Developments in social science, global trends and demographics all reinforce the significant benefits of bilingual education.  Despite that, American schools show a steady decline in language programs. How can this be?

First, let’s look at the conditions for bilingualism.  There have always been benefits to being able to speak more than one language; recent studies show the depth of those benefits: “Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.” Read more…

Stephen Palacios writes for AdAge: We’re at a Tipping Point in the Battle of Effectiveness vs. Efficiency:–  In just one week, in very different work settings, Walmart Stores, Kellogg’s, AT&T, Wells Fargo, General Mills and Target were in focus.

The topic? How each is wrestling with new marketing models that try to balance the “total market” vs. ethnic-specific initiatives. “Total market” is defined as an appreciation that the general market has dramatically shifted, and is now defined in large part by ethnic consumers. Read more…

 Cheskin Added Value’s Stephen Palacios blogs for AdAge:
At the fictional Sterling Cooper ad agency in “Mad Men,” Pete Campbell urges a client to “take a look at the Negro market.” In the TV show the year is 1961. It’s a reminder that the push to understand and target consumers on the basis of their ethnic identity goes back decades.

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Cheskin Added Value’s Stephen Palacios writes for The Huffington Post’s Latino Voices: - Let’s consider unintended consequences and the growing Hispanic market: Laws and regulations that start out with the very best intentions for Hispanics may now actually be impeding their progress. Take for example, a recent meeting I was in with a major financial services company. I was with a group of execs going through a presentation of market data, competitor reviews and overall Hispanic consumer category attitudes and usage behavior. At the end of the meeting, one exec came up to me and said “we have the same problem as I had in my last company, it’s hard to make the business case with CRA regulations limiting our ability to measure the market”. What did he mean?

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Cheskin Added Value’s Stephen Palacios writes for The Huffington Post’s Latino Voices – Hispanics and immigration reached its apex of visibility during the 2006 street protests, where a coordinated, national series of street marches occurred with Hispanic participants estimated in the millions. These events were facilitated and amplified by Spanish-language media outlets, in particular Univision, Telemundo, Azteca America and various Spanish-language radio stations across the country and demonstrated to the American populace for the first time that Hispanic voices could coalesce in a powerful chorus.

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What does the changing ethic identity of the USA and the growth of the Hispanic consumer market mean for marketers?  Cheskin Added Value’s Stephen Palacios writes for The Huffington Post’s Latino Voices.

The rapid growth of the U.S. Hispanic market these past couple of decades is messing up just about everything regarding dominant norms on race and ethnicity in the United States. It was once so easy. The post-war era ushered in an ethnic/race system of classification of what Berkeley historian David Hollinger has called the identity pentagon of Black, White, Brown, Red or Yellow. All Americans could be placed into their respective color bucket and that was that. Hispanics were Brown, and could clearly be associated as foreign and maybe not quite “American”. Read more…

Early analysis of the 2010 Census has already indicated what many marketers have known for sometime, that the U.S. is demographically becoming more infused with cultural identity consumers, particularly through the growth of African Americans and Hispanics.  A lot of analysis correctly will go into understanding how to serve these multicultural consumer segments, as they grow in size, financial power and importance.  For example, according to Geoscape, from 2000 to 2010  27.8 million Hispanics, African Americans and Asians were added, representing 80% of overall growth during the period.

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Robero Suro

Roberto Suro has a long and storied career as a journalist (Time Magazine, Washington Post), author and founder of the Pew Hispanic Center.  We sought his studied perspective on ethnic identity and its role in U.S. society…

Commentary on the Cheskin Added Value/The Futures Company Study of Cultural Openness
by Roberto Suro
Professor of Journalism and Public Policy, Managing Director of the Annenberg Innovation Lab, University of Southern California Read more…

Edelman Hosts Cheskin Added Value and The Futures Company Panel Discussion on the Influence of Ethnic Identity on Consumer Behavior.

January 11, 2011, NEW YORK – leading insight firms Cheskin Added Value and The Futures Company unveiled new findings on how the rise in ethnic diversity is leading to shifts in traditional views of racial and cultural identity roles. Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations firm hosted and moderated an event, panel discussion and Q&A where the new research was announced. Read more…

This week People en Español unveiled the top-line results of it annual Hispanic Opinion Tracker (HOT) Study, which this year celebrates its 10th Anniversary. This is the third major study conducted by a major media company on the changing role of Latina women in the U.S. and yet fresh insights are still being revealed.
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According to Stephen Palacios, exec VP of Cheskin Added Value, which conducted the HOT study for People en Español, [the] modulation between cultures and roles women play creates a certain tension and a need for guidance among Hispanic women that marketers should be aware of. For example, the HOT study found that 23% of Latina women (vs. 5% of general market women) said they “don’t know how to dress appropriately for work.” This finding clearly indicates there are huge opportunities for apparel brands and retailers to “help/guide” Hispanic women to achieve their goals of advancing their careers.

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