Juan Tornoe

Mexico And The Debate: Perhaps The Policy Isn't Foreign

October 23, 2012
By David Martin Davies

And don’t think some of the 24 million registered Latino voters in America didn’t notice that Mexico didn’t rate in the debate, said Juan Guillermo Tornoe, owner of Hispanic Trending Inc., a marketing and advertising firm in Austin, Texas.

“Definitely people paid attention. We see it in cyberspace, we see it on and offline, domestically as well as internationally," Tornoe said.

Tornoe said Latino voters care about the rising death toll in Mexico related to the drug war and its impact on the American Southwest.

“This is just south of our border, this is right next door, and that is important," Tornoe said.

Read the full article at Fronteras.

Are the candidates "Hispandering"?

October 5, 2012
Via CNN

Ed Lavandera reports on how the presidential candidates are wooing Hispanic voters.

Thanks to Ed Lavandera, Jason Morris and Dave Schechter from CNN for the opportunity to share my thoughts on both Presidential campaigns' Latino outreach strategy.

What's Restraining Latino Political Power?

July 25, 2012
Via Huffington Post

On Tuesday, HuffPost Live host Alicia Menendez talked with Huffington Post Latino Voices Senior Reporter Janell Ross, Mi Familia Vota's Francisco Herida, News Taco's Victor Landa, Hispanic Trending's Juan Tornoe and Roy Lopez, a blogger and activist, about Latino voter registrations, political participation and what is really restraining Hispanic political power.

"When I talk to people who are unregistered, they always have a bag full of excuses about why they can't register," said Mendez. "Do we also have a cultural problem here as well?"

Right now, for every registered Latino voter there is one who is eligible but unregistered. In fact, there are so many unregistered Latino adults that were they to join the political process they could alter the nation's political landscape in significant ways, according to new data released by the Center for American progress late last week. The center is a Washington, D.C. based think tank.

Click here to view the entire video.

'Sleeping giant' Latino vote yet to awaken

By Dave Schechter, CNN Senior National Editor
Wed May 30, 2012

Not one 'Latino vote'

Conventional wisdom lumps together "the Latino vote." But that community includes millions of people claiming dozens of countries of origin, speaking more than just Spanish. It is not now -- nor in the future -- likely to be anything so homogenous.

Juan Guillermo Tornoe, owner of Hispanic Trending Inc., a marketing and advertising firm in Austin, Texas, and author of the Hispanic Trending blog, is "counting the days" until he is eligible to become a U.S. citizen in a couple of years and vote in a presidential election.

For several years, Tornoe, a Guatemala native who came to the United States 10 years ago and now has permanent resident status, has talked about the nuances of the Latino community, the kinds of things companies marketing products (and political parties marketing candidates) need to know.

"There is not one Latino Vote; there is a multitude of Latino votes and candidates, society, and the media need to fully understand this if they are ever going to connect with the different parts of the Hispanic community," he advised.

Tornoe cringes "every time someone refers to Latinos as a unified voting bloc or as a homogeneous market segment. We are way too diverse for this."

"There are many differences between Hispanics, depending upon the person's country of origin or heritage: Food and music preferences as well as the holidays they celebrate are some of the most obvious," Tornoe says. "The actual words they use to describe persons, places, actions and things can vary immensely as well. There is also a lot of ideological baggage that comes along with one's country of origin/heritage."

…

As for generational differences, Tornoe said: "It is a completely different worldview depending how far away generationally Hispanics are from their country of origin/heritage.

"First-generation (foreign-born) Latinos have experienced life outside the U.S., have gone through the immigration experience, and to different degrees, have embraced or become acquainted with living in America. Second-generation Latinos encounter a mixed experience, being born and growing up in the United States, but brought up by immigrants and thus heavily exposed and influenced by their parents' culture.

"Finally, Latinos who are third generation and beyond are the sons and daughters of U.S.-born parents. They are very much influenced by the general market but still connect to their roots through the values, traditions and culture passed on by their parents and grandparents."

When it comes to citizenship, Tornoe, who hopes to be officially an American in three years, is clear.

"Being a U.S.-born citizen puts you in a completely different frame of mind than that of a naturalized U.S. citizen, someone who's a permanent resident (who could be counting the days to becoming a citizen or simply choosing to never become one), someone here on a temporary work visa or an undocumented alien," he said. "All of these are part of the Latino population, but only a percentage of them are able to vote.

