It is too bad that this nice little meme never caught on... a cob-website is a site that hasn't been updated in a long time, kinda like this one.
It turns out that keeping a blog is a little tougher than I originally thought... I guess it is something that happens to everyone (at least once in a while...): Anything that we don't understand very well must be very easy to do.
I just wanted to let my one reader know that I'm still working on the blog, albeit much slower than I'd like. The past couple of months have been brutal, but things are finally beginning to relax. I'm working now on a post about the prizes at the AAHA.
Thanks, and sorry about such a lame post!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
No marketer is that dumb...you'd think
Yesterday was a day for vegging out, and we spent most of our day just watching the TV. At some point, there's this ad for a new birth control pill called 'Yaz'. They make a big claim that this pill works for other menstrual symptoms as well. For a visual metaphor, they show women symbolically getting rid of symtpoms like "irritiability" by pushing the words out of the screen.
What makes this commercial unique, however, is their choice of soundtrack. I don't know who was the brilliant marketing mind who decided that they could take a classic song like Twisted Sister's "We're not gonna take it", re-record it to give it a Go-Go's sound, and put it as the background of a medicine commercial... Picture this if you will:
Image: Women going about their day in a happier way (you know the type)
Announcer: "Yaz, the greatest thing since sliced bread"
Background music: "We're not gonna take it. No, we ain't gonna take it"
WTF?
CB
What makes this commercial unique, however, is their choice of soundtrack. I don't know who was the brilliant marketing mind who decided that they could take a classic song like Twisted Sister's "We're not gonna take it", re-record it to give it a Go-Go's sound, and put it as the background of a medicine commercial... Picture this if you will:
Image: Women going about their day in a happier way (you know the type)
Announcer: "Yaz, the greatest thing since sliced bread"
Background music: "We're not gonna take it. No, we ain't gonna take it"
WTF?
CB
Friday, October 5, 2007
Encu-que?
"Acculturation is the process whereby a Telenovela–watching, norteño-listening and used car-driving member of a three-generation household with a prominently displayed statuette of the Virgin Mary mysteriously morphs into a Simpsons-watching, reggaeton-listening and new car-driving member of a single-generation household with a broadband connection.”
One of the most debated topics in Hispanic / Latino marketing is the topic of acculturation. First of all, no one seems to agree on what to call this phenomenon, and people have used a number of words like acculturation, assimilation, americanization, cultural appropriation, enculturation, and many others that I wouldn't know how to spell, or if they even exist.
Countless hundreds of thousands of dollars have been sacrificed at the altar of cultural understanding. Many companies, trying to capitalize on the growth of the "Latino" market, hire consultants with impressive credentials and even better looking theories. They present intelligent sounding theories like "the boomerang of retro-acculturation", and then recommend including a "Abuelita" in the spot. "Hispanics" are into the family thing, you know...
One theory, defines acculturation in very simplistic terms:
TC(FIFL)=NC*(1-TOC/TL)+FC*(TIFC/TL)
You would agree that it can be any clearer than that...
Many people buy into this theory, that argues that the longer you live in a foreign country, the more you lose your native culture as you absorb the foreign one. In other words, imagine that we can hold 100 units of culture. If we are going to add a unit of foreign culture, we have to drop one unit of of our native culture. How this happens, I've no idea... Maybe it is like:
- Honey, Santos-America is about to start
- Honey, didn't I tell you? I'm into basketball now.
This is ENCULTURATION, one of the theories out there, and it is one that just doesn't make sense. Next week (hopefully), we'll look at another theory.
One of the most debated topics in Hispanic / Latino marketing is the topic of acculturation. First of all, no one seems to agree on what to call this phenomenon, and people have used a number of words like acculturation, assimilation, americanization, cultural appropriation, enculturation, and many others that I wouldn't know how to spell, or if they even exist.
Countless hundreds of thousands of dollars have been sacrificed at the altar of cultural understanding. Many companies, trying to capitalize on the growth of the "Latino" market, hire consultants with impressive credentials and even better looking theories. They present intelligent sounding theories like "the boomerang of retro-acculturation", and then recommend including a "Abuelita" in the spot. "Hispanics" are into the family thing, you know...
One theory, defines acculturation in very simplistic terms:
TC(FIFL)=NC*(1-TOC/TL)+FC*(TIFC/TL)
You would agree that it can be any clearer than that...
Many people buy into this theory, that argues that the longer you live in a foreign country, the more you lose your native culture as you absorb the foreign one. In other words, imagine that we can hold 100 units of culture. If we are going to add a unit of foreign culture, we have to drop one unit of of our native culture. How this happens, I've no idea... Maybe it is like:
- Honey, Santos-America is about to start
- Honey, didn't I tell you? I'm into basketball now.
This is ENCULTURATION, one of the theories out there, and it is one that just doesn't make sense. Next week (hopefully), we'll look at another theory.
