Start-up aims to boost availability of Latin music online
By Doreen Hemlock
Business Writer
The marketing guru who pioneered the Internet for Latin America on Monday launched a venture to promote Latin music — also online.Fernando Espuelas announced the start-up of VOY Music, www.voymusic.com, a Web platform where Latin artists can promote and distribute their music and where consumers can tap into an Internet radio network with 23 Latin music stations, buy Latin music online, read news on Latin music, blog and access other features.
The venture is part of Espuelas’ larger VOY LLC, a multimedia group that also includes film, TV, radio, books and other units aimed largely at U.S. Hispanics and in English.
VOY Music will be run from offices in Miami, New York, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, with satellite offices planned in Spain and in Latin America next year, the company said in a statement Monday.
Leading the new venture is Alejandro Cosentino, a former marketing executive for American Express in Latin America, as chief executive.
Former MTV Latino video-jockey Ruth Infarinato is content director, Latin music industry veteran Rudy Vila vice president for business development and Gabriel Paluch chief technology officer.
November 2005
News: New Online Music Service Geared Toward Latinos
22
November
Release: Marketplace Strength among Latinos
09
November
Following is a release announcing the new study “Americanos Poll”. The most surprising piece of data to me with regards to brand recognition is the low identification rate for the Campbell’s brand, which has a large presence in supermarkets in Latin America, which would lead one to believe that foreign-born Latinos would be more familiar with the brand.
Study Compares Brand Equity Scores Between U.S. Hispanics and Non-Hispanics
Miami, Florida, October 24, 2005 – The “marketplace strength” of major brands among Hispanics and non-Hispanics varies widely, according to a new study by Encuesta, Inc. Americanos Poll: Brand Power Index Study 2005, the second release in the Americanos Poll series, evaluates the equity of 184 brands among consumers in each respective market. The Brand Power Index (BPI) facilitates the comparison of a brand’s standing relative to other brands in the marketplace and cross-culturally. The BPI score offers a quantified measure, from 0 to 100, of brand equity, based on an equation with four components: familiarity, quality, purchase intent, and corporate citizenship. The study took into account the extreme response style well documented among Hispanics when they use rating scales and applied statistical methods accordingly so that fair comparisons between the two groups can be made. “This study is unique in that it objectively and comprehensively assesses the relative brand strength of leading household brands in the U.S. among Hispanic and non-Hispanic consumers,” said Martin Cerda, President of Encuesta, Inc.
Among the study’s findings:
• Some common household brands are surprisingly weak among Hispanics. For example, Campbell’s, Pillsbury, and Betty Crocker are each over 50 points weaker among Hispanics than non-Hispanics.
• Conversely, Adidas, Always, and Corona are over 40 points stronger among Hispanics than non-Hispanics.
• In many cases, U.S.-born Hispanics’ perceptions of brands and their relative strength in the marketplace are more similar to those of non-Hispanics than foreign-born Hispanics.
The study is based upon telephone interviews conducted by Encuesta, Inc. with a representative national sample of n=1,021 Hispanic and n=624 non-Hispanic adults. The Hispanic sample mirrors that population’s known distribution of demographic, acculturation, and media usage characteristics. Aided evaluations of 30 randomly rotated brands by each respondent generated the data used to compute the BPI scores. Encuesta, Inc. sponsors the Americanos Poll series to compare the U.S. Hispanic and general populations across a range of topics. Many results will be made public to stimulate thought and dialogue about and foster understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population.
Encuesta, Inc. is a leading U.S. Hispanic marketing research and public opinion polling specialist. For information about the company, visit www.encuesta.com.
For a copy of the summary report or additional information on the Americanos Poll, contact: Lourdes Prado, Project Director, Encuesta, Inc., +1-305-661-1492 ext. 126 or lourdes.prado@encuesta.com