Syllabus
Hispanic Marketing Communication: 
A Cultural Perspective

ADV5415 Section 1

Fall 2008

Links to relevant sites

Click above for a list of sites

The main book for this course is among the top six marketing books of 2006 according to the American Marketing Association Foundation, it was published by Butterworth Heinemann/Elsevier: Title: Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective

INTRODUCTION:  Welcome to the Graduate section of Hispanic Marketing Communication.  This is a unique course part of an interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate Program and, if undergraduates take it, it is also part of an Undergraduate Minor  at FSU.  It is also a component of a larger effort called “The FSU Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication,” the only of its kind in the US.

The intended participants for this course are students who intend to be professionally involved in serving the US Hispanic market as marketers, market strategists, media executives, social service providers, advertisers, and/or advertising strategy developers.  In addition, this course is a starting point for students who desire to build an academic career on this subject.

This course allows the student to place him/herself among the few professionals in the US that understand the US Hispanic market.  It should be clear that your proactive participation in this course will determine the extent to which you will benefit from the knowledge and practice that the course offers.  Many product manufacturers, retailers, and service providers, and their ad agencies, in the US are actively pursuing the Hispanic market.  There are many employment opportunities for those who can show competence in addressing the needs and wants of US Hispanics.

The list of topics below constitutes the schedule and list of assignments for the course.  Active links in each topic represent required readings.  Course assignments and their due dates are listed under each topic.

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Felipe Korzenny

OFFICE:  3127 University Center C

PHONE: 644-8766

You can e-mail me here

OFFICE HOURS:  Before and after class and by appointment

CLASS MEETINGS:

Tuesdays: 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm, 3116 Building C, University Center

FORMAT:  The course is designed for active participation.  Most weeks there will be assignments due where groups will make presentations to the class.  Thus, a combination of lectures, discussions, interaction, and presentation of assignments to the class will be common during most class sessions.

The "Library" on Blackboard will be used to make many class materials available.  Students are strongly encouraged to become familiar with materials in the library as early in the semester as possible. 

Students interested in hosting "discussion boards" on Blackboard are encouraged to do so. This is a resource that can enhance the experience of this course. 

Students are encouraged to set up blogs and to publish opinion pieces in sites such as www.hispanicad.com. These activities will enhance your opportunities for obtaining rewarding jobs in the future.  Individual pieces that the instructor deems appropriate for publication will be sent to www.HispanicAd.com, and students whose pieces get published will get two extra points for a maximum of 4 extra points in the semester.

Assignments:  All assignments must go beyond the readings.  Assignments are designed for students to explore a topic in further depth than the reading materials.  Students must add their thinking and further research to each assignment and not simply summarize the readings.  Assignments that simply summarize assigned readings will receive little or no credit. 

Student presentation and papers are to be submitted via e-mail and at least 2 hours before class time the day they are due. See details below.  Also, all papers must be brought to class for presentation and discussion.

TEXTS and readings

Required book for this course:

Other books that students should consult to supplement their readings and assignments:

Additional resources:

Besides the links at the top of this page, the following are specifically relevant.

Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences   (Click on Sage Publications)

The Business Journal of Hispanic Research

http:///www.census.gov

Pew Hispanic Center

The Journal of Advertising Research

Advertising Age

Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication

http://juantornoe.blogs.com/hispanictrending/

Clearly searches for electronic Journals and periodicals at the FSU Libraries site can be very productive, as well as going to Google Scholar.

Blackboard course library

There are many resources for this course in the Blackboard library (http://campus.fsu.edu).  Students must become familiar with them.  In fact, if you ever wonder where you could find some information on Hispanic marketing look at the Blackboard library first.

Active links

The active links in the course schedule of topics are required readings.  Please make sure you click and explore the different links in the actual topics.  Please notify the instructor if a link stops functioning.  Also, please feel free to suggest other links that can enrich the experience of the course.

OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the semester the student will be able to:

1. Describe the US Hispanic market according to its salient characteristics
2. Enumerate the factors that make the Hispanic market different from other culturally unique markets
3. Understand the dynamics that influence the uniqueness of the market
4. Create a media plan to reach specific Hispanic consumer targets
5. Interpret Hispanic cultural patterns in a marketing framework
6. Identify strategic elements that enhance the communication between the marketer and the Hispanic consumer
7. Generate positioning statements that will meet with success in the US Hispanic market
8. Analyze and create segmentation approaches for reaching the Hispanic market
9. Understand measurement and other methodological issues that influence how Hispanic marketing research should be conducted
10. Produce a viable and sound strategy when marketing to Hispanics
11. Conduct a Hispanic marketing study to guide a marketing strategy
12. Generate a marketing strategy based on an understanding of the Hispanic market and its segments.  The marketing strategy is the logical arrangement of resources that will allow the marketer to achieve marketing objectives:  a. Problem definition; b. Statement of objectives; c. Target identification; d. Identify media resources; e. Create a message platform based on consumer cultural insights; f. Conduct research to assess message insights and media allocations; g. Provide guidelines for implementation; and d. Suggest ways to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy.
13. Address ethical issues in Hispanic and culturally based marketing

COURSE SCHEDULE, TOPICS, AND ASSIGNMENTS

Week 1, August 25

Introduction to the course

• Why study HMC?
  
  
• Course organization
  
  
• Syllabus description

Guest:  Gene Bryan, CEO HispanicAd.com via speakerphone.  5:00 p.m.

Guest:  John Voss, Hispanic Market Weekly 5:30 p.m.

Assignment 1:  Each student will prepare a short paper (1 or 2 pages) INCORPORATING the results of at least 2 in-depth interviews with Hispanic consumers.  Please note that the interviews are to supplement your understanding of the issues, not to report them directly as summaries of the interviews.

You goal is to obtain insights about the following:

a. What makes US Hispanics different from others in our society, including values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors?

b. What habits, behaviors, and external manifestations of culture characterize US Hispanics?

c. What aspects make advertising better/more relevant when targeting Hispanics?

d. Are commercials from Latin America relevant to US Hispanics?  Why yes or no?

e. Use the interviews to illustrate your understanding of the readings.

Again, the report of the interviews should be incorporated in the narrative.  Must read the assigned readings before conducting the interviews.  As you will do with all assignments, submit it by e-mail as indicated, and bring a hard copy to class for discussion.

Read K & K Chapter 1

Due September 8

(No class on September 1^st: Labor Day)

Week 2, September 8

The Role of Culture in Cross-Cultural Marketing

• The importance of culture in marketing
• Culture 
• Why a cultural approach to marketing?
• A psycho-socio-cultural approach
• The paradox of social class across cultures
• Shared perceptions, motivations, beliefs, and values
• It is not a race 
• A common heritage 
• A common language 
• Media facilitate specific targeting
• Geographic concentration 
• A cultural perspective makes the difference

Assignment 2:  Small groups of students will gather a minimum of three ads directed to Hispanics and in a 15 minute PP presentation will analyze each ad as follows:

1. Intended target(s)/audience(s) within the Hispanic market
2. Key consumer insight(s) to connect with them
3. Advertising goal and strategy (what are they trying to accomplish and how?)
4. Your opinion of the quality of the execution
5. How would you communicate the product or service better to these consumers?

Read K&K Chapters 2 and 8 

As in all cases read assigned readings before doing the assignment.

Due September 15

Week 3, September 15

Characteristics of the Hispanic Market

·         Demographic profile

·         Geographic profile

·         Economic profile

·         Ethnic profile

·         Cultural and Historical origins and backgrounds

·         Immigration to the US and its impact on the US Hispanic market

Hispanic Media Environment

·         Television

·         Radio

·         Print

·         Movies

·         Internet

·         Grassroots, networks, promotions

Assignment 3:  Each student will interview a minimum of two Hispanic consumers to understand:

a. Who do they look up to in making purchase decisions?

b. How important is that Hispanics be the ones who recommend or advertise a product directed to Hispanics?

c. How do these consumers think of themselves, Hispanic, Latino, or what?  Why?  How does that identity influence what they buy?

d. Your opinion of the relationship between identity and consumer behavior based on the interviews and readings?

e. Use the interviews to illustrate the concepts in your readings.

