Marketers allocated more of their marketing spend last year than in 2008 to targeting Hispanic consumers. However, that spending failed to reach pre-recession levels, according to the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies. The study is the latest indicator of the growing consumer clout of US Hispanics.
Advertisers allocated 5.4% of their ad spending last year to reaching Hispanic customers, up from 5.1% in 2008 but below the 5.6% of 2007.
Ad spending targeting Hispanic consumers also held its ground better than spending targeting non-Hispanics. According to the AHAA, advertising targeting non-Hispanics by the top 500 advertisers dropped by 9.5% in 2009, while spending seeking to reach Hispanics dropped by 4.4%.
The AHAA also increased the number of advertisers in its “best in class” category, defined by spending more than 11.8% of their ad budget on reaching Hispanics, from 32 to 40 last year. Those companies had an average distribution of 21.4%. Among the companies in that group are Time Warner Cable, Domino’s Pizza and Red Bull.
Major professional sports organizations, such as the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, NASCAR and the National Hockey League launched multicultural campaigns last year trying to gain a wider range of consumers.
In recent months, Boost Mobile, T-Mobile and the Make-A-Wish Foundation launched initiatives specifically targeting Hispanic consumers. On the agency side, Garcia Research and Santiago ROI created a Hispanic market index, while Eclipse launched a Hispanic practice and Univision Interactive Media unveiled a Hispanic-targeted ad network.
An AHAA representative was not immediately available to comment.
