• CMO.com, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 12 PM

Marketers agree that the U.S. Hispanic market is a potentially lucrative one that cannot and should not be ignored. They know the Hispanic market is bigger, younger and increasing its buying power faster than any other minority group in the country. The problem, though, is they don't know how to target the group successfully, and their efforts to date have been paltry compared to what they do for other market segments. For example, a consulting firm reports that more than 100 of the top 250 television and print advertisers spend less than 1 percent of their budget targeting the Hispanic market. One problem is that marketers trying to reach the Hispanic market rush to hire people of Hispanic origin without making sure those people have the right marketing credentials. Rudy Rodriguez, director of multicultural marketing for General Mills, has a staff of five specializing in the Hispanic segment. Asked about his criteria for hiring, he says that passion for the segment and leadership far outweigh cultural background and even language skills. "There are some people on my staff who are becoming great experts in Hispanic marketing, and they are not Hispanic and don't speak Spanish," he says.

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