Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • September 17, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Sean Teehan steehan@HartfordBusiness.com W hen Wilson Camelo pitched his mar- keting agency to a tourist attraction in Waterbury, the marketing manager there wasn't interested. Camelo highlighted his firm's exper- tise in marketing to the Latino commu- nity, but Hispanics weren't a priority demographic, he was told. The com- pany was looking to attract families within 30 miles of Waterbury. "I said, 'well, you realize that Hispan- ics have bigger families than every- body else, right?' " Camelo said to the marketing manager, who was unaware. "And by 30 miles, you're talking about Waterbury, New Britain, Hartford, Bridgeport; in all of those cities, over 40 percent (of residents) are Hispanic." Camelo never did get the tourist attraction's business, but the attitude displayed there was all too familiar, he said. And it remains confusing. Despite growing in numbers — His- panics make up just over 15 percent of the state's population, or about 540,000 residents — businesses have been slow to put resources behind marketing to the Latino community, Camelo said. But as some notable businesses have picked up their outreach efforts, Camelo and other marketing and ad- vertising executives specializing in the Hispanic market are trying to spread the word to companies in Greater Hartford that now is the time to ap- peal to the growing community. Failing to do so, Camelo said, is leaving money on the table. And with Latinos on track to become an increas- ingly larger proportion of the popula- tion, companies that don't start soon could be left behind. The demographic trends were clear in 2016 to Mike Abramson, who is now general manager of the Hartford Yard Goats, downtown Hartford's Double-A professional baseball team. That's when he enlisted the help of Hartford-based The Latino Way Marketing & Ad- vertising Agency to help with the team's outreach to the Hispanic community. "I think the (team's) inter- est is obvious," Abramson said of the Yard Goats' focus on Latino customers. "It's just the popu- lation, and as everybody knows in our country, the Latino population contin- ues to grow in numbers and percentage of overall population in the country." Baseball fans watching a Yard Goats home game at Dunkin' Donuts Park may notice the retired jersey of the late Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Ro- berto Clemente, a Puerto Rican, next to that of Jackie Robinson. The team also recently held its second annual Roberto Clemente Day at the stadium. The Yard Goats are also a main sponsor of Hartford's Puerto Rican Day Parade, broadcast all their games on the radio in Spanish, and market the team's Spanish-language alter-ego, Los Chivos de Hartford (Hartford Yard Goats in Spanish). But marketing to Latinos is about much more than just translating English ads into Spanish, said Maria Lino, princi- pal of The Latino Way, who spearheaded the Yard Goats' outreach campaign. Missed Opportunity Marketers say CT businesses ignoring growing Hispanic population Wilson Camelo, Founder, Camelo Communications "Many companies and clients come (to us) in need of understanding the Latino market, but from a cultural perspective." Maria Lino , Principal, The Latino Way Maria Lino, principal at The Latino Way Marketing and Advertising Agency, spearheaded the Hartford Yard Goats' outreach efforts to the Latino community. HBJ PHOTO | BILL MORGAN

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