23, 2010
By Harald H. Vogt
Founder and chief marketer, Scent Marketing Institute
Harald H. Vogt, founder and chief marketer, Scent Marketing Institute
Photo: Scent Marketing Institute
Information transported via our perception of scent does not require translation. There is no “Press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish” when it comes to recognizing the scent of fresh baked bread, ultimately drawing us to it’s source, the bakery on the corner or in the supermarket. Scent can be a guide, or it can create a desire, even an emotion without a word being spoken.
Scents are processed in the limbic system of our brain, which happens to be responsible for the decision-making process and for our emotions. With that “internal wiring” already in place it takes fairly little to trigger a person to react in a certain way.
Click here to read the entire article Scent communication – no language barriers apply!
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 16, 2010
Better Communication for your Clients with Hearing Loss
By
Martha E. Galindo, language translations provider
Lauren E. Storck, Ph.D., founder, Collaborative for Communication Via Captioning
Karen Yates, certified CART provider
Karen Yates, certified CART provider
Lauren E. Storck, Ph.D., founder, Collaborative for Communication Via Captioning
Martha E. Galindo, language translations provider
As people age, they often face changes in their abilities. One such change is the likelihood that they will develop hearing loss. Although hearing loss affects approximately 12 percent of the general U.S. population, that number rises to over 65 percent in the elderly. In any ethnicity. In any gender. Loss of hearing can interfere with a person’s enjoyment of his or her current and former activities, leads to isolation, and creates communication challenges in family, work and social settings.
Broadcast captioning – written text of the spoken word that scrolls at the bottom of television programs and movies – has gained acceptance and is much appreciated by people with hearing loss. In any language. What many people don’t know is that that same type of service is available out in the community, too. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is a word-for-word speech-to-text instantaneous interpreting service provided by trained professionals using machine shorthand (or sometimes voice recognition software) and computers equipped with special translation software. Many of these CART providers were first trained as court reporters, professionals very familiar to many who work in the legal system for example.
Click here to read the complete article
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 2, 2010
Opening the Door with Relevant Products and Services Part Two (click here to read Part One)
By Ricardo Quayat
Executive Creative Director, Rauxa Roja
Ricardo Quayat, executive creative director, Rauxa Roja
Photo: Rauxa Roja
In Part One of Unleashing the Financial Purchasing Power of the Growing U.S. Hispanic Population (click here to read Part One), Ricardo Quayat discussed recognizing the huge potential of the vast Hispanic market and how to use data, creative and brand strategies to market to this promising audience in a meaningful and actionable way. Part Two explores cultural differences that affect the Hispanic consumer and how banks and financial institutions can effectively tap into this rapidly growing and financially sound market with relevant messages, products and services.
Culture-Based Banking
In Mexico, and South and Central America, banks employ practices that are unique to their specific regions, capitalizing on how locals save money, buy products and pay bills. Evaluated against standard banking models in the U.S. however, Latinos are turned away in many instances because conventional credit platforms may not reflect the credit worthiness the bank requires, creating a missed opportunity.
For example, payment plans with routine installments are a common purchasing method in Latin American countries, where it is preferred to have a predictable monthly responsibility. These may be personal agreements and traditional credit programs – commonplace in Latin America, but ineffectual in establishing the stability and sound payment records typically verified using traditional credit scoring methods.
Click here to read the complete article
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 26, 2010
Opening the Door with Relevant Products and Services Part One (Part Two will be published next week)
By Ricardo Quayat
Executive Creative Director, Rauxa Roja
Ricardo Quayat, executive creative director, Rauxa Roja
Photo: Rauxa Roja
Today’s Hispanic consumer has more household wealth and economic influence than ever before. U.S. businesses – and particularly financial institutions – are taking notice, placing more importance on the development of appropriate methods to attract and keep customers in this growing segment. In fact, with U.S. Hispanics expected to control almost $1 trillion in purchasing power by 20101, banks are scrambling to maximize this huge under-served marketplace with culturally relevant products and services.
Younger than the general population, and on the move in socioeconomic terms, this emerging market has the potential to redefine mainstream banking programs and products. And by understanding cultural subtleties and nuances, bank marketers can develop data-driven, culture-based strategies and tactics for precisely targeted campaigns with messaging that appeals to Hispanic prospects and customers on both an emotional and rational level.
Click here to read the entire article
In Part Two of this two-part series Ricardo Quayat will explore the cultural differences that affect the Hispanic consumer and how banks and financial institutions can effectively tap into this rapidly growing and financially sound market with relevant messages, products and services.
