Papatel Launches Free Phone Service Nationwide for US Hispanics

Papatel, a new long-distance service that allows customers to call anywhere across the globe for free, today announced that it has launched nationwide after experiencing exponential growth during its test phase. In less than one year, Papatel has garnered more than 80,000 customers who use the service to call loved ones back home at no cost. The service is easy-to-use and takes less than five minutes to join, by logging on to www.papatel.com or calling 1-(866) PAPATEL.

Enrique Baiz, Founder and President of Papatel, commented; “many of us have families abroad, and keeping in touch with them internationally can be very costly. Particularly in this difficult economic climate, Papatel makes it free and easy to keep in touch with loved ones.”

It is so easy. Users establish an account by simply providing basic information including the numbers they will be calling from to make their long-distance calls (whether it be from the cell phone or landline) and they can start using Papatel immediately, with no strings attached. The registration, which takes less than five-minutes, is strictly confidential and the information is never shared with any other entity.

The free service is made possible through an innovative model in which advertisers place ads at the beginning of the calls and after long segments of conversation. Every week, users can acquire 1,000 free points, which allows users to call loved ones in Argentina or Mexico and talk up to 1.5 hours for free. Each time customers listen to an advertisement, they earn points, which provides them with more free long-distance minutes. Consumers can also hear weather reports or their horoscopes if they choose to.

In addition, Papatel offers users Papatel+, which is the company’s prepaid service that provides long distance rates with absolutely no advertisements. Rates to call anywhere around the world start as low as $.01. And, unlike other prepaid phone services, the balance never expires, and there are no hidden fees.

“It is the best deal a user can get for free international calls every week with no strings attached, and our prepaid and pinless international program is truly the top long-distance service in the market today,” added Baiz. “We want potential customers to know Papatel is committed to our promise, that is to offer completely free long distance service always.”

Today, Papatel has nearly 10 patents for this innovative technology, making it the world’s only free long distance service that does not require internet use. For more information or to register for the service, visit www.papatel.com, or call (866) PAPATEL.

About Papatel

Papatel is the world’s first non-internet based free phone service. Based in Miami, FL, the company currently has over 80,000 users in its first year of operation, and is rapidly expanding nationwide. For more information, visit www.papatel.com.

SOURCE Papatel

Claudia Goffan

Here is the article:

The children of Hispanic immigrants tend to be born healthy and start life on an intellectual par with other American children, but by the age of 2 they begin to lag in linguistic and cognitive skills, a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, shows.

Hispanic Immigrants’ Children Fall Behind Peers Early, Study Finds

The study highlights a paradox that has bedeviled educators and Hispanic families for some time. By and large, mothers from Latin American countries take care of their health during their pregnancies and give birth to robust children, but those children fall behind their peers in mental development by the time they reach grade school, and the gap tends to widen as they get older.

The new Berkeley study suggests the shortfall may start even before the children enter preschool, supporting calls in Washington to spend more on programs that coach parents to stimulate their children with books, drills and games earlier in their lives.

“Our results show a very significant gap even at age 3,” said Bruce Fuller, one of the study’s authors and a professor of education at Berkeley. “If we don’t attack this disparity early on, these kids are headed quickly for a pretty dismal future in elementary school.”

Professor Fuller said blacks and poor whites also lagged behind the curve, suggesting that poverty remained a factor in predicting how well a young mind develops. But the drop-off in the cognitive scores of Hispanic toddlers, especially those from Mexican backgrounds, was steeper than for other groups and could not be explained by economic status alone, he said.

One possible explanation is that a high percentage of Mexican and Latin American immigrant mothers have less formal schooling than the average American mother, white or black, the study’s authors said. These mothers also tend to have more children than middle-class American families, which means the toddlers get less one-on-one attention from their parents.

“The reading activities, educational games and performing the ABCs for Grandma — so often witnessed in middle-class homes — are less consistently seen in poor Latino households,” Professor Fuller said.

The study is based on data collected on 8,114 infants born in 2001 and tracked through the first two years of life by the National Center for Education Statistics. The findings will be published this week in Maternal and Child Health Journal, and a companion report will appear this fall in the medical journal Pediatrics.

The analysis showed that at 9 to 15 months, Hispanic and white children performed equally on tests of basic cognitive skills, like understanding their mother’s speech and using words and gestures. But from 24 to 36 months, the Hispanic children fell about six months behind their white peers on measures like word comprehension, more complex speech and working with their mothers on simple tasks.