"Then, among the latter, it is not the same to be able to vote, than to be a registered voter and actually cast your vote. Lack of participation in the democratic process is one of the major problems among the Hispanic community."

Read the entire article @ CNN

Hispanic Trending: Documenting Latino’s Imprint in America

Hispanic Trending’s New Slogan & Logo

By Juan Tornoe

As soon as landed in Austin to call it home I began experiencing for myself that many businesses had no clue how to cater to a multicultural customer base, let alone effectively reach them through marketing and advertising efforts.

The big Hispanic ad agencies were fiercely competing to call Fortune 500 companies their clients; some of them were actually doing a good job at helping businesses connect with Latino consumers. Still, there was a problem; most of the non-Fortune 500 companies, especially small to medium-sized ones remained mostly unaware on what they needed to understand in order to attract and retain Hispanic customers.

This was an opportunity I simply could not afford not pursuing.

By early May 2004, after some time of living in the U.S., I had a huge compilation of data building the strong case for any company to reach out to Hispanics, along with specific strategies on how to effectively connect with them and turn them into lifetime customers. My goal was to help my current clients, mostly small, owner-operated businesses spread across America, get a step ahead of their competition and capitalize in engaging with this growing demographic, the soon to become, largest minority in the nation.

My friend Dave Young strolled into my office and immediately inquired about the somewhat organized stacks of paper rising from my desk. After patiently listening to my explanation, he left the room with an almost unnoticeable grin in his face.

A few minutes later Dave stormed back into my office and literally dragged me into one of our conference rooms. It so happened that he had been fiddling with the idea of utilizing blogs as a cost-effective way to build a platform for his consulting business, and he had just setup juantornoe.blogs.com for me and wanted to share the basics on how to run it.  That’s how Hispanic Trending was born.

Almost 8 years have passed; the blog has gone through several changes, including various looks and feels, but for the most part, its logo had remained consistent.

For some time now, I’ve been feeling the need to update the logo and description to more clearly express the site’s intent. As you know, the urgent, unfortunately, sometimes takes precedent over what is important, and weeks, months, even years went by with all things remaining unchanged.

It wasn’t until very late last year, after hiring Rafael Picco as designer for Cultural Strategies, that I finally acted upon this desire. I sat down with Rafa and gave him a not so brief debriefing on Hispanic Trending and asked him to think about a new logo for it. Not too much time had passed when Rafa showed me his proposed concept.



It communicated so clearly what the blog was doing. It was a simple impression of a hand, but within it you clearly observed the map of Latin America, from Tierra de Fuego to Tijuana. It was one of those “Aha!” moments, the ones you don’t have that often.

Individuals with a Latino heritage are leaving a strong imprint in the United States of America, and Hispanic Trending has been documenting it for the last 8 years.

Hispanic Trending’s ultimate goal is helping businesses and individuals better understand the Latino community, its diversity and complexity. An integral part through this learning process is understanding how Hispanics are redefining the general market, how they are leaving an imprint in America.

Hispanic Trending will continue documenting this process, now with it’s new logo and slogan.

Thank you for your readership and support through this journey.

Sincerely,

Juan

Benetton: ¿Publicidad desesperada?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts on CNN en Español on Benneton's most recent campaign:

 

Dallas Morning News: Hispanic Consumers Gain Clout

Today, I was quoted on the Business Section of the Dallas Morning News:

Thanks for your consideration Maria!

The Truth

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

On February 7th I had the privilege of sharing at my local church the tip of the iceberg of what I've learned about God's Creation through my good friends from the Alpha Omega Institute and the local Precept Ministries chapter.

You can listen to it or download it here

It's "En Español."

Thanks and Glory be to God!

In This Decade, Every Room Is A Screening Room : NPR

Consultant Juan Tornoe, who studies the Latino market in the U.S., doesn't see his phone as a screen, but as a "window to the world." He says cell phone usage is huge among Latinos — and their user habits are sophisticated.

"You're not only connected to friends and family, you get access to information," he says. "You get to send and receive e-mail. You get to participate in social media, listen to music, you name it."

Tornoe's window to the world is wide open, and that really appeals to Poniewozik. He says that 10 years ago, he'd write an article and have no idea what readers thought of it. No more.

via NPR's Morning Edition

Had the opportunity to chat with NPR's Elizabeth Blair a few days ago :-)