January 10, 2006

Hispanic Preferences Study

Smell & Taste Expert Confirms Nosey Preferences Hold Key to Individual Behavioral Traits. Tide(R) with Febreze(TM) Freshness joins Dr. Alan R. Hirsch, the renowned Dr. Smell, to identify personality profiles for Hispanics based on their favorite aromas. Hispanic Aroma Preferences Study

Posted by Ahorre at 09:59 AM

November 15, 2005

Marketing Consumer Products to Multicultural Markets

HISPANIC PR Totalling more than 85 million people, the multicultural consumers – comprising Hispanics, Asian and African Americans - have replaced the Baby Boomer generation as the most lucrative market in North America. In fact, by 2050 these three groups are projected to account for roughly half of all consumers in the US. Half of all consumers! Are you prepared to target your multicultural customers?

The Marketing Consumer Products to Multicultural Markets conference, taking place December 8-9 at the Hyatt Coral Gables in Florida will prepare marketing, PR, communications, and executives in business development or corporate strategy for the challenge of marketing consumer and packages goods to these groups. Attendees will gain knowledge on how to effectively measure return on their marketing investment, to ensure that their new product development takes into consideration the ethnic segments, the ways and means to obtain corporate commitment, and how to be “creatively correct” and successfully market to these diverse groups.

Through this comprehensive conference program of case studies, complete with an agenda of senior level strategy sessions delivered by industry leaders, the conference will provide those attending with workable and proven solutions. The event will focus on current industry trends and initiatives that are changing the way marketing executives view multicultural marketing, and identify where their concentration will be for the future.

Key presenters include Marilyn D. Johnson, VP of Market Development with IBM, Santiago Blanco, Director of Hispanic Marketing for North America at The Coca Cola Company, and David A. Hernandez, Director of Latino Marketing & Sales at NBC Universal Studios Hollywood. Additional presenters include multicultural experts from Mercedes Benz, Astrazeneca LP, Jaguar Land Rover, Burger King, Payless, Nestle, Molson Coors Brewing Company and The Procter & Gamble Company.

This conference is supported by the Hispanic Newswire Service - Hispanic PR Wire

Posted by Ahorre at 12:32 PM

February 25, 2005

The Power of Networking

Public Relations: The Power of Speaking Out! The Power of Networking!
By Claire Ratushny

"Public relations? In this economy? We can't afford such a luxury!" Think again: when the going gets tough, the proverbial tough get going! The old adage still rings true. The economy is soft, and competition is intense. Money is tight. You, as a business executive, decide that attending conferences is not in your budget right now.

You know, in your heart, and in your business "gut", that you need to get out there on the speaking circuit. You know you also need to network with other high level executive counterparts for the ultimate benefit of your business. So, you're in a quandary.

Guess what? In our company, we always say that the worst economic times are the best times--to invest in public relations. If you don't do it now--you may not have much of a business when the economy gets better. PR is not a luxury. PR is a necessity. Design Management Resources is a marketing and PR consultancy which collaborates exclusively with design firms.

We are also in constant communication with corporate executives in every industry. Our scope is global. We assist design consultancies to better position themselves to meet the needs of their corporate clients, from corporate and brand identity to industrial and package design, to all visual marketing applications that build brand equity. Ultimately, they also learn to improve B2B levels of communication.

Posted by at 09:02 AM

February 18, 2005

Grocery Store Trends

Supercenters Upstage Grocery Stores in Shopper Popularity. According to a new study from ACNielsen consumers made fewer trips to traditional grocery stores in 2004 as they sought greater savings, variety, or convenience in other retail outlets.

The "Channel Blurring" study showed that the average American consumer made 69 trips to the grocery store in 2004--down from 72 in 2003 and 92 in 1995, the first year of the ACNielsen annual analysis of consumer shopping patterns.

Todd Hale, senior vice president, ACNielsen U.S., said, "... as a channel, consumers are shifting their trips to formats where they can either save more money or accomplish more of their shopping in one trip."