Friday, September 14, 2007
"Aspirational"
A good friend just sent me a very interesting piece written by Laura Martinez for Ad Age. Laura is a journalist who also keeps the excellent 'Mi blog es tu blog'. Laura tells a couple of stories, one related to how Mexican advertising tends to go 'aspirational' (i.e. portray whiter, blonder people in advertising) and another on how she was rejected to participate in a focus group, most probably because she's a successful / educated Mexican living in the US. She writes with a journalist/social commentator's sensibility. Being a marketer, I'm a lot more cynical than that.
When I worked in Mexico, we had the very handy SEL (socio-economic level) definitions. This is always the first line for segmenting markets in Mexico, at least for less sophisticated companies. The SEL definitions use letters, and it used to go from A to E (A being the highest). Nowadays, the definitions look a bit more complex: A/B, C+, C, D+, D, E. According to researchers, the breakout between socioeconomic levels works like this:
A/B 7.4%
C+ 7.2%
C 25.0%
D+ 23.5%
D 27.9%
E 9.0%
The way that researchers put people in different segments is fascinating. They use 13 variables like education, number of lightbulbs in the household, number of rooms without bathrooms, number of bathrooms with showers, and also whether you own (or not) things like cars, water heaters, vaccum cleaners, computers, microwave ovens, washing machines, toasters and VCR's. The way they define the segments themselves is also fascinating. The A/B segment, for instance, "includes those segments of the population with the higher standard of living. The head of the household will have a college degree or higher. The households in this segment are luxury apartments or houses with full services and comforts". In contrast, the E segment: "(rarely included in market research [sic]) is the lowest segment in the population. The head of household will have not completed primary education. These people [sic] don't own a place and they have to rent or otherwise manage to find somewhere to live. There's usually more than one generation living in the household,which is totally austere". You can read all about it (in Spanish) here.
Why is this information even relevant to the topic? There's a point to be made, and, as always, it boils down to economics. Just to illustrate, and according to the same data source, the A/B C+ segment, which makes 14% of the population concentrates almost 60% of income. The remaining 86% of the population keeps 40%. If you're a CPG company, however, who are you going to sell to, regardless of income levels? To 14% of the population? Or to 86%? If you want to build a decent volume level, you need to work with the larger parts of the population. Your product needs to work with the larger segment, and that's why Laura did not pass the screener for the focus group interviews.
The other side of the story concerns advertising. One time, a visiting professor I had in college told me something that stuck with me, he said: "In Mexico, you can take a look at a person's skin color and facial features, and you can estimate their social level with amazing accuracy". I thought that this was a very racist remark at the time, but after a while I was forced to concede the point. He was (kinda) right. I guess that Mexico inherited this from the social dynamics in colonial times, and while it is becoming less true as time goes by, it is still a valid observation. It sucks, I know, but I do believe that it is changing for the better. From a marketer's perspective, you want to make your product desirable, so what are you going to do when you produce an ad? What kind of imagery will work best? What kind of people do you want to show using your product? How do you make it 'aspirational'?
I'm going to leave the question open for now. I'm sure it will come back.
CB
When I worked in Mexico, we had the very handy SEL (socio-economic level) definitions. This is always the first line for segmenting markets in Mexico, at least for less sophisticated companies. The SEL definitions use letters, and it used to go from A to E (A being the highest). Nowadays, the definitions look a bit more complex: A/B, C+, C, D+, D, E. According to researchers, the breakout between socioeconomic levels works like this:
A/B 7.4%
C+ 7.2%
C 25.0%
D+ 23.5%
D 27.9%
E 9.0%
The way that researchers put people in different segments is fascinating. They use 13 variables like education, number of lightbulbs in the household, number of rooms without bathrooms, number of bathrooms with showers, and also whether you own (or not) things like cars, water heaters, vaccum cleaners, computers, microwave ovens, washing machines, toasters and VCR's. The way they define the segments themselves is also fascinating. The A/B segment, for instance, "includes those segments of the population with the higher standard of living. The head of the household will have a college degree or higher. The households in this segment are luxury apartments or houses with full services and comforts". In contrast, the E segment: "(rarely included in market research [sic]) is the lowest segment in the population. The head of household will have not completed primary education. These people [sic] don't own a place and they have to rent or otherwise manage to find somewhere to live. There's usually more than one generation living in the household,which is totally austere". You can read all about it (in Spanish) here.
Why is this information even relevant to the topic? There's a point to be made, and, as always, it boils down to economics. Just to illustrate, and according to the same data source, the A/B C+ segment, which makes 14% of the population concentrates almost 60% of income. The remaining 86% of the population keeps 40%. If you're a CPG company, however, who are you going to sell to, regardless of income levels? To 14% of the population? Or to 86%? If you want to build a decent volume level, you need to work with the larger parts of the population. Your product needs to work with the larger segment, and that's why Laura did not pass the screener for the focus group interviews.
