Sweets to get Hispanic 'flavour'

The popularity of Latin pop stars, such as Jennifer Lopez, has spurred marketing to Hispanics in the US

By BBC News Online's North America Business Reporter, David Schepp

It is the new face of America. Marketers in the US have moved beyond just black and white and have for nearly decade been tailoring ad campaigns to Hispanic Americans.

It reached a high point in 1997 with the remake of the icon of American homemaking, Betty Crocker, who was remade to reflect a more culturally diverse US.

Out went the WASPish, blue-eyed Betty, followed by one that featured brown hair and eyes and a less angular face. Shortly thereafter, cake mixes geared specifically to Hispanic audiences made their debut under the Betty Crocker brand label.

Today, more and more products are being specifically tested and marketed with Hispanic consumers in mind.

These include familiar Latin American brands in the US as well as bilingual packaging in English and Spanish.

Candy's dandy

Now, it is candy's turn.

Mars, manufacturer of Mars bars and M&M's chocolate candies, has said it will add caramel-flavoured sweets to bags of M&M's in select, heavily Hispanic markets.

The sweets, with a blend of caramel and chocolate encased in M&M's trademark candy shell, will appear in mixed bags in five markets, including Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami - with the hope of reaching 10 million consumers.

Mars has plans to market an M&M candy specifically for Hispanic markets

The caramel and chocolate combination is known as Dulce de Leche and is a popular ingredient of Latin American food and drinks.

A $5m Spanish-language advertising campaign will accompany the appearance of the new M&Ms, which are due for release in the US this month.

American corporations are constantly on the outlook for ways to appeal to the 35.3 million Hispanic Americans, who make up 12.5% of the US population, according to the US Census Bureau.

As a group, their wealth is estimated at $400bn to $600bn, according to Cheskin, a market research firm that specialises in the Hispanic market.

Marketing to millions

Felipe Korzenny, who co-founded Cheskin, has been conducting market research within the Hispanic community for about 20 years.

Mr Korzenny says he witnessed a sea change in how corporate America markets to Hispanics around 1990, and it is now reaching a new peak.

A more established advertising community was formed in the 1990s in response to the burgeoning demand of Hispanic consumers as the influx of immigrants increased throughout the decade.

Mr Korzenny told BBC News Online the 2000 census from the US Census Bureau has focused a lot of attention on the Hispanic community.

"With the new numbers," he said, "the 2000 census has probably sparked the largest amount of attention towards the Hispanic market than any other event after the 1980 declaration of the decade of the Hispanic," when Hispanic-Americans made up about 10 million of the US population.

He said there has been an embracing of Latino tastes in the United States, which has led to the marketing of products specifically marketed to the Hispanic community.

The products include everything from cake mixes to, more recently, a Latin-influenced cologne.

Fashion designer Liz Claiborne unleashed its new scent, Mambo, amid much fanfare in May, saying, "Hispanic is hip. Latin culture has become mainstream."

The new fragrance is geared to both men and women with 18 to 34 year olds, a group that heavily identifies with Latin pop icons such as Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez.