Over the years, MMW has covered no shortage of stories on how big brand early adopters of mobile marketing like Target have striven to target the Hispanic community through cutting edge mobile marketing techniques.
As 2012 draws to a close, the trend appears poised to continue, especially for Target. On Wednesday, the retail giant confirmed plans to hand over its U.S. Hispanic account to LatinWorks following a three-month review process.
“LatinWorks has been selected and will be our primary strategic partner for Hispanic marketing,” Katie Boylan, senior group manager of public relations at Target, tells AdAge.
The venerable publication lists Target at No. 29 on a list of the 50 largest advertisers in Hispanic media.
Without question, the mobile boom is in full swing across the globe today. And based on the latest industry insight and data, smartphone penetration is growing fastest among Black and Hispanic populations.
Portada reported in June that U.S. smartphone penetration is quickly approaching 50 percent, so “it’s no surprise that the adoption of mobile shopping tools has been rapid.”
Hispanics and African Americans are adopting new shopping technologies at a faster rate than Caucasians, with 18 percent of African American shoppers and 16 percent of Hispanic shoppers using their mobile device to make purchases as compared to 10 percent of Caucasians.
The data presented by Portada was derived from a recent shopper behavior study conducted by Omnicom.
One in five African American shoppers (21 percent versus 13 percent of Caucasian shoppers) use their phone to read product reviews and maintain shopping lists and one in five Hispanic shoppers (20 percent versus 13 percent of Caucasian shoppers) use their mobile device to compare prices on products.
“Basic mobile communication through SMS and mobile websites should be the points of entry. Mobile marketing to multicultural shoppers is a huge opportunity,” said Martin Ferro, senior account planner for Velocidad.