The other side of the story concerns advertising. One time, a visiting professor I had in college told me something that stuck with me, he said: "In Mexico, you can take a look at a person's skin color and facial features, and you can estimate their social level with amazing accuracy". I thought that this was a very racist remark at the time, but after a while I was forced to concede the point. He was (kinda) right. I guess that Mexico inherited this from the social dynamics in colonial times, and while it is becoming less true as time goes by, it is still a valid observation. It sucks, I know, but I do believe that it is changing for the better. From a marketer's perspective, you want to make your product desirable, so what are you going to do when you produce an ad? What kind of imagery will work best? What kind of people do you want to show using your product? How do you make it 'aspirational'?
I'm going to leave the question open for now. I'm sure it will come back.
CB
Friday, September 7, 2007
There's a new order in my world.
To my one reader:
As mentioned in the first post in this blog, we were about to have a baby girl. This just happened last Sunday. I had heard a lot about how intense this experience is, but never really understood it until now. I don't want to dwell on the countless cliches that could be said at this time, so I'll just say that I'm in awe with nature, that Ana, my wife, is my hero, and that I'm in love with my daughter.
I have three posts in the works, and they should come out in the next few days.
Thanks!
CB
As mentioned in the first post in this blog, we were about to have a baby girl. This just happened last Sunday. I had heard a lot about how intense this experience is, but never really understood it until now. I don't want to dwell on the countless cliches that could be said at this time, so I'll just say that I'm in awe with nature, that Ana, my wife, is my hero, and that I'm in love with my daughter.
I have three posts in the works, and they should come out in the next few days.
Thanks!
CB
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Where are Hispanics from?
There was an interesting article by Nick Mendoza on hispanicad.com. He argues that many "Hispanic" ad agencies are much more focused on winning awards than in working with their clients. He mentions a few cases about Argentinian Creative Directors who "are untilizing actors from Argentina, South and Central America and most fly to those countries to do so spending unnecessary client funds and worse than that utilizing actors with accents that don‚t coincide with majority of the Hispanic market in the US (sic)"
While Mr. Mendoza certainly demonstrates passion for his ideas (a little too much, perhaps), I believe that he completely misses the most significant point: what is a "Hispanic"? Is there such a person?
In many companies, "Hispanic" advertising is little more than a person or two that work with whatever money is left in the budget after funds are allocated to the "General Market". They use "Hispanic" advertising and "Spanish language" advertising interchangeably, and they seem to believe that spending a couple million on Univision, using a spot directly translated from English, is enough to cover "Hispanics".
Reality, as always, is much more complex. Just to put things in a bit of perspective, there are more than 40 million "Hispanics" in the US. If US "Hispanics" were a country, they would be the second largest Spanish speaking country in the world, ahead of Colombia but behind Mexico. There are 7 states in the US with more than 1mm Hispanics (CA, AZ, TX, IL, FL, NY and NJ), and 21 states with more than 100k. They have a combined buying power of $570bn, which would make them the 17th largest economy in the world, larger than Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium or Austria. They come primarily from Mexico, but also from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the more than 20 countries that make up Latin America.
So this is not only a large, powerful and spread-out segment, it is also a highly heterogeneous one. Mr. Mendoza seems to be very concerned with accents, when the real issue lies WAY deeper, and both clients and agencies are equally responsible for this. I've been very fastidious in putting "Hispanic" between quotes, because I believe that "Hispanic" is nothing but a short hand that lumps all Spanish speakers together, and ignores the cultural differences that go way beyond accents. I would ask Mr. Mendoza, what is a proper US "Hispanic" accent? Is it how Spanish is spoken in Miami, with its Cuban inflection? Is it how it is spoken in Chicago (Mexican) or New York (Puerto Rican / Dominican)? Is it one of the myriad accents we hear on Univision? If so, which one? Like Maria Elena Salinas? Or is it more like Don Francisco?
In his zeal for lambasting agencies that use talent from outside of the US (with the union implications, his comment on Venezuela, his sarcasm on racking up miles), I believe that Mr. Mendoza fell prey to one of the most insidious problem in the "Hispanic" advertising industry: the sooner we stop using "Hispanic" for marketing purposes, the better we will be.
While Mr. Mendoza certainly demonstrates passion for his ideas (a little too much, perhaps), I believe that he completely misses the most significant point: what is a "Hispanic"? Is there such a person?
In many companies, "Hispanic" advertising is little more than a person or two that work with whatever money is left in the budget after funds are allocated to the "General Market". They use "Hispanic" advertising and "Spanish language" advertising interchangeably, and they seem to believe that spending a couple million on Univision, using a spot directly translated from English, is enough to cover "Hispanics".
