| A new comScore study on mobile QR (Quick Response) code scanning readable by smartphones, found that 14 million mobile users in the U.S., representing 6.2% of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR code on their mobile device. A mobile user that scanned a QR code was more likely to be male (60.5% of code scanning audience), skew toward ages 18-34 (53.4%) and have a household income of $100k or above (36.1%).
Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile “QR codes demonstrate just one of the ways in which mobile marketing can effectively be integrated into existing media and marketing campaigns… ” A demographic analysis of those who scanned a QR code with their mobile phone in June revealed an audience that was more likely to be male, young to middle-age and upper income. More than half of all QR code scanners were between the ages of 18-34. Those between the age of 25-34 were twice as likely as the average mobile user to engage in this behavior, while 18-24 year olds were 36% more likely than average to scan. More than 1 of every 3 QR code scanners had a household income of at least $100,000, representing both the largest and most over-represented income segment among the scanning audience.
The most popular source of a scanned QR code was a printed magazine or newspaper, with nearly half scanning QR codes from this source. Product packaging was the source of QR code scanning for 35.3% of the audience, while 27.4% scanned a code from a website on a PC and 23.5% scanned codes from a poster/flyer/kiosk.
Among mobile users who scanned a QR code on their mobile devices in June, 58.0% did so from their home, while 39.4% did so from a retail store and 24.5% did so from a grocery store.
For additional information from comScore, please visit here, or for additional insights into QR Code usage in Europe, please visit the comScore Data Mine here. |
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Monthly Archives: August 2011
Misleading Research? Latino voters respond more to English ads
Take a look at the American Political Research conclusions below. Bear in mind a few things, this study was conducted in a single voting district in New York City (Queens), and the study was conducted in 2009 in the context of a special election to fill a vacancy for city council. In addition, the “Latino” population on this area, consists primarily of populations of immigrants from South & Central America and the Caribbean. So, before you jump to conclusions, study the actual study which can be found here: Does English Matter? The Impact of Spanish Versus English-Language GOTV Efforts on Latino Turnout (American Politics Research-2011-Abrajano-643-63). We can’t figure out why this is just coming out.
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NEW YORK, Aug. 19 (UPI) — English-language print ads have a greater impact in mobilizing Latino voters than Spanish-language print ads, U.S. researchers found.
The study, published in American Political Research, examined the effects of direct mail pieces on Latino voters. The mailer, written in either English or Spanish, was sent to two separate groups, while a third that received no mailing was used as a control group.
The experiment was conducted during a New York City Council election in 2009.
The study found that while both English and Spanish language materials increased voter turnout among Latinos — whose participation in elections generally lags behind the general population — the English language materials not only had a greater impact, but also drew in a broader voter demographic.
“English-language appeals were effective across the board for Latinos in our sample,” wrote study authors Marisa Abrajano and Costas Panagopoulos, “whereas Spanish-language outreach was only effective among low-propensity voters and participants whose primary language was Spanish.”
NEW STUDY: How Americans Use Their Cellphones | Pew
Eight in ten American adults (83%) own a cell phone of some kind, and they use their phones for a variety of purposes. As in previous Pew Internet surveys of mobile usage, texting and picture-taking remain the most common mobile phone activities—73% of cell owners engage in each of these—followed by sending photos or videos to others (54%) and accessing the internet (44%). The two least prevalent activities (among the 15 we inquired about) are accessing Twitter and using one’s phone to take part in a video call or chat (6% of cell owners do each of these).
Of the twelve activities that we measured in both May 2010 and May 2011 (we did not ask about online banking, Twitter use or video calling in our spring 2010 survey), five grew by a statistically significant amount over that time period. This growth was primarily oriented around accessing or sharing multimedia content such as photos or videos, as well as using the internet and email:
- Sending a photo or video to someone rose from 36% of cell owners in May 2010 to 54% of cell owners in May 2011
- Accessing the internet—from 38% to 44%
- Sending or receiving email—from 34% to 38%
- Watching a video—from 20% to 26%
- Posting a photo or video online—from 15% to 22%
Younger cell owners (those between the ages of 18 and 29) are especially active mobile users—although those ages 30-49 engage in a relatively wide range of mobile behaviors as well. Mobile usage drops off starting around age 50, as cell owners ages 50-64 engage in roughly half as many activities as those in the 30-49 age group.
