On September 1, 1989, Target Market Research (the original name of the company now known as Encuesta, Inc.) was founded in Miami, Florida. On April 3, 1990, Founder Martin G. Cerda and Research Director John R. Cutts wrote the company’s first white paper in response to an article written in Hispanic Business (at the time a leading Latino business magazine). The paper was submitted to the magazine as a follow-up piece at the behest of the editor (unfortunately never printed) and released publicly to coincide with the campaign activities related to the 1990 Census. On April 30, 2010, the original white paper (see the attached scan of the original document) was re-released to the public in an effort to continue to foster thought and dialogue on these topics that are debated to this day.

1. The Need For Expression
By John R. Cutts and Martin G. Cerda
On September 1, 1989, Target Market Research (the original
name of the company now known as Encuesta, Inc.) was
founded in Miami, Florida.
On April 3, 1990, Founder Martin G. Cerda and Research
Director John R. Cutts wrote the company’s first white
paper in response to an article written in Hispanic
Business (at the time a leading Latino business magazine).
The paper was submitted to the magazine as a follow-up
piece at the behest of the editor (unfortunately never
printed) and released publicly to coincide with the
campaign activities related to the 1990 Census.
On April 30, 2010, the original white paper (see the
attached scan of the original document) was re-released to
the public in an effort to continue to foster thought and
dialogue on these topics that are debated to this day.

2. The N e ed For Expr esgion
By .Iohn R. Cutts and Martin G. Cerda
we are currently surrounded by a great deal of debate on the
issu e of S panish as a c rit e rio n o f His p a n ic -n e s s . rn a n y
field debate and even controversy should be welcome: they are
signs that people are active in seeking new approaches and in
sea r ch ing for new solution s . A b o v e a ll, it . is e n c o u ra g in g
tha t, people are willing to face up to the need for
qu e sti oning and re-thinking c u rre n t id e a s o n t . h e d e f in it io n
of ethnic identity. And lt is in this area that the question
o f d o minant language usa g e a mo n g His p a n ic s a ris e s : a f ie ld
r ,qh ich an increasing numb e r o f p ro f e s s io n a ls c o n s id e r to be
ripe for re-examj-nation.
Th e e xtent to which our in d u s t rlr h a s t a k e n a n o s t ric h -lik e
stan d on this problem wa s b ro u g h t h o me b y a re v e a lin g
in cid e nt a few years bac k . T h e o c c a s io n wa s a p re s e n t a t io n
to the media of the high points of a market study on the
be h a vior, characteristics a n d la n g u a g e h a b it s o f His p a n ic
consumers. At question time, a young execut,ive from a local
radio station rose to enquire how much longer the 1evel of
dominant Spanish usage in the 1oca1 Hispanic market would be
depended upon, given the growt.h of a largely young and
predominantly english speaking sector. He volunt,eered the
opini-on, drawn from his own experience, that his station was
no t r eaching younger Hi s p a n ic s . T h e e f f e c t . o f h is s imp le
q u e sti on was startling: the re a c t j-o n s of the in v it e d
p a n e lists varied from e mb a rra s s me n t t o e x a s p e ra t io n . An
a n swe r was attempted, f u mb le d , f in a lly put a s id e and
salvat,ion thankfully sought in the next questi-oner. The sad
conclusion to be drawn from this exchange is not the response
of the speakers, buL their all Loo evident assumptj-on t,hat,
de clj- n e in S panish usage s ig n a lle d t h e e n d o f t , h e His p a n ic
market. And bang went a golden opportunity to break away
from first base thinking.
One of the reasons - and an understandable one- for putting
off dealing with the pro b le m is t h e d a u n t . in g p ro s p e c t of
having t,o find - and to reach agreement on - a workable
alt,ernat.ive to the criterion of language. But we feel that
this obstacle may be more easily overcome than many of us
anticipate. Our experience Suggests that a great deal of the
d e b a te on language as a c rit e rio n o f Hls p a n ic -n e s s is
u n n e cessarlr and arises a s a re s u lt , o f o u r f a ilu re t o d e f in e
o u r terms. we believe that t , h e is s u e c a n b e s e e n in a
cl ea r e r light if we st , a rL b y ma k in g a b a s ic d ls t in c t io n
between Txtguage and express:o/r.
.L
Target, Market Research/april 3, l-990

