This time of the year a lot of people are heading to the mountains to ski and snowboard.
What about Hispanics?
While snowboarding has been growing tremendously over the past several decades the growth has reached a plateau. The M.A.S. (Multiculturals in Action Sports) Report/2010 Hispanic Snow Summary posits that the Hispanic population could fuel an increase snowboarding ridership. While currently only 3.4% of Hispanics participate in snow action sports today, the precursors are there and the industry needs to embrace the opportunity.
The report was prepared by Huemanitas, in partnership with Geoscape, Equipo Roca, and Mentalounge.
The report had three key learnings:
1. The misconceptions often associated with the multicultural market are in fact unfounded
2. Multicultural millennials overall represent significant potential for increasing snowboarding ridership and enthusiasts
3. The multicultural movement has perhaps already begun with early adopters being both consumer and retailer
One of the biggest hurdles is the industry itself because it thinks that multicultural consumers have no money and have no way of getting to the resort.
The Hispanic Snow Summary looked at seven DMA's that represented the greatest opportunity for Hispanics: Chicago, IL , Denver, CO , Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, Sacramento, CA, and San Francisco, CA, and Washington D.C.
Here are its findings in the indicators they explored:
· Socioeconomics:
o 62% of Hispanic American households in the seven DMA's studied have incomes of $50,000 or more representing a base level of over 2 million Hispanic American household's
o 18% of Hispanic HH reviewed are affluent with incomes of $100K or more
· Geography/Proximity to Ski Resorts (<80 miles)
o Chicago: 1 resort
o Denver: 9 resorts
o Los Angeles: 3 resorts
o New York: 6 resorts
o Washington DC: 2 resorts
· Population:
o Hispanic Millennials represent the greatest potential
o Hispanic teens which represent one fifth of the overall teen market and are growing six times faster than other segments are particularly attractive
· Acculturation:
o Targeting bicultural influencers presents the industry with an opportunity to accelerate the sports adoption exponentially since they serve as guides and gatekeepers for their friends and family
o 40% of all Hispanics in highlighted DMA's consider themselves bicultural representing 5.1 million consumers in just seven total markets
· Language:
o Know your audience and use language as a strategic tool
o The use of Spanish is universal among all Hispanic groups, and is what bonds the different pan-Hispanic identities
o For immigrant millennials aged 16-25, 48% indicated that they can speak English very well or pretty well. This number doubles to 98% for those millennials born in the United States
o Seven-in-ten Hispanic millennials, both native and foreign-born stated that they often or sometimes use "Spanglish" when speaking with family and friends
One of the more interesting sections of the report is the insights into culture, lifestyle, and the influence of multicultural pop and sport stars. They look at the rise of skateboarding among multiculturals and how it could provide clues as to how snow sports could generate enthusiasm among Multicultural Millennials. They cite examples such as:
o How Pharrell Williams' showcase of a cultural mash up between Hip Hop and skateboard lifestyles in his 2003 video for "Frontin" featuring Jay-Z helped to launch the era of "Skurban"and making what was then seen as a White only sport, cool for ethnic kids to also embrace
o How P-Rod may very well represent the next evolution of the multicultural action sports athlete and his Nike sponsorship
In order to grow among this critical segment the report says the key is customer engagement and they provide a three step action plan for doing so:
Step 1: Develop a comprehensive cultural intelligence plan
Step 2: Build an action plan that goes beyond altruism
Step 3: Identify the barriers to entry faced by your target multicultural consumers
Here is the full The M.A.S. (Multiculturals in Action Sports) Report/2010 Hispanic Snow Summary which has much more detail than I can go into in this short summary.
Full disclosure: As an avid skier it pains me to write about snowboarding but whatever you do, get out into the snow and enjoy!
Mary Zerafa is VP of Strategy and Integrated Marketing for impreMedia. Mary can be reached at Mary.Zerafa@impremedia.com. She also blogs at www.hispanicmarketinfo.com where you can learn more about the US Hispanic market.
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