Reality, as always, is much more complex. Just to put things in a bit of perspective, there are more than 40 million "Hispanics" in the US. If US "Hispanics" were a country, they would be the second largest Spanish speaking country in the world, ahead of Colombia but behind Mexico. There are 7 states in the US with more than 1mm Hispanics (CA, AZ, TX, IL, FL, NY and NJ), and 21 states with more than 100k. They have a combined buying power of $570bn, which would make them the 17th largest economy in the world, larger than Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium or Austria. They come primarily from Mexico, but also from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the more than 20 countries that make up Latin America.
So this is not only a large, powerful and spread-out segment, it is also a highly heterogeneous one. Mr. Mendoza seems to be very concerned with accents, when the real issue lies WAY deeper, and both clients and agencies are equally responsible for this. I've been very fastidious in putting "Hispanic" between quotes, because I believe that "Hispanic" is nothing but a short hand that lumps all Spanish speakers together, and ignores the cultural differences that go way beyond accents. I would ask Mr. Mendoza, what is a proper US "Hispanic" accent? Is it how Spanish is spoken in Miami, with its Cuban inflection? Is it how it is spoken in Chicago (Mexican) or New York (Puerto Rican / Dominican)? Is it one of the myriad accents we hear on Univision? If so, which one? Like Maria Elena Salinas? Or is it more like Don Francisco?
In his zeal for lambasting agencies that use talent from outside of the US (with the union implications, his comment on Venezuela, his sarcasm on racking up miles), I believe that Mr. Mendoza fell prey to one of the most insidious problem in the "Hispanic" advertising industry: the sooner we stop using "Hispanic" for marketing purposes, the better we will be.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
More on "memes"
Here's a short, yet fascinating talk with Daniel Dennett. He discusses the idea of memes and what they are and how they work (much more clearly than I can). Dan Dennett is a prominent American Philospher and a Professor at Tufts University. He's also one of the most engaging and interesting speakers that I've ever seen.
This talk is part of "TED Talks" (www.ted.com). They define themselves as "Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers", and here's one of those rare cases where the promise matches the content. You can find many of their talks online, on their website and on Youtube.
'
This talk is part of "TED Talks" (www.ted.com). They define themselves as "Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers", and here's one of those rare cases where the promise matches the content. You can find many of their talks online, on their website and on Youtube.
'
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Random Post: B*tch = doubleplusungood
There's an article in today's NY Times on how the city council wants to symbolically ban the word "Bitch" because, they argue, it creates "a paradigm of shame and indignity" for all women.
I can understand that some words are extremely loaded and hurtful (i.e. the n-word) when they've always been used to denigrate individuals or races. I think that 'bitch' hardly belongs in that category. Yes, it can be used to hurt, but not always, and not necessarily. Maybe I'm biased because in Mexican Spanish, being a perro or a perra can mean being difficult, but also strong headed, tenacious, uncompromising and relentless. Nevertheless, I think that this discussion is nonsensical, and this flagging of words because some people find them offensive is a very dangerous slippery slope...
And where would we be without the immortal phrase "GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!"? Or even worse, without Cartman's amazing rendition of "Kyle's mom's a bitch in D minor" (don't click play if you have a faulty sense of humor)
I can understand that some words are extremely loaded and hurtful (i.e. the n-word) when they've always been used to denigrate individuals or races. I think that 'bitch' hardly belongs in that category. Yes, it can be used to hurt, but not always, and not necessarily. Maybe I'm biased because in Mexican Spanish, being a perro or a perra can mean being difficult, but also strong headed, tenacious, uncompromising and relentless. Nevertheless, I think that this discussion is nonsensical, and this flagging of words because some people find them offensive is a very dangerous slippery slope...
And where would we be without the immortal phrase "GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!"? Or even worse, without Cartman's amazing rendition of "Kyle's mom's a bitch in D minor" (don't click play if you have a faulty sense of humor)
Friday, August 3, 2007
They come to America...
I've been travelling like crazy and all over the place for the past four weeks. It started with a LGA-ORD-ATL-DFW-FAT-DFW-LGA, then a LGA-DFW-LAS-DFW-LGA, then a LGA-RDU-DFW-LAX / SAN-JFK, and finally a JFK-LAX-JFK. Needless to say, I still don't know what time it is here.
Anyway, in one of those flights I got an upgrade to business class (yes!). As I settled in my seat with a new book that I was really looking forward to (Orwell's "1984", I hadn't read it before), the guy next to me decides to start talking.
After we chit-chatted about the usual topics (American Airlines sucks, travel sucks, airport food sucks, the weather sucks), he asked me where I was from. People usually have a hard time figuring out where I'm from; thanks to my parents, I believe that I can speak English with only a trace of an accent (and slightly weird grammar), so the guy was a little surprised when I replied that I was from Mexico. I thought that that was going to be the end of the conversation, because for a split-second his demeanor changed, before getting back to where he was before. We exchanged a few more plesantries, when all of a sudden he fell silent, turned in his seat, looked directly at me, and asked, point-blank:
"If your guys come to this country, why don't they at least speak the language and be proud about living here?"