The study comes as the Obama administration has been pushing for more money to help prepare infants and toddlers for school. In September, the House passed an initiative that would channel $8 billion over eight years to states with plans to improve programs serving young children.

In addition, the economic stimulus package included $3 billion for Head Start preschools and for the Early Head Start program, which helps young parents stimulate their children’s mental development.

Eugene Garcia, an education professor at Arizona State University, said the Berkeley-led study confirmed findings by others that the children of Hispanic immigrants, for reasons that remain unclear, tend to fall behind white students by as much as a grade level by the third grade.

“It seems like what might be the most helpful with Latino kids is early intervention,” Dr. Garcia said.

Carmen Rodriguez, the director of the Columbia University Head Start in New York City, said there was a waiting list of parents, most of them Hispanic, who want to take Early Head Start classes with their children.

Dr. Rodriguez said the study’s findings might reflect a surge in interest in early childhood education on the part of middle-class Americans, rather than any deficiency in the immigrant homes.

“Any low-income toddler is disadvantaged if they don’t get this kind of stimulation,” she said.

Source: The New York Times – By James McKinley Jr.

Dia de la Raza - Columbus Day

The date of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas is celebrated in many countries in Latin America, although not in Brazil, (and in some Latino communities in the United States) as the Día de la Raza (“day of the race”), commemorating the first encounters of Europeans and Native Americans. The day was first celebrated in Argentina in 1917, Venezuela in 1921, Chile in 1922, and Mexico in 1928. The day was also celebrated under this title in Spain until 1957, when it was changed to the Día de la Hispanidad (“Hispanity Day”), and in Venezuela until 2002, when it was changed to the Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) by President Hugo Chavez. Día de la Raza in many countries is seen as a counter to Columbus Day. It is used to resist the arrival of Europeans to the Americas and is used to celebrate the native races.

In the U.S. Dia de la Raza has served as a time of mobilization for pan-ethnic Latino activists, particularly in the 1960s. Since then, La Raza has served as a periodic rallying cry for Hispanic activists. The first Hispanic March on Washington occurred on Columbus Day in 1996. The name has remained in the largest Hispanic social justice organization, the National Council of La Raza.

]]> http://hispanic-marketing.com/blog/hispanic-marketing/latin-america-hispanic-marketing/dia-de-la-raza-columbus-day/feed/ 3 http://hispanic-marketing.com/blog/advertising/social-media-success-story-media-exposure-equaled-6-67-million-in-ad-spend/ http://hispanic-marketing.com/blog/advertising/social-media-success-story-media-exposure-equaled-6-67-million-in-ad-spend/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:31:15 +0000 Target Latino http://hispanic-marketing.com/blog/?p=670 A brilliant example of an Advertising and Social Media campaign execution and of how to measure social media results:

The campaign “One Thousand Casmurros,” made for the biggest TV network in Brazil, Rede Globo. It was the agency’s first entry in Cannes.

Commemorating 100 years since the death of one of the greatest writers Brazil has ever seen, Machado de Assis, Rede Globo launched a miniseries inspired by one of his best-known books, “Dom Casmurro.” In order to promote it, LiveAd divided the book contents in a thousand pieces and organized a collective reading of the entire text, inviting people to upload their homemade videos reading in front of their webcams. The videos were posted on a special social network.

The results were astonishing: Spontaneous media exposure equaled $6.67 million in ad spend.

One Thousand Casmurros from Livead on Vimeo.

To pay tribute to one of Brazil’s most respected writers, Machado de Assis, the largest TV network in Brazil was launching a mini-series based on one of his books, Dom Casmurro.

Through the launch of the mini-series, we needed to build up TV Globo’s reputation with a new generation, disconnected from the television.

We created a website with the book and divided it into one thousand excerpts. In the website, people could choose and record pieces in real time with their webcam. We enabled a large scale collective reading.

At the same time, we hid one thousand DVDs with unique scenes in public places for people to find them and hide them again once they had seen it.

In less than a month, the reading was completed.

Influential admirers talked about it in public. 33 million viewers watched the series’ first episode. The media called it the best tribute to Machado de Assis of 2008.

Almost 106 million people were exposed to press notes related to the mini-series. The subsequent media exposure was worth the equivalent of 6,7 million dollars in advertising spend.

How Attached Are Latino Immigrants to Their Native Country?

