One of the few bright spots in this severe recession is the performance of Wal-Mart. Everyone seems to be trading down, looking for lower prices and better value, and smart marketers like Wal-Mart (and McDonalds) have capitalized on this trend. Importantly they also recognize that one particular segment that appreciates good value more than any are U.S. Hispanic consumers.

Based on careful market research, Wal-Mart has decided to open its first Hispanic-focused supermarket in Phoenix and Houston in a pilot test, named Supermercado de Walmart. In addition, Sam’s Club will open a new warehouse store in Houston this year, called Mas Club.

These new retail stores will be in Hispanic neighborhoods, feature a special lay-out and product assortment geared to Latin consumers, and even include Cafés serving Latino pastries and coffee.

Other retail chains that are actively pursuing the Hispanic consumer include Publix in Florida (e.g. three “Publix Sabor” markets), HEB in Texas (“Mi Tienda” store), Best Buy and Home Depot.

As the U.S. consumer market continues to fragment, more and more proactive companies are diligently researching the attitudes and usage habits of high growth segments like the Hispanic market, and customizing their product line to build an emotional brand relationship with these value-conscious consumers.

The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), a nearly 2000 member, not-for-profit organization of senior-level marketing professionals across all industries and marketing disciplines today issued the results of its second annual survey of Top Marketing Trends for 2009. The survey of MENG members focused on top marketing concepts, buzz words, global areas of opportunity, targeted customer demographics, as well as the books and thought leaders that marketers look to for inspiration and growth opportunity.

“Due to the breadth and depth of our membership, The MENG survey is fast becoming one of the key indicators of where the marketing industry is headed and what marketers should be aware of to help continue to lead and grow their respective businesses, especially in today’s tough global business environment,” said Richard Guha, Chairman of MENG.

A key finding of this year’s survey is that 72% of respondents indicated that innovation efforts would stay the same or increase. This is significant given that most marketing experts agree it’s imperative to innovate during a recession and further exemplifies that MENG members are leaders in their respective industries. It’s also no surprise the economic climate showed greater interest in the survey as more marketers expressed concern on how a recession would impact priorities moving forward. For example, half of executives believe their marketing budgets will be decreased in 2009. However, 56% of marketers indicated their staffing plans will either stay the same or increase.

The Top Five Trends:

· Insight and innovation- Viewed as keys to combat down economic and business cycles; Marketers indicated market research and development would either stay the same or increase in 2009.

· Customer satisfaction and customer retention- Remained the top two marketing concepts followed by marketing ROI, brand loyalty and segmentation, which represents a “Back to Core Principles” approach to marketing. Of the 62 identified marketing concepts, faith-based marketing, six sigma, game theory, anti-americanism and immigration were viewed as the least important. **

· Global warming - Showed the largest decrease in importance (dropping 14 places in the rankings), while green marketing showed a statistically significant 5% drop.**

· The Web- Twice as many marketers are “sick” of hearing about Web 2.0 and related buzzwords such as “blogs” and “social networking” compared to last year’s survey; however, marketers still admit they don’t know enough about it. This was evident in the results of a social media study MENG released on November 6, 2008 showing 67% of executive marketers consider themselves beginners when it comes to using social media for marketing purposes.

· Market opportunities- Deespite well-publicized quality issues over the last year, China ranked the number one greatest area of opportunity for marketers with international responsibility. India was a distant second with only 17% of respondents.

. Offshoring- Interesting to note, offshoring has significantly diminished in favor as significantly more executives this year (58% vs. 49% in 2008) agreed that offshoring ‘is not as profitable as others think, and is fraught with risk’. Marketing executives also still feel Boomers represent the best opportunity for customer targeting. However, the perceived importance of Generation X and Generation Y grew significantly compared to 2008.

Top Marketing Books & Resources:

The main sources of marketing inspiration remained practically the same this year. /Good to Great /remained the most widely read and most recommended book. However, several new books appeared on the reading list this year including: /Groundswell, Hot Flat //and// Crowded, The Black Swan, Predictably Irrational, Mavericks at Work, The New Rules of Marketing //and// PR, The Art of the Start, Purple Cow, Go Put Your Strengths to Work, //and// Our Iceberg is Melt ing./

Similarly to the books, the number one business Guru last year, Seth Godin, remained the favorite marketing guru for 2009. However, Warren Buffet and Malcolm Gladwell increased significantly in popularity and now occupy second and third place, respectively. Jim Stengel also made the Marketing Guru list for the first time this year.

“This year we saw an increase in importance in several areas, not just ‘customer satisfaction’ and ‘retention’,” said Tom H.C. Anderson, “There were also significant increases in the importance of marketing concepts like ‘CRM’, ‘Data Mining’, “Leading Through Analytics’. That together with interest in books like /The Black Swan/ and optimism on Market Research budgets to me signals marketing executives realize that in a down economy, it’s even more important to utilize information efficiently and keep the customers you have.”

The Marketing Trends Survey was conducted among current MENG members between November 15 and December 2 of 2008. The 643 responses yield overall statistics with a confidence interval of +/-3.86% at the 95% confidence level.

About the Marketing Executives Networking Group*

The Marketing Executive Networking Group (MENG) is the premier organization of senior level marketing professionals who have reached at least the VP level in their organization. This 1,800+ member not-for-profit networking community fosters career and personal success by sharing information and relationships for mutual assistance across virtually all industries and marketing specialties. Eighty four percent of the members have Fortune 500 experience and 70% have earned graduate degrees, the majority of which are from top-20 Business Schools. To learn more, visit www.MENGonline.com:

http://www.mengonline.com

We (Mario Quiñones and Jay Gronlund) just returned from a conference in Los Angeles on Hispanic Marketing where we conducted a workshop on Emotional Branding for U.S. Hispanic consumers. It was very well received, as the audience recognized the importance of adding an emotional dimension to their branding and marketing, although they were previously not sure HOW to make their brands come alive. Another effective presentation that impressed everyone, especially us, came from Aric Melzl and Wendy Jacobson from Kimberly-Clark. This involved a case study for a new promotional campaign that was refreshingly unique and that genuinely resonated with Latin Consumers.

Aric and Wendy admitted that paper towels in general were not the most “sexy” product out there, even though the Scott brand was very familiar and highly respected. With limited budgets, Aric and Wendy approached the challenge of creating a new promotion idea that was innovative and viral, with diligence, an open mind and true professionalism. The objective was to build awareness and trial of the Scott line of paper towels among Hispanic females, in a way that would further solidify its bond with these consumers and strengthen brand loyalty.

Starting with prudent research to understand category drivers and brand perceptions among Hispanic women, they quickly identified a very relevant insight – about 98% of Hispanics attribute their common sense competence to their mother, who is also the principal source for traditional expressions that reflect their cultural wisdom and attitudes. Leveraging this insight in some ideation sessions, Aric and Wendy came up with the concept of an engaging sweepstakes where Hispanic consumers would be asked to write down and submit their favorite “common sense” expressions, or “dichos” in Spanish.

Hispanic consumers jumped all over this, and the Scott brand people were receiving up to 1,500 entries per person in some cases. This buzz-worthy idea spread like wild fire via word-of-mouth, becoming a “dicho-mania” craze which enabled the brand group to set up massive displays in retail stores, get free PR in high Hispanic locations throughout the country, and basically achieve a high return from a very limited marketing investment.

What did we (and the audience) learn from this? Simply, there is no replacement for smart market research and creativity to help marketers identify and successfully leverage a distinct insight, transforming it into an idea that is viral and resonates among a specific target segment like Hispanic females.

Jay Gronlund