Other groups with relatively high levels of mobile usage include:
- Those with some college education or a college degree – These cell owners are more likely to engage in nearly every non-voice application we measured relative to cell owners with a high school diploma or less.
- Urban and suburban residents – Urban and suburban cell owners are more likely than rural cell owners to take part in all of the activities we measured in our survey. Additionally, urban residents are more likely than both rural and suburban dwellers to use their phone to play games (43% of urban cell owners do this), access a social networking site (35%), watch a video (31%), do online banking (25%) or take part in a video call or chat (10%).
- Parents – With some exceptions (such as using social networking sites and video calling), parents of children ages 17 and under are more likely to use their phones for most activities than are other adult cell owners.
- African Americans and Latinos – These groups have high rates of usage, compared with white cell owners, across a wide range of mobile applications.
How Americans view their phones—benefits, challenges and attitudes
In addition to asking about the specific tasks and activities that cell owners engage in using their phones, we included a series of questions in our spring survey asking about various experiences that cell owners have encountered in the course of using their phones. These responses indicate that cell owners value their phones for quick information retrieval, for entertainment, and for assistance in emergency situations. At the same time, a number of cell owners report that they have turned off their phone to get a break from using it, and that they can have trouble accomplishing desired tasks when their phone is not available. In the 30 days preceding our survey:
- 51% of cell owners used their phone to get information they needed right away.
- 42% used their phone for entertainment when they were bored, and 40% were in an emergency situation in which having their phone with them really helped.
- 29% turned their phone off for a period of time just to get a break from using it, and 27% experienced a situation in which they had trouble doing something because they did not have their phone at hand.
- Frustrations with cell phones were somewhat less common, as one in five cell owners (20%) experienced frustration because their phone was taking too long to download something, 16% had difficulty reading something on their phone because the screen was too small, and one in ten (10%) had difficulty entering a lot of text on their phone at some point in the preceding 30 days.
- Just over one in ten cell owners (13%) said that they had pretended to be using their phone in order to avoid interacting with the people around them.
Young cell owners are among the most active users of their mobile devices, and cell owners between the ages of 18 and 29 also stand out from their elders when it comes to their experiences with their phones. Specifically, young cell owners are much more likely than older adults to use their phone for entertainment or to relieve boredom (70% of 18-29 year old cell owners have done this in the preceding 30 days), to have trouble doing something when their phone is not available (42% have experienced this) and to use their phone as a way to avoid interacting with others (30%).
On the other hand, cell owners of all ages are about equally likely to use their phones for assistance in emergency situations, and are also about equally likely to say that they have taken a break from using their phones in the previous 30 days.
NEW STUDY – Top Cities for Young Latinos | mun2
Mun2 has ranked the top cities for young latinos. Check out the video below that explains the study, and grab the link to the report below.
Infographic | Latino Impact on the US Census
Ginger Zumaeta loves her infographics. And in her ongoing effort to bring you the most relevant info on Latino & Multicultural Marketing, she dug up this Porter Novelli piece that we want to share. Check it out.
One thing is clear, if you want to reach the ‘full’ Latino, you should think very seriously about incorporating Spanish language into your advertising. And, as we’ve mentioned in previous posts, mobile should be a part of that strategy as well.
Latinos Over-Index on Smartphones & Watch More Mobile Video
Nielsen recently released The Cross-Platform Report and there’s an interesting nugget of information tucked into the very end of the report that indicates that Latinos have the highest penetration of Smartphones than any other ethnicity.
Interestingly, Latinos also spend more time watching mobile video.
In light of the increased Smartphone penetration amongst Latinos, it’s not really all that surprising that they’re watching more video on their wireless devices. The question now will be how do video producers take advantage of the trend.
Grab the full report here: Nielsen Cross Platform Report Q1, 2011
Media Strategy Should Work Across Languages | MediaPost
Recent research published in Advertising Age’s Annual Hispanic Fact Pact revealed an interesting fact about the media consumption habits of Hispanic adults ages 18 and older. Taking into account their consumption across all media, 75% of Hispanics consume media in both English and Spanish, with 11% only in Spanish and 14% only in English.