Dollar stores have enjoyed the strongest long-term growth in household penetration--driven by the channel's rapid expansion--while supercenters have grown the most in terms of shopping trips. The traditional mass merchandise channel continued its losses in both household penetration and shopping frequency in 2004, as more mass merchandisers either converted traditional stores to supercenters or closed poor performing stores. Shopping frequency in warehouse club stores, drug stores, and convenience stores remained flat. Both drug stores and convenience stores slipped slightly in terms of household penetration.

Posted by at 07:38 AM

February 14, 2005

Spanish at Home

HISPANIC PR WIRE - Spanish-speaking parents can help their children prepare for school and provide a foundation for learning English by spending more time reading, talking and interacting in their native language. That is one of the preliminary research findings from HABLA, an educational outreach program in Orange County, California.

HABLA's findings are part of a growing body of evidence that preschool Hispanic children are more likely to become fluent and acquire literacy skills in English if they have a strong foundation in their home language. For parents who come to this country and want their children to learn English, it means they don't have to first learn English themselves.

“All parents need to speak the language they know the best,” said Dr. Virginia Mann, founder of the program. “This way, they will be able to fulfill their role as their child’s first and most important teachers. Speaking and reading with their children will do much more than English language television can ever do. The Spanish that Hispanic parents teach their children will be the basis for the English the children will learn in school.”

HABLA—an acronym for Home-Based Activities Building Language Acquisition—was founded in 2001 by Dr. Mann, a cognitive sciences professor at the University of California, Irvine. It has helped more than 350 families — nearly all Mexican immigrants — challenged by poverty, low education levels and language barriers. The program supports increased verbal interaction in the homes of economically disadvantaged Latino children between 2 and 4 years old. Using culturally appropriate mentors who serve as coaches and role models for parents, the program teaches fun, straightforward methods through books and toys used in the home. As a result, the children are better prepared to succeed in school.

The Children and Families Commission of Orange County has provided most of the funding for the HABLA program — over $1 million to date. HABLA's innovations include involving university faculty and students in very early, home-based intervention to promote school readiness for disadvantaged Latino children, and HABLA's employment of Latinos as home visitors paid by collaborative funding through federal, state and local agents, as well as the AmeriCorps program and work study.

With the educational spotlight currently focused on testing and achievement in public schools, and with Hispanics now the largest and fastest growing minority in the United States, the reading-readiness of children in Spanish-speaking families is important to educators and families across the country. In 2000, Hispanics constituted more than 17 percent of total enrollment in public schools in the United States.

HABLA was inspired by a wealth of research showing that weak language skills can harm school readiness. HABLA aims to catch young children before a language problem develops. When parents do not read to their children, have frequent conversations or play language games, the children neither speak nor listen as well as they should. In Southern California, kindergarten teachers often refer to such children as ‘non-non’s because they do not know either Spanish or English. HABLA shows parents ways that they can build and exercise Spanish language skills so that their children have the speaking and listening skills that are optimal for learning. HABLA is an accredited replication site of the National Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP) — one of five sites in California and among 143 worldwide.

The program not only helps build learning environments for low-income families, it saves taxpayers money.

“It’s like prenatal vitamins,” Mann said. “Early interventions are cost-effective. A year of HABLA costs $2,000, while a year of preschool or special education costs three times that.”

Through its funding of HABLA and numerous other initiatives, the Children and Families Commission of Orange County has created a unique network of care for Hispanic children and families in need. The Commission's efforts to reach out to Hispanic families in the neighborhoods and homes where they live have been very well received and are providing a model for communities around the country to replicate.

The Commission was created as a result of Proposition 10, the California Children and Families Act of 1998. The proposition added a 50-cent sales tax on tobacco products sold in California and requires that funds raised be used to support education, health and child development programs for children from the prenatal stage to age five. The Commission is responsible for overseeing the allocation of tobacco tax revenues received annually from the State Commission.

Posted by at 11:11 PM

February 12, 2005

Time-Saving Brands

Hispanic Ad In today's fast-paced world where time is at a premium, more than 80 percent of American and British adults would pay extra for a brand that is a time-saver, according to a study released from JWT.

