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Musings
on the Intersection of Culture, Marketing, and Research
"What's A Blog?"
Monday,
December 29, 2003
Novel
Aspirations
Marketers
love to talk about consumer "aspirations"
-- that is, many people (esp. your fashionistas, trendsetters,
the terminally hip -- we all know at least one) will acquire certain
products and brands, not because it accurately reflects their
current station in life, or their demographic strata (whether
it be based on class, race or creed), but out of motivation for
who they want to be or who they dream of being.
In other words: "dress for the job you want, not the one
you have" -- so goes the maxim.
Among
young consumer segments -- kids, teens, tweens, echo boomers --
aspiration plays a considerable role in driving purchasing behavior.
Kids are always on tip for What's New, What's Hot. In the past,
consumers adopted styles and acquired brands that reflected the
tropes of a privileged, upper-crust (re: "white") elite
-- remember the polo shirts, preppies, and pennyloafers of the
'80s?
More
recently -- with the popularity and ubiquity of hip hop culture
-- young suburban kids across America are now apeing their favorite
hip hop icon -- becoming Phat farm wearin, rhyme-speakin', baggy-pocketed
homiez and playaz. An exaggeration I know, but hardly a complete
caricature. The point is, rap fashions and oversized sports jerseys
(not to mention the requisite 'tudes and poses) are de riguer
for any youngster who wants to establish instant street cred today.
It's a new kind of aspiration for something less white-bread and
more authentic.
I've
been thinking more about my post from this Saturday responding
to this NY
Times piece. Is the use of 'ethnically ambiguous' images and
visual representations used to reflect a new reality or to establish
a new kind of aspiration for younger Americans? Already, we know
that Barbie (the quintessential feminine ideal for so many generations
of American girls) has
been replaced by the streetwise, ethnically indeterminate
Bratz -- now Gen-Y's (and
younger) de
facto toy doll of choice. Of
course, it
hasn't been without controversy either.
More
thoughts on this ahead...
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
4:37 pm
Sunday,
December 28, 2003
New
American Landscapes: The 'Burbs
My
friend Gregory Rodriguez of the New
America Foundation writes about his hometown of Glendale,
CA in today's
op-ed section of the L.A. Times:
I grew up in Glendale in the
midst of its transition. My teachers were Midwesterners who
pronounced Washington "Warshington." But more and
more of my classmates were from Iran, Panama, Vietnam and
Lebanon. A boy from Australia beat me in the second-grade
spelling bee. My best friend in fifth grade was from Korea.
This
astonishing demographic transformation has made Glendale a
symbol of the complexity of contemporary immigration. More
telling, the city has become a testament to the durability
of the suburban dream.
In contrast to turn-of-the-century
European migrants who flocked to urban enclaves, large numbers
of today's newcomers settle in the suburbs. According to the
2000 census, 48% of immigrants who arrived in metropolitan
areas in the 1990s chose to live outside the central city.
Asian immigrants, especially, move to the suburbs. In 2000,
61% of East Indian households in metropolitan areas were in
the suburbs, a figure just 10 percentage points lower than
whites.
Successive waves of immigrants
from Lebanon, Iran and Armenia have turned Glendale into the
second-largest Armenian community in the world, after Yerevan.
The city is also home to significant numbers of Mexicans,
Cubans, Colombians, Filipinos, Chinese and Koreans. According
to the Census Bureau, Latinos make up 20% of Glendale's population,
Asians 16% and Armenians around 30%. Glendale's City Council
reflects this demographic mix: One is Anglo, two are Latino
and two are Armenian.
What
goes on in Glendale is not unlike what many suburban communities
across the country experienced during the '80s and '90s -- a period
of heavy immigration into the U.S.
As
a followup to yesterday's posts, check out Gregory's very relevant
piece from the New York Times last year: "The
Overwhelming Allure of English." Heck, while you're at
it, read his "Mongrel
America" from the Atlantic -- which was selected as one
of the Best
American Political Writing of 2003. Impressive stuff.