I have seen this opinion / sentiment expressed in many forms before, but I had never been in a situation where someone asked me this question. The guy (sorry dude, I never knew your name) then told me how his great grandparents learned English by sharing a book, and how they started doing that right after they arrived in the country from Germany and Italy.
Immigration is, of course, a very complex and multi-layered issue, and trying to explain it is difficult, as every situation is unique. However, if we compare the European migration to the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the current wave of Hispanic immigration, we will see that they are fundamentally different. While both of them begin with economics, they differ because:
1. Distance: Moving from Europe to the US 150 years ago was hardly an easy venture. It implied saving money for a long time in order to secure a place on a boat that would take weeks before arriving. Going back implied as much planning and hardship as getting here. Crossing from Tijuana, MX to San Ysidro, CA, is easily done by foot if you have the right documents (and sometimes even if you don't). For crossing back, you don't even need the documents.
2. Relationship to the motherland: In the 19th century, when you left your country, you pretty much left behind all ties to that country. Getting back in touch with friends and family took months. When you arrived, you all but severed all ties to your past. Today, you can buy a phone card for $10 that will give you hours of talk time to any country in the world. You're much more connected to what's happening back home.
3. Cultural influence. Imagine the first Italian, Irish, German, or any other European immigrant in the 19th century. You arrived in a strange new land, where you don't speak the language and nobody speaks yours. Of course there are no newspapers, magazines, TV channels or internet that allow you to connect back to your roots. You could either speak English, or forget about communicating with anyone else. In modern LA or NY, you could function perfectly well without speaking a single word of English, if you wanted to. There are 7 National Spanish TV broadcasts, plus countless magazines, newspapers and radio stations in Spanish.
Why do immigrants come to the US? Again, it usually starts with economics (much more than politics these days), but today it is much easier to remain connected to the homeland and keep on speaking your language and living your previous lifestyle. The need to acculturate is much less than it used to be. Eventually, most of those who stay will immerse themselves in US culture and language, they just don't have the sense of urgency and the need for survival as earlier immigrant generations.
Hardly a satisfactory answer, but I think that there's no ONE answer to the question...
CB
Anyway, in one of those flights I got an upgrade to business class (yes!). As I settled in my seat with a new book that I was really looking forward to (Orwell's "1984", I hadn't read it before), the guy next to me decides to start talking.
After we chit-chatted about the usual topics (American Airlines sucks, travel sucks, airport food sucks, the weather sucks), he asked me where I was from. People usually have a hard time figuring out where I'm from; thanks to my parents, I believe that I can speak English with only a trace of an accent (and slightly weird grammar), so the guy was a little surprised when I replied that I was from Mexico. I thought that that was going to be the end of the conversation, because for a split-second his demeanor changed, before getting back to where he was before. We exchanged a few more plesantries, when all of a sudden he fell silent, turned in his seat, looked directly at me, and asked, point-blank:
"If your guys come to this country, why don't they at least speak the language and be proud about living here?"
I have seen this opinion / sentiment expressed in many forms before, but I had never been in a situation where someone asked me this question. The guy (sorry dude, I never knew your name) then told me how his great grandparents learned English by sharing a book, and how they started doing that right after they arrived in the country from Germany and Italy.
Immigration is, of course, a very complex and multi-layered issue, and trying to explain it is difficult, as every situation is unique. However, if we compare the European migration to the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the current wave of Hispanic immigration, we will see that they are fundamentally different. While both of them begin with economics, they differ because:
1. Distance: Moving from Europe to the US 150 years ago was hardly an easy venture. It implied saving money for a long time in order to secure a place on a boat that would take weeks before arriving. Going back implied as much planning and hardship as getting here. Crossing from Tijuana, MX to San Ysidro, CA, is easily done by foot if you have the right documents (and sometimes even if you don't). For crossing back, you don't even need the documents.
2. Relationship to the motherland: In the 19th century, when you left your country, you pretty much left behind all ties to that country. Getting back in touch with friends and family took months. When you arrived, you all but severed all ties to your past. Today, you can buy a phone card for $10 that will give you hours of talk time to any country in the world. You're much more connected to what's happening back home.
3. Cultural influence. Imagine the first Italian, Irish, German, or any other European immigrant in the 19th century. You arrived in a strange new land, where you don't speak the language and nobody speaks yours. Of course there are no newspapers, magazines, TV channels or internet that allow you to connect back to your roots. You could either speak English, or forget about communicating with anyone else. In modern LA or NY, you could function perfectly well without speaking a single word of English, if you wanted to. There are 7 National Spanish TV broadcasts, plus countless magazines, newspapers and radio stations in Spanish.