Most Latino immigrants maintain some kind of connection to their native country by sending remittances, traveling back or telephoning relatives, but the extent of their attachment varies considerably. Only one-in-ten (9%) do all three of these so-called transnational activities; these immigrants can be considered highly attached to their home country. A much larger minority (28%) of foreign-born Latinos is involved in none of these activities and can be considered to have a low level of engagement with the country of origin. Most Latino immigrants (63%) show moderate attachment to their home country; they engage in one or two of these activities.

Latino immigrants who have been in the U.S. for decades and those who arrived as children are less connected than those who arrived more recently or migrated as adults. There are also significant differences by country of origin, with Colombians and Dominicans maintaining more active connections than Mexicans, and with Cubans having the least contact.

Whether Latino immigrants maintain active, moderate or limited connections is an important marker of their attitudes toward the U.S., their native country and their own lives as migrants. Those with the highest levels of engagement have deeper attachments to their country of origin than immigrants whose connections are less robust. They also have more favorable views of their native country in comparisons with the U.S. Nonetheless, a clear majority of even these immigrants see their future in the U.S. rather than in the countries from which they come.

Most Latino immigrants reveal moderate levels of engagement with the home country–both in the extent of their transnational activities and in their attitudes. They maintain some connections to the country of their birth through such activities as sending money or phoning regularly. And their opinions blend optimism about life in the U.S. and positive evaluations of some aspects of American society (notably political traditions) with less favorable comparisons to their native land on other aspects (such as morals). Their attachments and identities are a mix of views that might be expected of people navigating an emotional terrain that encompasses two nations. That mix differs in several important respects, with people who have been in the U.S. longer being more ready than recent arrivals to declare this country their homeland and to describe themselves as Americans.

The Pew Hispanic Center’s 2006 National Survey of Latinos collected data on a variety of transnational activities and a wide range of attitudes and beliefs. This report is based on a new analysis of that survey data, which for the first time examines the extent to which Latino immigrants with different characteristics maintain connections to their native lands and assesses how different levels of transnational activities are associated with an immigrant’s views on key subjects. The analysis thus explores the question of whether maintaining connections to a country of origin is associated with more positive or negative views of the U.S., a greater or lesser sense of attachment to this country and a stronger or weaker sense of identity as an American.

Source: Pew Hispanic Center – Roger Waldinger, University of California, Los Angeles

When the younger Gonzalez’s grandparents emigrated from Mexico around 1910, they initially planned on returning, he said at the debut of Historias, a project of StoryCorps, a nonprofit oral history group that records stories of everyday Americans.

“I want to talk about how my father sought that more complete assimilation and the obstacles he had to face and his generation’s contribution to allowing me to do what I do today,” Gonzalez said.

StoryCorps officially launched Historias, which will be archived at the Library of Congress, at a ceremony that featured talks by, among others, House members of Latino descent.

Speakers praised the project and StoryCorps’ past efforts, saying that the stories of everyday people preserve the American experience and that the new initiative offers the often-ignored Latino community a chance to participate.

“We believe that much of what we have contributed and what we continue to contribute — if it is found in whatever history, oral or otherwise — is a footnote,” Gonzalez said. “I think this goes a long way to remedy that situation.”

Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., spoke about how two recent projects on World War II — Ken Burns’ documentary “The War” and Tom Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation” — did not include much about Latinos, a trend that Becerra has noticed since he was young.

“I think Historias does something very important for us: It tells us who we are,” Becerra said.

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., spoke of how his immigrant father responded to a friend’s comment that he was lucky to have successful children.

“My father, in the most wonderful broken English, said, ‘I busted my back to get lucky,’” Serrano said.

It is necessary to gather the stories of as many everyday Latinos as possible, Gonzalez said.

“An untold history makes for an incomplete history and thus an incomplete lesson,” he said.

“It’s a lesson for all of us, for those who have been here for many years to appreciate the contribution made by others, but also for the new arrivals because there will always be new arrivals in this country,” Gonzalez said after the event. “I think it’s going to be a source of inspiration, and lessons will be learned that will benefit all Americans.”

Recordings for Historias will take place in more than 20 cities across America during the next year.

The project will record oral histories in Texas, starting with Austin and Houston in November, Brownsville in May and San Antonio in June.

Those interested in participating in the project can call StoryCorps at (800) 850-4406.

By Drew Joseph – Hearst Newspapers

Target Latino thanks the Latino Nutrition Coalition and Oldways for allowing us to publish this important information for dissemination within our community. Let’s hope that we all work together for the betterment of our nutrition and that of our children.