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
9:27 pm
Saturday,
December 27, 2003
"Spanglish"
or "Slanglish"?
A
Column One article in today's
Los Angeles Times describes the phenomenon of Spanglish (subscription
required, but es gratis):
Now
it's rapidly moving from Latino neighborhoods into the mainstream.
Spanglish is showing up in television and films, with writers
using it to bring authenticity to their scripts and to get
racy language past network executives. Marketers use it to
sell everything from bank accounts to soft drinks. Hallmark
now sells Spanglish greeting cards. And McDonald's is rolling
out Spanglish TV spots that will air on both Spanish- and
English-language networks.
Here,
I think the reporter is slightly overstating just how prevalent
'Spanglish' is being used in marketing -- at least in advertising.
I think it's a case of the writer getting a wee-bit carried away
in describing this phenomenon, which is certainly happening, but
really hasn't yet fully seeped into Hispanic- or general- consumer
marketing practices in any substantial way. Part of the reason
is simple: in the same way critics in the story rail against "code-switching",
there is a strong faction of the Hispanic media establishment
who see this form of communication as a direct affront to their
livelihood. It's in their self-interest to downplay this phenomenon
(or keep their blinders on) because they perceive it as a threat
to their business -- esp. in the competition for corporate marketing
dollars which typically split their general advertising budgets
from their ethnic advertising expenditures.
It
need not be. Look at the example of LATV:
There
is perhaps no better place to see how Spanglish is used —
and marketed — today than the studios of KJLA-TV, a music
programming network that bills itself as the first truly bilingual
space on broadcast television for young Latinos.
LATV,
as the station is known, broadcasts celebrity interviews as
completely bilingual affairs. On a recent show, the hosts
asked pop singer Juanes questions in English, and he responded
in Spanish. The code-switching at times was fast and furious.
The
programming director, Flavio Morales, said the use of Spanglish
is purely spontaneous — the way the young people who
watch the show actually talk. Morales simply assumes his audience
can follow along. And among the 20-something employees at
LATV, Spanglish is the norm.
Ah
yes, those young people -- always confounding and befuddling their
elders. When will the Hispanic media establishment truly "get"
this group?
Shameless
Plug: While we're on the subject of LATV, I should say that
New American Dimensions will be hosting a workshop on marketing
to the U.S. Latino youth market with LATV's President Daniel Clapp
at this conference
in April. Those of you in Los Angeles, or who are looking
for an excuse to come and visit, we'd be pleased to have you.
Incidentally,
the Washington Post also has their own article about Spanglish:
"Latino
Youths Find Their Own Tongue" -- posted just two days
ago. If both the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post says this
is goin' on, it must be real! Read 'em both!
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
10:15 am
Transcultural
Imagemaking - America's Future
It's
a Benetton World, folks, the rest of us just live in it. From
tomorrow's
New York Times fashion/style pages comes yet another feature
article describing one of the prevailing marketing trends in the
mainstream marketplace: the use of mixed-race -- or "ethnically
ambiguous" -- people, images, and visual representations
to hawk product -- which reaches its zenith, and resonates the
greatest perhaps, among the U.S. youth population.
Ambiguity
is chic, especially among the under-25 members of Generation
Y, the most racially diverse population in the nation's history.
Teen People's current issue, devoted to beauty, features makeovers
of girls whose backgrounds are identified on full-page head
shots as "Puerto Rican and Italian-American" and
"Finnish-German-Irish- and Scotch-American."
"We're
seeing more of a desire for the exotic, left-of-center beauty
that transcends race or class," Amy Barnett, the magazine's
managing editor, said. It "represents the new reality
of America, which includes considerable mixing," she
added. "It is changing the face of American beauty."
