Failure to Advertise with Blacks, Latinos Hurts PC Market By Yoji Cole ©
2001 DiversityInc.com January 08, 2002

The age-old riddle that asks if a tree falling in the woods would make a
sound if no one heard it should be written on the walls of all
computer-technology companies.

As the industry watches the saturation of its traditional markets and
attempts to reposition itself with new gizmos and gadgets, it continues to
ignore African Americans and Latinos - the fastest growing markets in the
United States.

The reason Latino and African-American computer users haven't bought home
computers in droves is that personal computer manufacturers have not made
their products relevant to them. So do the companies' new gizmos and
gadgets matter? Not to a pool of consumers who haven't been featured in
advertisements that relate the personal computer's importance in their lives.

It's not that the tree doesn't make a sound, it's that no one cares if no
one hears it. Marketing entails advertising that makes goods relevant to
the public so as to facilitate a transfer of those goods from producer to
consumer.

"These [the African-American and Latino] markets haven't been spoken to
directly and there is definitely an opportunity there," said Howard Buford,
CEO of Prime Access, an advertising agency that creates marketing programs
to reach African-American, gay, Latino and other consumers. "They
definitely have to be made aware of the benefit of the product and if that
benefit hasn't been communicated, then there's no reason for them to
consider the product."

The concept is simple. Tell consumers a product is for them, and they'll
buy it. Reebok utilized that philosophy when it signed National Basketball
Association star Allen Iverson to a lifetime contract as one of its
spokespersons. Iverson's credibility among urban youth tells that consumer
pool that the shoe manufacturer is making a product with them in mind.

Reebok also wins with the suburban set, since the urban market creates the
trends.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the computer and office
equipment industries -- which are linked together for these tallies --
purchased $1.4 billion in advertising on $104.7 billion in sales, in 1998,
the most recent year tabulated. Virtually none of that was aimed at the
African-American or Latino communities.

"We know they [PC manufacturers] are bad at advertising to African
Americans because we don't see their ads in our member papers," said
Clarence Brown, director of media services for The National Newspaper
Association, a trade organization of African-American newspapers that
reaches more than 15 million African American readers each week.

Other ethnic publications note the lack of advertising by the PC makers.
"They [PC manufacturers] have not advertised at all and I don't think
they're ready yet," said Peter Krieger, associate publisher for the People
magazine offshoot, People en Espanol. "They [PC manufacturers] realize it
[the Latino market] is important, but they are missing out on a major market."

A handful of computer manufacturers have taken note of the discrepancy in
advertising and are gearing up for a minor blitz of the Latino and
African-American markets.

Dell is focusing its efforts in building relationships with the two ethnic
markets through neighborhood outreach programs that place Dell PCs in the
classrooms of low-income schools and advertisements on Black Entertainment
Television and magazines that target Latinos as well as African Americans.
Dell plans to place print advertisements in Latina, Savoy, Ebony, Essence,
Jet, Network Journal, American Legacy, and Opportunity Journal over the
next few months.

"Our effort is to not only sell but to let the ethnic consumer know a
little more about our company," said Dell spokesperson Jennifer Jones. Dell
declined to reveal the percentage of its ad budget directed toward the two
ethnic groups.

Gateway's marketing to Latino consumers is the most intensive of all the PC
manufacturers. The San-Diego based PC maker has advertised on the
Spanish-language television network Univision for the past two years and
was the first to increase its Spanish-speaking call center staff from nine
to 65 beginning in September, as well as placing merchandise and staff
dedicated to Latinos in nearly half its 300 stores.

Gateway's inroads into the African-American market, however, is far less
aggressive. The company is listed in business directories that target
African-American businesses, said Gateway spokesperson Greg Lund, , but as
far as placing ads in African-American media outlets, "We haven't done that."

Gateway plans to start trying to reach the African-American market for
2002, he added, although he couldn't specify what percentage of the budget
would be devoted to ethnic marketing.

Companies that fail to implement separate marketing campaigns to focus on
Latino and African-American consumers are ignorant of the subtle message
they send.

The people who make up both of these ethnic groups have been historically
excluded from full participation in the American dream. As a result most
African Americans and Latinos will not buy a product if they are not
invited to do so and, therefore, told it is for them, said Buford.

A person who is part of the mainstream white culture assumes that any
product that is advertised is for him or her because everything in society
is geared toward his or her ethnic group, said Buford, who is African American.

"However, if you talk to someone who is part of a historically excluded
population, such as African Americans, Latinos, gays and lesbians, then
you're talking about a mindset that because of historical exclusion they
assume that a product only becomes for them if there is a specific message
that says this is for you too," Buford said. "When you see [an
advertisement] with a white businessman using Excel spreadsheets …
it's just not for me."

According to a market study conducted last year by Cheskin Research, a San
Francisco-based market research firm with offices in Mexico and Chile, the
percentage of Latino non-computer owners who intend to buy one rose to 40
percent last year. Similar data for African Americans wasn't available.

"One of the most amazing things is that 70 percent of those adult Hispanics
without a home computer don't know what brand they plan to buy," said
Felipe Korzenny, co-founder and partner. "That tells us there is not a
manufacturer who has claimed prominence in the market."

Korzenny suggests that PC manufacturers throw out the advertising canons,
pull on their best walking shoes and canvass the ethnic neighborhoods,
especially the Latino neighborhoods.

"Hispanics respond well to interpersonal channels," Korzenny said. "Most
parents understand the importance of the computer and Internet, but many
haven't had the chance to touch one and play with it. With that chance
[brought to their doorstep] I don't see how parents could let the salesman
out of the house with the computer."

It's simple said Buford, it just hasn't been done: "You have to tell them
why a computer is right for them and illustrate the benefits of owning one."


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