3. We e m phasize language us a g e b y His p a n ic s b a s ic a lly because
all of us regard language as expressing ethnic ldentity. But
this should not make us lose sight of the fact (most evident
on the social and personal leve1s) that rlanguage' is not the
sam e thing as 'expression ' . Too often, la n g u a g e is a p o o r
means of expression. we know from dal1y experience that what
we say may be only an approximation of what we really want to
e xp r e ss. LeL us take t , h e e x a mp le o f a b ilin g u a l His p a n ic :
gr a n ted, he may choose t o s p e a k in S p a n is h o r E n g lis h
primarily in order to suit the language of his list,ener; but
he w ill frequently choose to mix the la n g u a g e s
interspersing phrases or even single words - because he can
b e tte r express hj-mself in t h is wa y . T a k e t . h is e x a mp le
furt.her: is it, then logical to assume t,hat because a person
of Hispani-c orlgin does not communicate j-n Spanish, he or she
has no Hispanic values to express?
The fact t.hat, Spanish (and not unglish) is used to express a
speaker's Hispanic identity is unquesti-onably relevant. But
l an g u a ge by itself is no t a n ' a 1 1 o r n o t h in g ' c rit e rio n of
e thn ic identlty. Nor is it t h e o n ly f o rm o f e x p re s s in g
i de n ti ty: a person's at,t it u d e s ; t h e n a t u re a n d c lo s e n e s s of
fam ily ties; choosing His p a n ic f rie n d s ; tastes in mu s ic
even an interest in Hispanic art or literature - all of these
co u ld be valid expression s o f His p a n ic -n e s s . T h u s , it s e e m s
ent,irely logical that, a person of Hispanic origin or descent,
although noL a Spanish speaker, will contj-nue to express his
Hispanic identity: he will do this in ways independently of
whether he or she communicates in Spanish; ways whj_ch are
expressive of his personality and background.
We wo uld go further and a s s e rt that n o t o n ly c o u ld s u c h
exa m p les as enjoying La t in mu s ic re p re s e n t e x p re s s io n s of
Hispanic identity: they would also act to make the individual
more aware of his Hispanic origins. Obvious examples would
b e th r ough a large fami ly re u n io n o r lis t e n in g t o Cie lit o
Lindo or Guantanarnera on the car radio. But it could equally
well be a fund raisj-ng, dD item on the six o'clock news, even
a na m e on a roadside sign . I n mo s t c a s e s , t h e lin k will be
involunt,ary rather than deliberate.
what are the implications of all this? Ttrere are three which
d ir e ctl y affect t,he Hisp a n j-c ma rk e t in g in d u s t rt r: f irs t , we
suggest re-defj-ning Hispanic identity by including the aspect
o f expression. This frees u s f ro m t h e rig id n e s s o f t h e ro n e
language, one market.' t,hinking addressed by Carl ,J. Kravetz
in his perceptive art,icl e in His p a n ic B u s in e s s (De c e mh e r ,
1989). Instead, iL op e n s u p a s it u a t , io n wh ic h b e t t e r
r e f l ects the realities o f t h e U. S . His p a n ic u n j-v e rs e : in
pa r tj - cular, it takes acc o u n t o f t h e g e n e ra t , io n a l d if f e re n c e s
between Hispanics.
2
Target Market Research,rApril 3, 1990

4. Seco n d, by expanding the d e f in it io n of the His p a n ic
p o p u la tion to include th o s e wh o a re n o t p rima rily s p a n is h
speakers, w€ open the fields of medj-a and communicat.ion to
f r e sh and creat.ive appro a c h e s . o n e e x a mp le lie s 1 n t , he
possible development of English language marketing techniques
sp e cifica11y t,argeted at His p a n ic s ; a n o t h e r wo u ld in c lu d e
En g lish language media c h a n n e ls - a lre a d y adopted by the
p io n e e rl-ng vista publ ic a t io n - and even b ilin g u a l
programming along the lines planned by Telemundo with its ltw
Second Generation.
Th ir d , it opens the door to a d d it io n a l s p e n d in g by
a d ve r tisers on the en t ire His p a n ic ma rk e t , in s t , e a d oi
con ce nt,rating on that t ra d it io n a l s p e n d in g t a rg e t , : the
Sp a n ish dominant sector. No , it is n o t g o in g t o b e a n e a s y
pr o ce ss t,o se1l to adver t is e rs . S e llin g t h e His p a n ic ma rk et
has never been easy, and it will get progresslvely tougher if
we continue to evade these key issues. Only in this way will
the entire Hispanic ma rk e t , g e t t,he fu11 a t t e n t io n it
deserrres.
The next decade will continue to show dramatic improvement.s
among U.S. Hispanics in areas such as educat,ional and income
1 e ve 1 s. Their numbers will c o n t in u e t o s we 1 1 f a s t e r than
those of any ot,her ethnic segment,. The coming of a new
tele vision rat,ing system a n d t h e p e n d in g re le a s e o f an
"improved" census measurement will attract many new faces and
will provide some sore ly n e e d e d c re d ib ilit y a n d ma rk e t
d e fi nition. How will u.s. lt is p a n ic s p e c la lis t s adapt to
these improvement,s? How else can Hispanic marketing evolve
t,o meet the challenge of the future?
IJet us hope that ten ye a rs f ro m n o w, wh e n a n a d v e rt is in g
executive asks the simple questj-on: 'How can I reach young
Eng lish-dominant Hispanic s ? ' , we will b e a b le t o g iv e h im a
co n str uctive, informed a n s we r. I n t , h is wa y , t h e e n t , ire
Hispanic market, will benefit and continue t,o thrive.
J
Target Market Research/april 3, 1990