Hispanic and Latino Americans and Market Segment Research

It is desirable to develop demographic and psychographic profiles of these likely consumers (the target audience).

Across the nation, millions of Americans of all races turn on the television or open a newspaper and are bombarded with images of well dressed, articulate, attractive black people advertising different products and representing respected companies. The population of black professionals in all arenas of work has risen to the point where seeing a black physician, attorney, or a college professor are becoming more a common sight. More and more black people are holding positions of respect and authority throughout America today, such as Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice and many other prominent black executives. As a result of their apparent success, these black people are seen as role models for many Americans, despite their race.

The potential consumer target markets fall into two categories; the segments will be referred to as “Suburban Select” and “Young & Active”.

* Market segment: Group of consumers who respond in a similar way to a given set of marketing efforts.

Research about the Hispanic market finally became prominent in the 1980s and helped shape the market today. “…after the 1980s, research would become a central legitimating component of the industry”(63). This new trend of research helped to legitimatize the way people advertised and marketed toward the Latino community.

This time in the post World War II era, many African Americans had began to become a more urbanized center of population, around 1970. (Inmotionaame, pg. 1) The regular population included about 70 percent of just the natural population to live in more urbanized cities. (Inmotionaame, pg. 1) Soon African Americans dominated, having 80 percent of their community to live and take the same benefits in more urbanized centers of the Unites States. (Inmotionaame, pg. 2) Only about 53 percent of African Americans and others who seemed to migrate stayed in the same area around the South. (Inmotionaame, pg. 2)

They squirmed, pencils tapping their desks anxiously; none of their papers contained more than five names. Eventually, all thirteen pairs of eyes made their way from the papers, to the faces of their friends, and eventually, they restlessly shifted over to me and stopped. “This is hard,” whined one seventh grade voice. Another chimed in, “It’s all the same, I can’t think of any more.” The question I had asked was simple: “Please list as many young African American males that you see on TV as possible.”

Diversity is now, more than ever before, at the forefront of the American conversation. Black people have been slowly but surely making gains in today’s society and in ways that were not possible before. African Americans are more educated and more affluent, and more important as consumers than ever before. By 2017, they are expected to have a spending power of 1.3 trillion dollars (Resilient, 2013). Young, influential, and brand loyal, this group should be the target of many companies. Interestingly enough, there has not been much of an effort on the part of marketers to appeal to this growing group. Additionally, the lack of diversity as well as the alienation of black people in the media is not doing much to allow a wider range of companies to reach them. Black Americans are a powerful group, and smart marketers will put a focus on investing in them to increase their market share.

Collective African American spending power exceeds $1 trillion dollars annually. Because of this economic reality, a wide variety of companies/corporations having ongoing marketing campaigns to reach this important segment of the U.S. consumer market. It is hard to believe that not long ago; black consumers were practically ignored in the American marketplace. (Griggs 94)

How should this market be segmented? Identify the key segmentation variables that are relevant for this market.

Who are MM’s target customers? Are all segments equally attractive to MM? If yes, why? If not, why not? How do the different segments’ needs and expectations evolve over time?

The African americans culture is attached in a sense to the media’s image of drugs, money and comfort. African americans purchase and have a comfort in Market morality. African americans are comfortable with what the media offers on television and in stores. The black America patterns their lives after Market morality because they purchase the items that celebrity’s sale. Celebrities are praised as being positive role models, but some are not positive role models.

3. Which is the most attractive customer segment for MBC to target? Explain your reasoning.

If you examine the potential target market sizing, the United States presents a wide array of opportunities with its varied ethnic groups. Companies such as Metlife and Citibank have done well by tapping into those markets and creating an investment niche. Rather than market segmentation based on investment

McBride should therefore conduct market research using the available demographic information from the US Census Bureau, and information from its own customer bases. Ideally, the company would be able to formulate customer profiles of competitors, but this information may be difficult to obtain. McBride should aim to create a demographic and psychographic profile of its current customer base, and the same for other potential customer bases. Differences between McBride's existing customers and the general population of the area in which McBride operates can highlight some potential markets, in terms of demographics, income levels, education, banking behavior and other key variables. The more variables that McBride studies the better, bearing in mind the cost of acquiring additional information.