—————-

BOSTON, September 15, 2009 – In celebration of Latino Nutrition Month from September 15 through October 15, Oldways and the Latino Nutrition Coalition (LNC) have released Latino Living – A Guide to Better Health Through Traditional Food and Active Lifestyles – for both consumers and health professionals.

“Latino Living was originally designed for health professionals and dietitians, but it is so user friendly and simple that it’s perfect for consumers from coast to coast,” said Sara Baer-Sinnott, Executive Vice President of Oldways.

Latin Diet Pyramid - Copyright 2009 Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust - http://www.oldwayspt.org/

For Consumers, the kit offers:

• A 7-day Healthy Latino Meal Plan, with recipes and grocery list.
• A bilingual Latino Lifestyle Calendar, featuring a tip-a-day for following the healthy Latin American diet.
• New, illustrated, bilingual Latin American Diet Pyramid, with basic guidelines to help plan daily meals.

The following in both English and Spanish:

• A list of Latin American super foods
• Kitchen Strategies: time savers and smart swaps
• Tip for Kids: cooking, lunches and snacks
• Tips on how to exercise with your family

For Health Professionals and RDs, the kit offers:

• All of the above, PLUS
• Statistics concerning obesity, nutrition, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer rates occurring in the Latino American population.
• A detailed explanation of the Latin American Diet Pyramid, along with basic guidelines that help plan daily meals.
• Weekly Goal Tracking and 24-Hour Recall Sheets.

Consumers, health professionals and RDs can request this free resource (on CD-Rom or online) by emailing or calling Adriene Worthington (aworthington@oldwayspt.org, 617-896-4876.

Coinciding with National Hispanic Heritage Month, Latino Nutrition Month will introduce consumers to a variety of ways to cook, eat and enjoy the Latino diet pattern. The introduction of an updated Latin American Diet Pyramid will stress the importance of putting plant foods such as fruits, veggies, grains (mostly whole), nuts and peanuts, beans and spices at the core of one’s diet. Additionally, consumers can enter Oldways/LNC’s Latin American Diet Recipe Contest (see below) to win a variety of prizes.

See what else is happening during Latino Nutrition Month on the Oldways and LNC websites. These programs include:

1. An updated Camino Mágico, a downloadable, bi-lingual supermarket shopping guide to help Latino shoppers make healthy choices among the endless food options available at supermarkets today.

2. Latin American Diet Recipe Contest featured on the Oldways and LNC websites and on the Official Oldways Table Blog. Consumers should submit a recipe that uses at least two Latin American Diet products (list is featured on the Oldways Table Blog).  Winners will be drawn at the end of the month, and announced on our websites.  Prizes include wonderful Latino food products, autographed copies of our widely-praised book, The Oldways Table, chock-full of wonderful recipes and short essays about food and wine experiences, and the new poster of the Latin American Diet Pyramid.

3. A 2′ X 3′ poster with an updated illustration of the Latin American Diet Pyramid will be available at The Oldways Store on September 21, 2009.

Links:

Find Oldways on Twitter – OldwaysPT

Find the LNC on Twitter – LatinoNutrition

Oldways on Facebook – Become a Fan!

The Official Oldways Blog – The Oldways Table

About Oldways and the Latino Nutrition Coalition

Oldways is an internationally-respected non-profit, changing the way people eat through practical and positive programs grounded in science, traditions, and delicious foods and drinks.  The Latino Nutrition Coalition is an Oldways program inspiring Latinos to improve and maintain their health through traditional foods and active lifestyles. LNC members include: General Mills; Herdez; Splenda; La Moderna; Mission Foods; National Watermelon Promotion Board; The Peanut Institute; Soyfoods Association of North America; Splenda  Sweetener Products; United States Potato Board; and Wisconsin Milk  Marketing Board.  You can learn more at www.oldwayspt.org and www.latinonutrition.org.

The strategic alliance will operate through Televisa Consumer Products USA (“TCP”) a company owned 51% by Televisa and 49% by Genomma Lab. The sale and distribution of Genomma Lab’s products will be an integral part of the activities of TCP.

As part of this alliance, TCP will enter into, among others, a product supply agreement with Genomma Lab. Televisa will make available its different media platforms in the United States and Puerto Rico to TCP, which will provide Genomma Lab’s brands with significant advertising in the targeted markets in line with Genomma Lab’s business model.