This varies significantly by media type, with TV representing the medium with the highest rate of consumption mostly in both languages, while newspapers and the Internet are primarily consumed in only English. (It’s important to note that the data on media usage presented in the Hispanic Fact Pack are not segmented demographically.) There are a few possible explanations for this trend.
First, it is possible that the lower median age of Hispanics overall makes them more likely to prefer more English-language media given the language usage patterns of younger Latinos. Another consideration is the possibility that there is a lack of relevant content in Spanish language. Depending on the medium and the target, it may be that consumers simply find they like certain content in English more than in Spanish.
Another even more radical possibility is that the majority of Hispanics, regardless of how long they have been in the U.S., or what language they prefer to speak, mostly identify with being generally bicultural. These factors, of course, don’t make them any less Hispanic. But it does make our jobs a little more complex.
The data on media consumption speak to how multicultural the Hispanic segment actually is and reaffirm something those close to the market should already know: Hispanics are not a homogenous group easily reached solely with Spanish-language advertising. And just because Hispanics are consuming English language media, it doesn’t mean that your brand’s messaging is resonating with them.
It’s a missed opportunity when a brand advertises in solely Spanish-language media in order to reach Hispanics and potentially neglects an important segment of its intended target audience that consumes media mostly in English.
In general, these data on Hispanic media consumption lead to several implications. One is not new — know your audience well and keep in mind that they don’t all behave the same way. And, perhaps a new thought to some, is to keep in mind what “other” potential large audiences are also being exposed to your message and determine how to capitalize on that audience.
In essence, as the Hispanic market continues to grow, it is imperative that agencies work together from a campaign’s onset to determine insights and develop a unified strategy that not only works across all platforms, but languages, too
via MediaPost Publications Media Strategy Should Work Across Languages 08/18/2011.
Latinos Go Mobile, so Go Mobile to Reach Latinos | MarketingProfs
Featured
Take a look at Ginger Zumaeta’s latest article on MarketingProfs.com.
Everybody’s talking about the need to have a mobile strategy lately, but it’s hard to find anyone telling you how to go mobile. What does it mean, and how do you add it to your current strategy? Who is it right for, and what should you expect from it?
2 Things to Keep in Mind
First, you should know that mobile is about more than phones. It includes all wireless devices including the iPad, Android devices like the Xoom, and others that are hitting the market in droves.
Second, you should know that Latinos love their mobile devices. According to Nielsen, Latino households are more likely than the overall population to have cellphones with Internet access, and Latinos text more than any other race or ethnicity. With smartphone penetration at 45%, Latinos use their mobile device as a key source of connectivity both in the home and on the go.
According to Forrester:
Nearly 100 million smartphones will be activated by the end of the year.
Consumers are doing more than email, surfing and texting … Now they’re consuming media, banking, purchasing, and even doing their taxes on their wireless devices.
Advertisers are scrambling to reach people on their phones to the tune of spending more than $1 billion in mobile search and display.
Consumers are forecasted to transact over $6 billion on their mobile devices by the end of the year.
Those statistics make it easy to understand why advertisers and marketers are rushing to put together mobile strategies. But the question is how?
APP, WAP, or Both?
Businesses need to be able to be found on mobile devices, and two of the easiest ways are to build a WAP site and to build an APP.
Start with a WAP site. WAP stands for “wireless application protocol” but you can just think of it as a site that looks good and makes sense on a cellphone screen or tablet screen. It’s not your full website on a mobile browser. WAP sites are all about the context of the device.
For example, when you’re looking up a business on your phone, you don’t want the entire history of the company, so an “About Us” page is probably useless in that context. What you do want is a map, a phone number, and an address. Those items should be front and center. When consumers are looking for your business on their cell phone, chances are they are ready to take action, so give them the most important info first: how to get to you and a number to call. For Latinos especially, it’s also smart to include a feature that allows them to get a text of your business details (phone, address, hours of operation, website URL, etc.). Having a text message with your business’s vitals makes it easy for them to refer to your business later. And you’ve captured their cell phone number. Later, you can implement an opt-in mobile marketing strategy, if it makes sense.