This effort will result in a 1 or 2 page paper.  The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between identity and group affiliation, with Hispanic consumer behavior. As always, read assigned readings before interviewing consumers.  And, please incorporate the findings from the interviews in the context of the research you do for the paper.  Be prepared to discuss in class.

Read K&K Chapter 3

Due September 22

Week 4, September 22

What makes Hispanics Hispanic?

a.       The issue of self identification

c.    Reference groups and Hispanic self identification

b.       Hispanic vs. Latino vs. specific country of origin

c.       Labels and their implications
The impact of Labels

d.       How do Hispanics think of themselves? 

Assignment 4:  Small groups will prepare a short 20 minute presentation about one or more of the following topics:

a.  Code Switching as it relates to Hispanic consumer  behavior

b.  Differences between code switching and Spanglish, and implications for advertising to Hispanics

c.  Debate about whether language affects the ways in which Hispanic consumers behave in the marketplace

d.  Explanation of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and its implications for Hispanic consumer behavior

e.  Debate the point of view of language purists and language pragmatists when communicating with Hispanic consumers

f. Are language and culture distinct or overlapping entities?  What are the implications of this debate for marketing to US Hispanics?

The presentations should not be a repetition of the text but must elaborate on the issues based on additional readings, personal experiences, and a minimum of five interviews with diverse Hispanic consumers.  As always, read assigned readings before completing this assignment.  All students should be prepared to discuss all topics in class.

Read K&K Chapter 4

Due September 29

Week 5, September 29

    Language and culture

a.       What do Hispanics speak?

b.       The issue of Code Switching

c.       The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis as it relates to the importance of language use

d.       Purism vs. pragmatism in language usage

e.   The overlap between language and culture

Assignment 5:  Individual students will prepare a 1 or 2 page paper incorporating interviews with at least two Hispanic consumers. The objectives to achieve with these interviews include:

a. Understand differences among Hispanic consumers with different lengths of time living in the US?  How is their consumer behavior different or similar?  Provide examples.

b. What other factors, besides generation and length of time in the US account for differences in consumer behavior?  Consider attitudes, beliefs, needs, and lifestyles? 

c. Related the results of your interviews to your readings.

Be prepared to present/discuss your paper in class.

Read, before doing the assignment: K&K Ch. 5,

Due October 6

Week 6, October 6

   Enculturation, acculturation, and assimilation

a.       Culture acquisition

b.       Acquisition of a second culture

c.       Abandonment of the first culture in favor of a second culture

d.       One-dimensional models of acculturation

e.       Multidimensional models of acculturation

f.         Acculturation segmentation

g.       Acculturation by life-stage segmentation

h.       A multicultural future?

i.     The impact of stereotypes and auto-stereotypes on acculturation, self-esteem, and consumer behavior

Assignment 6:  Small groups of students will explore a concept, from the topic for week 7 below.  The groups of students will obtain insights from the literature and from conversations with and observations of Hispanic consumers.  A short 20 minute presentation will be the result of this exercise to understand an aspect of Hispanic culture in the form of archetypes. 

The insights in the presentation should be ideas that would allow marketers to better connect/communicate with Hispanic consumers.  Non-obvious insights have value that is more competitive in industry. 

Individual students who would like to write individually on this topic can do so only for the potential of extra credit, if selected by the instructor for publication in HispanicAd.com or other publication.

Read K&K Ch. 6

Due October 13

Week 7, October 13

Cultural archetypes and dimensions

a.       Monochronism and polychronism

b.       Monomorphic and polymorphic leadership

c.       Individualism and collectivism

d.       Androgyny

e.       Cultural attributions

f.         Cultural perceptions of:

·         Money

·         Home

·         Debt

·         Happiness

·         Death

·         Parent-Child relationships

·         Religion

·         Relationship with nature

·         Position in the cosmos

·         Guilt vs. Shame

·         Gender relationships and expectations

·         Food and hunger

·         Hot and cold

·         Morning, day and night

·         Machismo and Marianismo

·         Child centeredness

·         Health remedies and medicine

Assignment 7a:  Small groups of students will organize Hispanic  focus groups to be conducted in class (or alternatives like ethnographies to be video recorded and presented in class) with Hispanic students and/or members of the community to learn about different aspects of the culture as they relate to marketing. 