This will enable Genomma Lab to expand the extensive success of its brands beyond Mexico and Latin America by accessing a Hispanic market of approximately 50 million consumers with a purchasing power of over $870 billion annually while leveraging off of Televisa’s reach and name recognition in the Hispanic market.

Subject to certain conditions, the parties contemplate closing the transaction in the following months and launching operations by year end.

About Grupo Televisa, S.A.B

Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., is the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world and a major participant in the international entertainment business. It has interests in television production and broadcasting, production of pay-television networks, international distribution of television programming, direct to home satellite services, cable television and telecommunication services, magazine publishing and publishing distribution, radio production and broadcasting, professional sports and live entertainment, feature-film production and distribution, the operation of an internet portal, and gaming. Grupo Televisa also owns an unconsolidated equity stake in La Sexta, a free-to-air television venture in Spain.

About Genomma Lab Internacional, S.A.B. de C.V.

Genomma Lab Internacional, S.A.B. de C.V. is one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical and personal care products companies in Mexico and has an increasing presence in the international markets. Genomma Lab develops, sells and markets a broad range of premium branded products, many of which are leaders in the categories in which they compete in terms of sales and market share. The Company has significantly grown its revenue and profitability through a combination of a successful new product development process, consumer-oriented marketing, a broad retail distribution network and a low-cost, highly flexible operating model.

Source: Genomma Lab Internacional, S.A.B. de C.V.

“The growth of Levelup.com is a testament to the 60 Billion Dollar Video Game market,” says Ramon Toledo, President of Busca Corp Media Network. “Through our partnership with Prodigy MSN we are well positioned as the #1 Video Game Site for the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic audience.”

Prodigy MSN is the most popular website in Mexico with over 23 million users and features a wide array of world-class services, such as Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, as well as video, news, and the latest in entertainment, lifestyle and sports. Our partnership aims to target the rapidly expanding video game user base which in the 1980′s meant mostly males under the age of 20 but today includes both male and female gamers under the age of 35.

Levelup.com publishes user-generated video game content alongside professionally produced media content that offers tips, strategies, reviews, comments and a place to share experiences with a fully engaged online community. With its unique platform, Levelup.com has experienced strong and steady growth since its launch in 2007.

Levelup.com also recently entered, and is aggressively attacking, the U.S. Hispanic Market and, is opening a largely untapped demographic with huge potential.

Source: Busca Corp

The Wyncrest Group, Inc., (Pink Sheets: WNCG) a niche insurance consortium, announces its position to rapidly enter the Latin American market. Wyncrest’s pending acquisition of Florida Insurance Consulting Inc. will provide an important key to our growth in the Latin American markets. With the huge growth of the Spanish speaking population in the U.S., many markets are underrepresented and many families and businesses need an insurance and financial services provider.

As recently stated in our previous press release, Southwest Financial Group has been in talks with other Insurance and Financial services companies in Broward Country, Florida that could bring the number of agents in Florida to well over one hundred. This company is also doing roughly $120,000,000.00 in premium insurance and financial sales per year. The company hopes to continue its efforts in recruiting agents and associates from strong family backgrounds with ties to the Latin American communities, Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean, as well as South America.

Keith Lanzara, President of the Wyncrest Group, pointed out, “America is more Latin than ever before, and the language and cultural differences that exist must be overcome if Wyncrest Group’s growth strategy in the Latin insurance industry is to be successful. Wyncrest Group’s subsidiary Southwest Financial Group welcomes the opportunity to form synergies with Florida Insurance Consulting and to develop additional business in the Latin American community.”

Targeting Latin Americans: This demographic seems to be the most sought after by insurers. Hispanics represent the largest minority group in the United States with 44.3 million or 14.8% of the population. Latin Americans are also the fastest growing minority group and account for nearly half (1.4 million) the national population growth from 2005 to 2006. In U.S. history, there has never been an immigrant group that has grown to its current size while continuing to maintain its language, cultural values and traditions This makes Latin Americans a sizeable target for marketers in all industries.

The relatively young Hispanic population, entering the workforce for the first time or moving up their individual career ladders, are seeking additional gains in buying power. This will be even more important in this decade than in the 1990s. The increasing number of Latin Americans who have successfully started and expanded their own businesses is another potent force powering the growth of this consumer market, as evidenced by the 1.2 million Hispanic-owned firms in the U.S.

Health insurance providers and hospitals have traveled online to help build their brands with Latino audiences. At the same time tax preparation and accounting services continues to grow when it comes to the total dollars invested in Spanish-language media.

Source: Wyncrest