Why do immigrants come to the US? Again, it usually starts with economics (much more than politics these days), but today it is much easier to remain connected to the homeland and keep on speaking your language and living your previous lifestyle. The need to acculturate is much less than it used to be. Eventually, most of those who stay will immerse themselves in US culture and language, they just don't have the sense of urgency and the need for survival as earlier immigrant generations.
Hardly a satisfactory answer, but I think that there's no ONE answer to the question...
CB
Friday, July 6, 2007
Everyone speaks Spanish
"England and America are two countries separated by a common language" - George Bernard Shaw
Languages are a very funny thing. Start with a common language (say, Latin), spread its speakers over a large enough area, add a little bit of time, and watch how the original language starts to mutate in different places until it gets to a point where it becomes several different languages. That happened in Europe over the centuries and now we have not only Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, but also Catalan, Asturian, Ladino, Romanian among many others.
It can be argued that something similar, to a lesser and / or slower degree, happens with Spanish in Latin America.
Richard Dawkins, the Biologist and evolutionary theorist, coined the term "meme" to describe a unit of cultural information. According to memetic theorists, memes propagate through populations the same way a gene propagates from one organism to another, and they are subject to the Darwinian rules of evolution (mutation and natural selection). Language, they argue, evolves like all memes; given enough time, some elements survive, some mutate, and some become extinct.
Let's take Spanish in Latin America. It became the de-facto official language when the Spaniards arrived and started subjugating the local populations. However, Spaniards arrived at different times in different places, where they found different languages, customs, traditions and foodstuffs.
During the conquista, a few things happened. On one hand, each indigenous settlement had its own cultural background, its own 'memes' if you will, and in true Darwinian fashion, some of those 'memes' survived the cultural annihilation brought by the Spaniards. In other cases, Spanish / Spaniard 'memes' had to be locally mutated in order to make them acceptable to the local population. And, obviously, many of the Spanish 'memes' were the fittest and survived through their own strength or through enforcement. However, all this is happening at a local level and at different times, so each settlement has a different starting point.
So, even at the very beginning, Spanish as a language didn't begin on a common ground throughout Latin America. It interacted with local customs and traditions, and began evolving in different ways in different places. Some forces work at keeping things from going awry: the Roman Catholic Church and Centralized governments helped during the conquista and the colonial life of Latin America, and today, global communications help in keeping the language on some common ground. However, as each different settlement evolved through the last 500 years, some startling differences have been appearing. To list them all would be impossible. Roxana Fitch keeps a fantastic repository of many of these differences in her website, Jergas de la habla Hispana (http://www.jergasdelahablahispana.org/). Just for example:
Caña, as defined in the dictionary is the name of the sugarcane. In Bolivia, it also means drinking binge. In Colombia, it means rum. In Costa Rica, it is also slang for money. In Cuba, it means money or muscle. In Spain, it could mean difficulty, boredom, liveliness (yes) or a glass of beer. And in Peru, it also means car.
Sometimes it can get more serious. Let's say you come from Mexico, where "cajeta" means "dulce de leche" and you go to Argentina, where "cajeta" refers to female anatomy!
And sometimes, it just makes communication impossible. I would like to see anyone who is not from Mexico make sense of Jaime Lopez' Chilanga Banda.
Ya chale chango chilango
Que chafa chamba te chutas
No checa andar de tacoche
Y chale con la charola.
So, we all call it Spanish, but it is not necessarily the same thing everywhere.
CB
Languages are a very funny thing. Start with a common language (say, Latin), spread its speakers over a large enough area, add a little bit of time, and watch how the original language starts to mutate in different places until it gets to a point where it becomes several different languages. That happened in Europe over the centuries and now we have not only Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, but also Catalan, Asturian, Ladino, Romanian among many others.
It can be argued that something similar, to a lesser and / or slower degree, happens with Spanish in Latin America.
Richard Dawkins, the Biologist and evolutionary theorist, coined the term "meme" to describe a unit of cultural information. According to memetic theorists, memes propagate through populations the same way a gene propagates from one organism to another, and they are subject to the Darwinian rules of evolution (mutation and natural selection). Language, they argue, evolves like all memes; given enough time, some elements survive, some mutate, and some become extinct.
Let's take Spanish in Latin America. It became the de-facto official language when the Spaniards arrived and started subjugating the local populations. However, Spaniards arrived at different times in different places, where they found different languages, customs, traditions and foodstuffs.
During the conquista, a few things happened. On one hand, each indigenous settlement had its own cultural background, its own 'memes' if you will, and in true Darwinian fashion, some of those 'memes' survived the cultural annihilation brought by the Spaniards. In other cases, Spanish / Spaniard 'memes' had to be locally mutated in order to make them acceptable to the local population. And, obviously, many of the Spanish 'memes' were the fittest and survived through their own strength or through enforcement. However, all this is happening at a local level and at different times, so each settlement has a different starting point.