Now,
this is really nothing new (esp. for those of you who follow this
blog). Every couple months it seems, a new feature article comes
out in one of the major U.S. dailies reporting this commercial/cultural
phenomenon as if the writer has somehow just discovered
broke a story on The Next Big Thang. While the lightbulb may have
just switched on in the heads of some U.S. newspaper editors,
this trend has been going on for quite awhile now -- esp. in youth
pop culture and fashion. (Pssst...
click here
for my own article on the same subject). Heck,
for real substance on this, folks, look no further than Leon
Wynter's book: "American Skin" (released last summer).
It's required reading for all marketers as far as I'm concerned.
Nevertheless,
the trends explored in the Times piece -- as worn as they are
becoming -- reveal a refreshing departure from the marketing tactics
of some really out-of-touch companies: Abercrombie
& Fitch
being the most egregious example. Lest
you skeptics out there think this post-ethnic/transracial/whatever-you-wanna-call-it
trend is just a passing fad, the article concludes with an indispensable
response from one leading marketing practitioner:
More and more, that kind of
thinking is echoed by the professional image makers. "Some
of us are just now beginning to recognize that many cultures
and races are assimilating," said John Partilla, the
chief executive of Brand Buzz, a marketing agency owned by
the WPP group. "If what you're seeing now is our focus
on trying to reflect the blending of individuals, it reflects
a societal trend, not a marketing trend."
"For once," Mr.
Partilla added, "it's about art imitating life."
People,
this is no mere "trend" -- it's the future. Yours and
mine.
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
9:53 am
Tuesday,
December 23, 2003
"You
Speak English, You Have An Education. How Come You Can't Find
A Job?"
From
today's Associated Press article: "Children
of Hispanic Immigrants Suffered in Economic Downturn".
Francisco Flamenco, an El
Salvadoran immigrant's son, recalls his father ``always had
something'' in the way of construction work.
But Flamenco, who was born
in the United States, hasn't had the same luck. At 27, Flamenco
has been searching for six months for a part-time job to support
himself while he works toward a teaching credential and pays
his $500 rent and $315 monthly car payments.
``Getting a degree, you think
you're going to be able to have all these doors open, but
it's not true,'' said Flamenco, whose California State University,
Hayward diploma hangs over the computer in his Oakland, Calif.
home.
Between the end of 2000 and
2002, the number of unemployed 25- to 34-year-old, second-generation
Latinos more than doubled, according to the Pew analysis;
16- to 24-year-olds also saw a big increase.
You
can also read the article here
(hat tip to Latino Pundit).
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
5:37 pm
The
Medium and the Message: Political Campaign Ads
Incredibly,
with all the campaign talk about capturing the critical "Hispanic
vote" these days -- and with a burgeoning television media
and advertising infrastructure in place to reach them -- I'm frankly
surprised that targeted political messages to Hispanics still
lack any real strategic sophistication, esp. in properly segmenting
the population by language preference.
In
today's Albuquerque
Journal article (via Hispanic Business), Democratic Party
strategists in New Mexico find themselves in the same quandary
that some corporate marketers struggle with in their ethnic marketing:
Should all U.S. Hispanics be targeted entirely
in English or in Spanish?
But
while the Internet has begun to revolutionize how political
campaigns are waged, the strategic thinking behind television
advertising -- especially Hispanic-themed advertising -- has
hit a terrible rut.
Armando
Gutierrez, a nationally known Democratic media consultant
who is based in Albuquerque and specializes in crafting messages
that appeal to Hispanics, would like to escape that rut.
But
it's hard to do.
Gutierrez
has been hired by Howard Dean's presidential campaign to develop
its "Hispanic media."
Translation:
Gutierrez is paid to produce Spanish-language TV and radio
ads for Dean that will air in selective markets nationally,
including, no doubt, the Albuquerque market.
Sounds
good, right? Not in New Mexico, since eighty-four percent of
Hispanics in that state are born in the U.S. according to
the article. So how should this culturally-distinct, yet English-fluent
segment be communicated to? Apparently, with shrugged shoulders
according to the article:
"There's mounds of empirical
evidence that demonstrate that Hispanics don't react to ads
in the same way as a non-Hispanic does," he said.