An APP is the next level of mobile engagement, especially for power users and core customers. For example, think of cellphone apps from the likes of Chase Bank, Starbucks, and Southwest. Chase Bank allows you to take a snapshot of a check and auto-deposit it to your account. Starbucks enables you to find the closest Starbucks to where you currently are based on your geolocation. The Southwest app enables flyers to have their itinerary handy and know how many additional flights will get them to A-list status, which encourages them to book more flights. The reason consumers download these apps (beyond simply going to a WAP site via their browsers) is that they interact with the business on a regular basis. And with an APP, the business is making sure that the engagement continues and even increases.
If you’re thinking about an app, start with something free offering convenience and context appropriate utility. The trick here is to “launch and learn.” Figure out what works and what doesn’t. Solicit and pay attention to comments, and respond. Figure out how to make the app better. You may even stumble upon a way to extend your current services and possibly even justify a pro version to fund ongoing improvements.
It’s All About Context
More than anything else, you have to remember that engaging your consumer on a mobile device is all about context. They’re likely viewing your page on a small screen, have limited time, and are away from a fixed computer. Make sure you make it easy for them to engage with the following things in mind.
- Immediacy: Your consumer is on the go and ready to take action. Are you giving them a way to get to a transaction quickly?
- Simplicity: Make the interface is easy to manipulate on the go. Think BIG BUTTONS, easy streamlined navigation, and easy to read font.
- Location: Make sure to give them a way to interact based on their current location. Include an easy store-finder if you have brick & mortar locations.
Ginger Zumaeta is the CEO of Beehive Group, a multicultural marketing agency specializing in Latino engagement. She can be reached at ginger@beehive.me.
via Latinos Go Mobile, so Go Mobile to Reach Latinos | MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog.
Get Ready for the Battle of the Latino Basket | Ad Age
Among the more than 800 attendees of last weeks Hispanic Retail 360 conference held in San Diego, there were surprisingly very few agencies. In fact, according to conference organizers, only about 10% of attendees came from the agency world. Im surprised by such small agency turnout given that performance at retail is the ultimate measure of success for any marketing campaign. Isnt this where the rubber meets the road? Its all about moving cases and gaining market share — or getting fired for not delivering.
Maybe agencies dont care about the tremendous impact Latinos are having at retail, but their clients certainly do, evidenced by the largest crowd Ive seen at this conference in the past five years. The three-day conference included a keynote speech from former Mexican President Vicente Fox who called for a renewed vision of NAFTA and an intimate conversation with Latin hip-hop sensation Pitbull, who shared his perspective on how he connects with his fans, whether they be Latinos or not.
But for me, the most interesting presentation came from Jose Luis Prado, the recently appointed president of Quaker Foods and Snacks North America, PepsiCo. After a 17-year career at PepsiCo, including most recently running and successfully growing their Gamesa business in Mexico, Mr. Prado moved to Chicago six months ago to take charge of the Quaker Foods business.
PepsiCo is one of those companies that early on saw the value of marketing to its ethnic consumers and was one of the leaders in setting up a strong multicultural practice in the late 1990s. Over the last two decades, however, internal support for multicultural marketing has suffered its ups and downs — resulting in very inconsistent voice and presence with its most important consumers. Its hard not to wonder that, if it had been consistent with its multicultural marketing practice — like McDonalds or P&G or Kraft have been — would be in such a tough spot now. But it seems like the tide is turning at PepsiCo.
Mr. Prado spoke about how the company wanted to go to market with “an open mind” and, through innovation, bring Latino flavors to mainstream products like Gatorade. In addition, Quaker is catering to Hispanic tastes directly by playing off of the tradition of aguas frescas with Doles recent launch of new fruit juices under the “sensacion natural” line.
Bottom line: Its all about foot traffic, and retailers know better than anyone who is shopping their stores and what products move or dont move. The fact that so many showed up at this conference to learn how to win with the Latino consumer is a testament to their changing perceptions.”