Posted by at 10:17 PM

February 10, 2005

Fraudes a Consumidores

(EFE).- Los principales fraudes a los consumidores están relacionados con el crédito y las finanzas, según la lista de las diez denuncias más frecuentes que divulgó hoy la fiscalía de Nueva York.

De las 55.000 reclamaciones que recibió esta Oficina en 2004, 6.724 tuvieron que ver con fraude en tarjetas de crédito, préstamos, cobro de deudas y robo de identidad.

El jefe adjunto del departamento de protección y fraudes de la Fiscalía de Nueva York, José Pérez, dijo que por primera vez este tipo de estafas relacionadas con el crédito superan los reclamos en el sector de la venta y arrendamiento de automóviles nuevos o usados, que ahora ocupa el segundo lugar de la lista.

Le siguen el sector de internet, las telecomunicaciones, la reparación y construcción de viviendas y las agencias de viajes.

Pérez alentó a los consumidores a contactar su oficina para obtener asistencia en los litigios, además de consejos para protegerse.

La fiscalía de Nueva York logró restituir 18 millones de dólares de estafas, mediante acuerdos extrajudiciales o en encauzamientos criminales, durante 2004.

Pidió a los inmigrante hispanos y de otras comunidades, que son los más afectados por estos fraudes, que presten atención a la solicitud de prestamos de cantidades pequeñas, que se conceden el mismo día y a intereses súper elevados.

"Estos elevados intereses -de incluso 400 por ciento- son ilegales en el estado de Nueva York, que prohíbe cobrar más de 16 por ciento del dinero prestado", declaró Pérez.

Paralelamente, la Comisión Federal de Comercio (FTC) de la región noreste de EEUU, dio a conocer hoy su informe anual sobre quejas de los consumidores en el estado de Nueva York.

El robo de identidad sigue siendo, por quinto año consecutivo, el fraude más frecuente (39 por ciento) entre los neoyorquinos, con más de 10.000 quejas el año pasado.

Don D'Amato, director asistente de la FTC, recomendó a los consumidores que destruyan toda información bancaria que tengan antes de tirarla a la basura, pues hay expertos en robo de identidad que buscan los datos en los basureros.

"El ladrón de identidad busca toda clase de víctimas y no discrimina por raza ni religión ni condición social", explicó.

Según la FTC, el 53 por ciento de los fraudes se comete por internet, por lo que D'Amato pidió a los consumidores que presten atención a los supuestos premios de loterías, ventas de productos en catálogos inexistentes y ofrecimiento de dinero desde el extranjero.

Por su parte, la presidenta del Consejo de Protección del Consumidor del Estado de Nueva York, Teresa Santiago, subrayó que muchos de los ofrecimientos fraudulentos continúan realizándose a través de telemarketing.

Una de las estafas más frecuente es obtener dinero del consumidor -unos 250 dólares- con la promesa de que obtendrán un subsidio del gobierno para pagar el colegio u otras facturas, y en esta temporada, también los impuestos.

"El gobierno no va a pagarle a usted, para que luego usted le pague a ellos. Debe entender que de ninguna manera el gobierno da dinero para cuentas personales", aseveró Santiago.

Aconsejó a los consumidores que siempre que reciban una llamada de telemarketing se aseguren primero con quién hacen negocio y eviten revelar información personal: seguro social, cuenta bancaria, número tarjeta de crédito o de cuenta bancaria.

Por su parte, Alina García, directora adjunta del Departamento de Asuntos al Consumidor del Ayuntamiento de Nueva York, destacó la cantidad de quejas que recibe su oficina relacionadas con la rehabilitación y reparación de viviendas.

En este sentido, pidió a los consumidores de que se abstengan de contratar a un constructor que no tenga una licencia de su departamento para evitar que abandonen las obras antes de terminarla o hagan todo tipo de chapuzas.

Asimismo, recomendó que nunca se les pague en efectivo y que sólo se dé un adelanto de una tercera parte del costo total del trabajo que se debe realizar.EFE

Posted by at 08:30 PM