“As you may already know, US Hispanics are the fastest growing retail customer segment for many large CPG’s (Consumer Packaged Goods Companies). However, traditional out-of-home marketing programs (e.g., print, broadcast, online) don’t effectively target Spanish-dominant consumers. The resulting “language differences” often lead to a cross-cultural communications gap:
• Most 1st generation, Spanish-speaking customers don’t read US publications (e.g., USA Today, WSJ, NYT) and often prefer Spanish-language programming (e.g., Univision, Telemundo) to traditional broadcast TV.
• English speaking service staffs often encounter problems communicating and doing business with Spanish speaking customers, not only from a language perspective, but likewise from a lack of “cultural understanding,” i.e., the highly familiar, word-of-mouth based reference shared among Hispanics. Typically, the Hispanic consumer enters the US retailer hoping to be greeted, informed, and sold to based on a recommendation from a trusted friend/family member… not simply from an ad touting the virtues of one product/service over another.
•Traditional language training programs (e.g., Rosetta Stone, Berlitz) are often costly and don’t scale well for multi-location, geographically disparate retail operations.”
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