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When the 2000 Census data was released, it was a wake-up for many advertisers, who had not been spending time or money targeting Hispanics. The Hispanic population was exploding, to the surprise of many. That prompted marketers to begin moving dollars into Hispanic media, if not at the clip the new numbers justified. Now, with the 2010 Census out, it seems we're poised to see the same sort of reaction. The latest numbers reveal that Hispanics now account for one out of every six Americans. Surprisingly, just 4 percent of overall media spending is targeted to them, according to Wing, WPP's multicultural agency. But already media companies are recognizing the opportunity and starting to up their Hispanic media presence. A few days ago Fox announced the launch of a new Hispanic network group, including a new channel, and NBCUniversal is rolling out a marketing effort aimed at Hispanics. Wing president and CEO Alain Groenendaal talks to Media Life about what media people can learn from the Census, what surprises came out of it, and where media could improve its targeting of Hispanics.

What are the three most important things that media people should take away from the recent Census?

One is I think in 2000 there was this important segment you needed to start addressing. But now you can't think of it as general market as separate and Hispanic as separate, you really need to think of all targets from the get-go. So there's a lot of clean-slate thinking.

Another important thing is how do you think about this combination? How do you look at an overall media plan, what are the overlaps and how do you plan for that in an efficient way?

And the other thing is, when you start thinking about specific targets—mothers, younger demos, etc.—how do you get out of your assumptions and see what's going on and how Hispanic could be a driver for business?


Was there anything that surprised you about the Census data in terms of Hispanics, how the population is growing and what it means for their buying power?

I think one is this idea of people being in unexpected places. That's pretty interesting. I mean like Georgia, Montana—in that state Hispanics are growing seven times faster than the non-Hispanic population. It's doubled in Kentucky—it's places you would never think. READ MORE