What Will Census Data Mean For Cardiovascular Marketers?

Cardiovascular marketers may benefit from focusing on the huge demographic change that is taking place in America.

People in the media and marketing worlds have already started to talk about what the new Census results could reveal next year. In an AdAge article, Jackie Hernandez, the chief operating officer of Telemundo, says:

“These are profound times of change, and it’s not about tomorrow, it’s about today . . . the rules of engagement are changing and even the definition of who is a minority is changing. For companies to succeed now they need to understand how it’s all changing.”

A recently published “yellow” paper from AlmaDDB  does a great job of recapping the growing influence of the Hispanic market.  It raises a key point: it’s not about the Hispanic market, it’s about how these demographic shifts are affecting the so-called general consumer market. (Including health care, in my opinion.)

Here are some key takeaways from the paper:

• In the 1990 Census, it was the African-American market that was the largest minority in America, representing 12% (29 million) of the total U.S. population while Hispanics only accounted for 9% (22 million).
• By 2000 Hispanics, as the fastest-growing minority, had already surpassed the African-American community, reaching 35 million, representing 13% of the total population, while African Americans remained at 12%.
• By the end of 2010, there will be 30% more Hispanics (50 million) than there will be African Americans (38 million) in this country.

Although these are just projections, they are based on data from the American Community Survey, the CDC, Homeland Security and Geoscape’s DataStream 2010 Series.

Here are some additional highlights:

• In Texas, California, New Mexico, Hawaii and the District of Columbia, the white portion of the population is already a minority (representing less than 50%).
• At the DMA level there will be 19 markets where the minority is the majority. In 15 of them, the dominant minority is Hispanic; in two markets the dominant minority is African American, and in Hawaii, of course, it’s Asian/Pacific Islander.
• By 2020, minorities are expected to account for 40% of the country.

Issac Mizrahi, one of the yellow paper authors, encourages marketers to not only recognize the demographic changes but to start taking advantage of them.

“The most important thing is the internal discussion of what are the possible consequences of this demographic shift. We can’t look at the past. … We need to write the future. … So experimentation, control programs and pilots are the best options for marketers,” he adds.

Key items to consider in cardiovascular marketing plans:

• Many Hispanics live in multi-generational households. Therefore, it is critical to understand how different generations influence each other and who might be making and influencing health care decisions.
• The influence of the Hispanic market goes beyond the traditional states. More than 30 markets saw the Hispanic population increase by more than 100,000 persons in the past 10 years.
• U.S. born Hispanics will require marketing campaigns that take into account their unique cultural background. It is critical to develop marketing campaigns that go beyond language and place of birth.

For those of you who really want to understand how to do this, Hernandez recommends a book called The Culture Code.  It sounds interesting, but I haven’t read it yet.  If anyone wants to read it and submit a guest review, I’d be happy to post it.