Each student group will prepare: 

• A set of objectives
• A discussion guide
• Recruit respondents and invite them to the class session
• Moderate the focus group for about 90 minutes and
• Conduct a debriefing session with the rest of the class.    

A schedule of focus groups/ethnographies will be generated in class.  Focus groups due in class November 3, 10, 17, and 24.

Assignment 7b:

Each graduate student will be responsible for writing a research report based on the focus group conducted by his or her group.  Undergraduate students can submit a seamless group paper.

Each report will include:

1. Introduction and description of the marketing problem investigated (1 page)
2. Executive summary (1 page)
3. Objectives, methods, and limitations (1 page)
4. Main findings (4 – 5 pages)
5. Conclusions and recommendations (1 or 2 pages)

The individual research report will be due no later than one week after the focus group is conducted, but in no case after Friday December 5.

-------------------------------------------

Read K&K Chapter 7

Due October 20

Weeks 8 and 9, October 20 and 27

Culturally Informed Strategy Based on Research

• The Cultural Research Paradox 
• The Paradox of Linguistic Equivalence 
• Cultural Adaptation and Transculturation
• Back Translation 
• The Paradox 
• The Emic and Etic Perspectives 
• “Cultural Bias” and Standardization 
• Use of Scales 
• Likert-Type Scales 
• Ratio Type Scales 
• Semantic Differential Scales 
• Little Faces 
• Choice of Data Collection Approaches 
• The Wrong Question 
• Qualitative Approaches 
• Focus Groups 
• Key considerations in making a Hispanic focus group productive
• Mini Groups 
• Dyads 
• In-Depth One-On-One Interviews 
• Ethnographic Interviews 
• Scrapbooks and Photographs 
• Quantitative Approaches 
• Selection of Approach 
• Mail
• Phone 
• Door-to-Door
• Intercepts 
• Online 
• Common Types of Quantitative Studies 
• Specific Hispanic Issues in Quantitative Research
• The Account Planner
• Conclusions and Implications 
• Implications for marketers 

In class focus groups: November 3, 10, 17, and 24.  Click here for the focus group schedule.

Assignment 8:  Students will prepare a 10 - 15 page paper (excluding tables and exhibits). 

Option A) A strategy document on how to market a specific product to a specific target in the US Hispanic market.  By this time the student will have explored segmentation in the Hispanic market, media and touch points, insights for positioning, and qualitative research.  Thus, the paper will include:

1. Statement of the marketing problem and objectives (1 - 2 page)
2. Target segment(s) and its(their) justification (1 – 2 pages)
3. Identification of media resources and strategy (2 – 3 pages)
4. Positioning and message strategy based on consumer insights, part of which could be from the focus groups/ethnographies (2 – 3 pages). Remember that consumer insights are substantive in this effort.
5. Test of message and media approaches, which could be based on the focus groups/ethnographies (2 – 3 pages)
6. Suggestions for the evaluation of effectiveness (1 – 2 pages)

The main purpose of this exercise is to provide the student with the opportunity to apply his/her understanding of the US Hispanic market to a concrete marketing idea or problem.

Option B:  Students can also choose to create a state of the art paper on a specific marketing vertical.  Suggested verticals:

• Automotive
• Financial Services
• Telecommunications
• Pharmaceuticals
• Heath Care
• Packaged Goods
• Travel and Hospitality

Each paper is expected to have the following sections:

1. Introduction and importance of the vertical chosen (1 – 2 pages)
2. Review of the relevant trade and academic literature (4 - 5 pages)
3. Main trends and findings under descriptive headings (4 – 5 pages)
4. Conclusions and recommendations (1 – 2 pages)

Both paper options must include references to the work consulted in a consistent way.

Paper Due Monday December 8

Read K&K Chapters 9, 10

Readings due December 1

Week 15, December 1

- The evolution of Hispanic Marketing

- The Future

a.       Communication between marketers and consumers

b.       The emotional link that makes for good marketing

c.       Why personal research involvement makes for good marketing and consumer relationships?

d.       Reflections and explorations