Meet Tony, the Hispanic Online Marketing Intern
A snapshot of today’s Hispanic online market
We recently hired Tony, an intern to help us with a couple of projects here at Captura Group. As I have gotten to know him, I realized that he personifies the online Hispanic consumers that we marketers are trying so hard to reach.
Below, I introduce you to Tony and to the millions of Hispanics like him online today.
Tony is bilingual and bicultural
Jose Antonio Uribe, aka “Tony,” was born in San Diego to first-generation Mexican immigrants. He is 26, and lives with his parents and sister in National City, a suburb of San Diego that’s about 60 percent Hispanic. Tony’s family is very much Mexican American. Spend a few minutes in his home and you’ll notice something that’s happening in millions of Hispanic households across the United States: communication is a flawless mix of both English and Spanish.
He speaks only in Spanish to his mom, exclusively in English with a sister, and mixes both with his father. He watches television mostly in English, but he also catches “Sábado Gigante” with his parents and telenovelas with his girlfriend.
Tony is a proud “American Latino”
He celebrates Christmas on December 25, but also Reyes Magos on January 6, one of the most important Catholic holidays in Mexico. He celebrates Thanksgiving, but with a Chipotle turkey, and drinks tequila instead of eggnog.
Like many Latinos, he entered the workforce at a young age to help his parents. He was considered an “at risk” student by his high school counselor, and as a result enrolled in a program that helped him keep up his grades while earning extra money.
He would later graduate from the University of Phoenix with a BS in marketing.
Tony is tech savvy
Tony has been online as long as he can remember. He vividly recalls an old PC that his dad bought for the family and connecting to the Internet with NetZero and chatting on AOL. A music trendsetter among his friends, Tony was a big fan of music sharing sites Napster and LimeWire. Although Tony mainly visits English-language websites’, he communicates online with friends and family in both English and Spanish. He prefers Facebook to MySpace, although he still visits the latter once a week to keep in touch with a 350 friends.
Although Tony considers himself value conscious, he’ll save up hundreds of dollars for a product he considers worthwhile. Today, Tony sports an Apple Mac Mini and orders Chipotle burritos from his iPhone, a product he purchased “the day it came out.”
His iPhone boasts about two dozen applications, which he switches constantly. He uses the Facebook application the most to communicate with his 185 “friends.”
Tony says “Don’t try too hard”
What advice does Tony give to marketers looking to reach him and his peers? “Don’t try too hard”.
Tony feels that stereotypical Hispanic advertising misses the mark with him.
He rarely clicks on an online ad, but rather goes directly to the product website when he sees something that catches his eye. He goes online to buy clothing, books, music and event tickets. He is always looking for websites that offer a Spanish component so that he can share his interests with his monolingual friends or family members.
“My world is very multi-cultural; America is very multi-cultural, campaigns that reflect who I am appeal to me.”
Great article! Tony is an example of today’s Latinos who are engaged, active, and multicultural. He is a part of the social media culture, the Latino culture, and the connected segment of the population.
Tony is of Mexican decent.
To fully appreciate this evolving trend one must realize the many permutations that currently exist among Hispanics representing a multitude of cultures from all of central and south America many of whom also live in Europe and Asia. Tony is just the tip top of the iceberg waiting to be discovered, defined, and leveraged. The talent base potential is extraordinary, far beyond what is understood and written about today. Expect Hispanic/Latino intellect to some day play a major role in Innovation Development and Management. A good reference to the importance of Innovation Management is covered in the current isse of the Harvard Business Review – Dec 2009.
Tom
Kudos y saludos to Tony.