So, even at the very beginning, Spanish as a language didn't begin on a common ground throughout Latin America. It interacted with local customs and traditions, and began evolving in different ways in different places. Some forces work at keeping things from going awry: the Roman Catholic Church and Centralized governments helped during the conquista and the colonial life of Latin America, and today, global communications help in keeping the language on some common ground. However, as each different settlement evolved through the last 500 years, some startling differences have been appearing. To list them all would be impossible. Roxana Fitch keeps a fantastic repository of many of these differences in her website, Jergas de la habla Hispana (http://www.jergasdelahablahispana.org/). Just for example:
Caña, as defined in the dictionary is the name of the sugarcane. In Bolivia, it also means drinking binge. In Colombia, it means rum. In Costa Rica, it is also slang for money. In Cuba, it means money or muscle. In Spain, it could mean difficulty, boredom, liveliness (yes) or a glass of beer. And in Peru, it also means car.
Sometimes it can get more serious. Let's say you come from Mexico, where "cajeta" means "dulce de leche" and you go to Argentina, where "cajeta" refers to female anatomy!
And sometimes, it just makes communication impossible. I would like to see anyone who is not from Mexico make sense of Jaime Lopez' Chilanga Banda.
Ya chale chango chilango
Que chafa chamba te chutas
No checa andar de tacoche
Y chale con la charola.
So, we all call it Spanish, but it is not necessarily the same thing everywhere.
CB
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Random post - New York
One of the greatest things about living in New York is that, more often than not, you need to choose what you want to do among many equally good alternatives. I think that if you're ever bored in New York City, honestly, you need to talk to someone.
Last Sunday, for instance, we decided to go to Times Square to check out what was available at the TKTS booth (www.tdf.org/tkts). You just need a little bit of luck, and you may score great tickets for 50% off. We ended up with good seats for Avenue Q. If you haven't seen it, it is extremely funny, in a slightly subversive sort of way. For reference, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtiGd58J0bY.
On Wednesday, we had tickets for Spiegelworld's "Absinthe" show at the South Street Seaport. We were completely clueless on what to expect, but we had read that it was something between Cirque du Soleil and a cabaret / burlesque act. It took a bit to find the place, as the only directions we had were: "Pier 17, South Street Seaport , Under the Brooklyn Bridge"... a little more help would've been nice. Anyway, when we finally found the place, we found a nice outdoor bar / restaurant, and a line to go into what looked like a tent, only it had been labeled "Salon Perdu". As we walked in to find a seat (it is all general seating), we were in a theater-in-the-round kinda setting, with seats next to the stage and booths around the walls. I would hate to spoil it for anyone, but we were very pleasantly surprised. The show is funny, amazing, a little racy and a lot of fun. For more info, go to www.spiegelworld.com
Finally, Mexico is through to the next round of Copa America after winning against Brazil and Ecuador, and tying with Chile. Argentina seems the most likely next match, unless they beat Paraguay. Both teams steamrolled over the US and Colombia and are playing extremely well, so it should be an interesting match.
CB
Last Sunday, for instance, we decided to go to Times Square to check out what was available at the TKTS booth (www.tdf.org/tkts). You just need a little bit of luck, and you may score great tickets for 50% off. We ended up with good seats for Avenue Q. If you haven't seen it, it is extremely funny, in a slightly subversive sort of way. For reference, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtiGd58J0bY.
On Wednesday, we had tickets for Spiegelworld's "Absinthe" show at the South Street Seaport. We were completely clueless on what to expect, but we had read that it was something between Cirque du Soleil and a cabaret / burlesque act. It took a bit to find the place, as the only directions we had were: "Pier 17, South Street Seaport , Under the Brooklyn Bridge"... a little more help would've been nice. Anyway, when we finally found the place, we found a nice outdoor bar / restaurant, and a line to go into what looked like a tent, only it had been labeled "Salon Perdu". As we walked in to find a seat (it is all general seating), we were in a theater-in-the-round kinda setting, with seats next to the stage and booths around the walls. I would hate to spoil it for anyone, but we were very pleasantly surprised. The show is funny, amazing, a little racy and a lot of fun. For more info, go to www.spiegelworld.com
Finally, Mexico is through to the next round of Copa America after winning against Brazil and Ecuador, and tying with Chile. Argentina seems the most likely next match, unless they beat Paraguay. Both teams steamrolled over the US and Colombia and are playing extremely well, so it should be an interesting match.
CB
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
On Latin America
It should go without saying that Latin America is a big and diverse place, and that lumping all "Latin" people together is akin to lumping all European countries together... unless you're doing it for geographical reasons, it makes little sense.