Ideally, top-flight national
campaigns would target Hispanic voters with
messages in both Spanish and English -- "It's what I
should be doing," says Gutierrez.
Instead, Gutierrez will likely
produce very effective Spanish- language ads for the Dean
campaign, much as he did for Al Gore's campaign four years
ago, but nothing in English.
Read
the entire article here.
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
2:39 pm
Wednesday,
December 17, 2003
Zócalo
Okay,
now I haven't really used this blog in any real self-serving way.
Yet.
So,
let me take this time to make a public service announcement on
behalf of an organization that I'm a part of called Zócalo
--
a non-partisan cultural forum for the new Los Angeles.
In partnership with the Los Angeles Public Library, Zócalo
will be sponsoring a series of speaking engagements this Winter
and Spring featuring a stimulating lineup of provocative individuals.
I mean, check this:
Tuesday,
January 6
Harold Meyerson, political editor of the LA Weekly,
editor-at-large for "The American Prospect" and
columnist for The Washington Post, “The LA-DC Connection:
The Meaning of Los Angeles in American Politics”
Thursday,
February 5
Matt Miller, syndicated columnist and public radio
host, “The 2% Solution: Fixing America's Problems in
Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love”
Tuesday,
March 2
Carl Franklin, director of such acclaimed films as
"Devil in a Blue Dress" and, more recently, "Out
of Time." Interviewed by Oscar Garza of the Los Angeles
Times Magazine.
Thursday,
April 8
Michael Barone, author of "The Encyclopedia of
American Politics" and Fox News commentator.
Wednesday,
May 5
John Phillip Santos, media maker and author of "Places
Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation."
Tuesday,
June 1
Marie Arana, editor of the Washington Post Book World
and author of "American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood."
The
best part of this shindig is that all events are free to the
public. Not only that, but if you reserve in advance, there's
free food and booze (!) for you afterwards. Incredible,
I know. A better bargain I have not heard of yet. So come out
to feed your tummy and your head. Anyone in the Los Angeles area
so inclined, join the fun!
For
more information and specifics, peep the website here.
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
4:40 pm
Novela
Wars
Earlier
this month, I mentioned that Univision's locally-produced "Te
Amare en Silencio" (I Shall Love You in Silence) was the
first telenovela to be set in Los Angeles (unlike previous productions
set in Latin America produced by chief novela supplier Grupo Televisa).
Since I'm hardly a novela aficionado, I didn't realize that Telemundo
was also simultaneously airing its own production to portray the
Hispanic immigrant experience in the U.S with "El Alma Herida"
(The Wounded Soul). According to this report, they
are going directly head to head in the same timeslot:
Millions
of Hispanic television viewers who tuned into the United States'
two largest Spanish-language networks at 9 p.m. Monday witnessed
the dawn of an era for the popular soap-opera genre: tales
about the Hispanic immigrant experience that better reflect
viewers' lives in the United States
In
a fierce battle to gain viewers, Telemundo and Univisión
each launched a multimillion-dollar production that had been
taped in the United States and conceived for this country's
Hispanic market.
For
decades, the Spanish-language networks had depended solely
on telenovela suppliers in Latin America.
''This
is a crucial moment in the history of Spanish-language television
in the United States,'' said James McNamara, president and
chief executive of Telemundo, in an interview with El Nuevo
Herald. ``For the first time, the audience can choose between
two home-grown telenovelas.''
While
the two networks had successfully explored coproduction agreements
with Latin American telenovela makers in recent years, never
before have their investments been so high and the migratory
theme so evident, analysts say.
Unlike
many of their Latin American counterparts, there are no Cinderella
stories in these new soap operas. Both melodramas intentionally
examine both the pains and the gains of the Hispanic immigrant
experience in the United States.
This
sparks some interesting questions for me, such as: As the U.S.