Due to cultural factors and values, Hispanics are buyers of premium products who dont compromise much when it comes to providing for our larger families,” wrote Cesar Melgoza, CEO of Geoscape, in his recent article Are Retail Giants Sleeping on Hispanic Opportunities?”
If one measures the lifetime spending potential of an average household from today to its projected lifetime, you will see that Hispanic households will actually spend more, not less, than White, non-Hispanic households, to the tune of about 48% on food consumed at home and away, 82% on apparel and 22% on personal care products,” he added. This is due, of course, to Latinos being younger and having larger households.
Mr. Prados experience runs deep in Latin America and Spain, which will certainly help him understand the Latino consumer in the U.S. A quick look at the array of products in the Quaker Foods portfolio that are currently not being marketed to Latino consumers makes me think that Indra Nooyi knew exactly what she was doing when she named Prado to his most recent post. Forget the cola wars and get ready for the battle of the Latino basket.
via Get Ready for the Battle of the Latino Basket | The Big Tent – Advertising Age.
The Latino Sound of Digital Music | Hispanicize
Spotify, the Swedish online music-on-demand service, has teamed up with Warner Music Group to launch the site in the U.S. With over 10 million European subscribers and followers, including celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg and Demi Moore, Spotify could definitely benefit from targeting Latinos in order to develop its U.S. presence.
Latinos are listening to more and more music. If you take a look at CD purchases, Latinos over-index, and this is even higher among lower acculturated Hispanics. Paradoxically, they show the same passion about digital music. As I discussed in previous posts, Latinos are embracing and leading adoption of new technologies such as mobile and social media. Ubiquity has become the new norm and this is true with music too. Latinos want to access their favorite artists and songs everywhere, all the time, and in every format possible.
The Digital Shift
Latinos are leading the shift to listening to music online and on computers at a faster pace than the general population. Hispanics are downloading and streaming music with a tendency to use many platforms. Part of the reason is that they first try to find the song for free and if that’s not the case, then they buy it online.
Among Hispanics, the shift to mobile is greater than the general market. On Pandora, Hispanics skew 72 percent mobile and 28 percent web, and mobile is responsible for 83 percent of Hispanic listening hours, reaffirming that ubiquity is the new norm to music. Latinos over-index in all aspects of music on mobile as you can see on the chart below.
The Battle for Listeners
Although Latinos use many platforms like Rhapsody, Napster, Last.fm, etc., there are two players that have been growing in terms of preference: Pandora and Batanga.
Pandora reports that Hispanic users doubled in 2010 and currently has 6.5 million registered users who identify as Hispanic, of which about 2.7 million visit monthly and 550,000 visit daily. Eighty-five percent of Hispanic users are actively engaged with their music and “thumb” their favorite songs and spend about two hours on Pandora each day. Interestingly, 75 percent of Hispanics on Pandora speak Spanish while only a quarter speak only English, showing that language preference among Pandora Hispanics is not skewed to English-dominant.
Batanga, a predominantly Hispanic music platform, grew dramatically in 2010. Unique visitors grew by 65 percent, listening hours grew by 50 percent, and the listening time grew to two and a half hours. There are over 250,000 daily interactions on the mobile app and users shared over 60,000 custom radio stations on Facebook in the last month.
Music Genres
Acculturation and language have an important impact on preferences in terms of genres. Here are some findings:
Latinos (still) love Latin music. This genre continues to lead preferences. From Mexican regional to Latin ballads followed by Latin rock, Latin jazz, Latin rap, and reggaeton.
Latinos don’t just listen to Latin music: rap/hip hop, R&B, and alternative rock are growing among Hispanics too. In the case of reggae, the preference is even higher than for non-Hispanics.
Radio listening in Spanish is growing among English-dominant Latinos: Bicultural young adults are reconnecting to their original culture by listening to Spanish music and Latin genres.
Non-Hispanics are also turning to Latin music: Pandora has more than half a million registered users that are not Hispanic, yet listen to Latin music. Similarly, Batanga has 834,000 non-Hispanic unique visitors.
Latinos represent a great opportunity for Spotify to develop its U.S. presence. But even if you are not Spotify, music represents a great opportunity for reaching Latinos in the digital space.