MarketingProfs

MediaBuyerPlanner: With over three-fourths of people in the U.S. subscribing to a mobile phone service, cell phone companies hope that by marketing to more specific audiences they will gain new customers, writes The New York Times. Hispanics are the main target market being sought by mobile companies, as the industry spent nearly $140 million last year on advertising to attract these consumers, more than they spent on any other cultural group.
Industry efforts for this summer include Verizon’s sponsored concert tour of the Colombian-born pop singer Shakira and Sprint’s promotion of advanced phones that let subscribers watch and listen to downloaded Spanish-language TV and music.
Because they spend more money on mobile communications Hispanics are ideal customers, according to Lee Rainie, director of Pew Internet and the nonprofit research group American Life Project. “They are more into their cell phones and they are more dependent on them. They are the biggest minority group, and Latino culture is spreading into every nook and cranny of American life,” Rainie said.