Hispanic population continues to escalate (it's already the 5th
largest in the world), does this portend a new trend of shifting
media production and programming content into the States? Will
it make a difference down the road when Spanish loses its currency
among subsequent generations of Hispanics -- the vast majority
who will be second and third generation non-immigrants? Or, will
the Spanish-language networks increasingly develop crossover content
to capture a broader swath of the Hispanic market such as the
bilingual youth market?
I
don't know, but it will be fascinating to see how things evolve.
In the meantime, we'll keep tabs on the Univision vs. Telemundo
score. Read the whole article here
(courtesy Latino Pundit).
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
4:27 pm
Where
the Growth?
From
today's Census Bureau press
release:
Foreign-Born
a Majority in Six U.S. Cities
Growth Fastest in South, Census Bureau Reports
Foreign-born
people constituted the majority in six cities of 100,000 or
more population in 2000 — two of them in Florida and
four in California, according to an analysis of census results
by the U.S. Census Bureau.
More
than 7-in-10 people in Hialeah, Fla., and about 6-in-10 in
Miami were foreign-born, according to the census brief, The
Foreign-Born Population: 2000. The foreign-born accounted
for more than half the population in the California cities
of Glendale, Santa Ana, Daly City and El Monte.
Places
with 40 percent to 50 percent foreign-born in their populations
in 2000 were East Los Angeles, Los Angeles and Garden Grove,
Calif., and Elizabeth, N.J. (See Table 1.)
You
can download a copy of the report here.
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
4:02 pm
Use
Your ImaginAsian
On
November 23, I posted that KTSF and the International Channel
would be embarking on a major endeavor called Stir
--- their first foray into new programming aimed at second generation
Asian American youth. Well, on the heels of that announcement
now comes ImaginAsianTV.
From their website:
Premiering
August 2004, ImaginAsian TV is the first and only 24-hour
television network for the Asian-American community. Just
as MTV and BET helped usher in youth and hip-hop culture into
mainstream America, we are committed to infusing the current
television landscape with the best Asian/Asian-American media
content available.
I
will be following this one with eyes wide open. (Hat tip to Angry
Asian Man)
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
3:53 pm
Tuesday,
December 16, 2003
Where
Cash Is King
It's
no surprise to the denizens of most large city centers that immigrants
are driving a visible -- and sometimes very viable -- cash-based
economy. In fact, here in Los Angeles, we may be the capital of
informal financial transactions. Here's a fascinating glimpse
into L.A.'s own "underground economy" in this
week's Los Angeles Business Journal:
A large part of this world,
of course, is immigrants. There are at least 585,000 legal
émigrés to the region, and the number of illegal
residents is a multiple of that figure.
Their skills vary greatly
– from grunt laborer to electrician – but they hold
in common an inability to obtain mainstream employment, either
because of their undocumented status or lack of a Social Security
number.
What businesses employ them?
Often, it’s a firm owned by another immigrant, sometimes
in sectors such as construction, janitorial work or the garment
factories that operate in downtown’s fashion district
and along Slauson Avenue in South Central.
Acknowledging
this economy exists is one thing. Measuring the size of it is
something else:
The UCLA Anderson Forecast’s
estimate of 1.2 million “informal” workers –
people who may or may not work legally, but who do not show
up on any payroll – compares to an earlier study from
the Economic Roundtable, which estimated from as few as 486,000
to as many as 1.6 million – up to 29 percent of the total
workforce.
Talk
about a margin or error! 486,000 to 1.6 million is a huge variance.
I'm certain the same imprecision is equally applied to other U.S.
cities that are home to a large number of immigrants -- which
is why it is extremely difficult to get an accurate gauge of spending
power for Asian and Hispanic groups. No surprise there.
While
I was researching for a homeownership
study last year, one prominent mortgage lender told me that
many Latino immigrants seeking a mortgage have come up with far
more unreported income for their downpayment than their documents
would suggest. It's spurred his firm to establish alternative
lending criteria in order to capture this increasingly viable
market.
Posted by Thomas Tseng,
12:48 pm
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