First of all, why is it called "Latin" America? The most common language in the region is, of course, Spanish. However, there's the 'small' exception of Brazil, the largest and most populated country in Latin America, where they speak Portuguese. Both Spanish and Portuguese are Romance languages derived from Latin. Other less accepted names include "Hispanic" America and "Ibero-America".
And just how big and diverse is Latin America (LA)?
In terms of size, LA is 8.1mm square miles, roughly 2.2 times the size of the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii). It is home to more than 560mm people in more than 20 independent countries and in 8 dependent territories. Even today, there are more than 200 languages and dialects in active use, including Spanish, Portuguese, English, French and Dutch among many others.
Through its history, LA has known almost every single form of government known to mankind, from tributary empires (like the Aztecs), monarchies (like the Incas), "plain" empires (like in Mexico with Iturbide or Maximillian), to communism (like Cuba) or military dictatorships (like pretty much every single country in LA at one point or another). Today, most countries in Latin America (with very conspicous exceptions) are democracies with widely varying levels of development.
If you're a professional marketer in any given country in Latin America, you will have segmentation studies, socio-economic data, and all sorts of tools to try to segment your consumers into manageable groups... if this is true for any given country in such a large region, why is it that more often than not it is NOT true for the US Spanish speaking population?
Just a question...
First of all, why is it called "Latin" America? The most common language in the region is, of course, Spanish. However, there's the 'small' exception of Brazil, the largest and most populated country in Latin America, where they speak Portuguese. Both Spanish and Portuguese are Romance languages derived from Latin. Other less accepted names include "Hispanic" America and "Ibero-America".
And just how big and diverse is Latin America (LA)?
In terms of size, LA is 8.1mm square miles, roughly 2.2 times the size of the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii). It is home to more than 560mm people in more than 20 independent countries and in 8 dependent territories. Even today, there are more than 200 languages and dialects in active use, including Spanish, Portuguese, English, French and Dutch among many others.
Through its history, LA has known almost every single form of government known to mankind, from tributary empires (like the Aztecs), monarchies (like the Incas), "plain" empires (like in Mexico with Iturbide or Maximillian), to communism (like Cuba) or military dictatorships (like pretty much every single country in LA at one point or another). Today, most countries in Latin America (with very conspicous exceptions) are democracies with widely varying levels of development.
If you're a professional marketer in any given country in Latin America, you will have segmentation studies, socio-economic data, and all sorts of tools to try to segment your consumers into manageable groups... if this is true for any given country in such a large region, why is it that more often than not it is NOT true for the US Spanish speaking population?
Just a question...
Monday, July 2, 2007
Welcome to Selling en la Marketa!
Hello and welcome!
Most experts agree that your opening needs to be strong if you want to capture your audience's attention. I'd like to begin by disregarding all expert advice and begin with a disclaimer: This is my very first attempt at keeping a blog, so bear with me.
My name is Carlos Boughton. I'm a Mexican guy living in New York, working at a Dutch company that happens to sell Mexican beer in the US. I'm very happily married (10 years this July!) and we're expecting our first child (a girl!) in August. We also have Chester, a very handsome, lazy, funny and slightly disturbed Sealyham Terrier.
What is "Selling en la Marketa?" The idea is to write about all things related to "Hispanic" or "Latino" marketing in the US, starting from things such as why we are called "Latinos" to how Spanish is not the same between Latinamerican countries (or even within countries). Later, I may also talk about things such as interesting ads / campaigns directed to the "Latino" community, maybe some news and commentary too.
I'll try to keep some sort of schedule, but I can't guarantee regular updates. My work can go from an easygoing 9 to 5 to 16 hour days including weekends... (and I'm sure that once our baby comes, this will also take a bit of time).
Anyway, thanks for dropping by, and lets see where this goes.
CB
Most experts agree that your opening needs to be strong if you want to capture your audience's attention. I'd like to begin by disregarding all expert advice and begin with a disclaimer: This is my very first attempt at keeping a blog, so bear with me.
My name is Carlos Boughton. I'm a Mexican guy living in New York, working at a Dutch company that happens to sell Mexican beer in the US. I'm very happily married (10 years this July!) and we're expecting our first child (a girl!) in August. We also have Chester, a very handsome, lazy, funny and slightly disturbed Sealyham Terrier.
What is "Selling en la Marketa?" The idea is to write about all things related to "Hispanic" or "Latino" marketing in the US, starting from things such as why we are called "Latinos" to how Spanish is not the same between Latinamerican countries (or even within countries). Later, I may also talk about things such as interesting ads / campaigns directed to the "Latino" community, maybe some news and commentary too.
I'll try to keep some sort of schedule, but I can't guarantee regular updates. My work can go from an easygoing 9 to 5 to 16 hour days including weekends... (and I'm sure that once our baby comes, this will also take a bit of time).
Anyway, thanks for dropping by, and lets see where this goes.
CB
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