Today's Ypulse Guest Post comes Lazaro Fuentes, the founder of HipChicas.com and one of the many insightful commenters who contributed to a discussion sparked by Anastasia's post on the terms "muliticultural" and "urban." I asked Lazaro if he would delve into the topic of Latin youth media a little more and he was kind enough to oblige.  If you work in youth media or marketing and have an idea for a Ypulse Guest Post, feel free to email me.

Tweens, The Next Frontier In Latin-Themed Content

There has been an unprecedented multicultural content boom since the year 2000, when we saw the launch of "Dora the Explorer," the $1 Billion a year franchise that really made it all happen.

The lightning in a bottle that is Dora was followed many others: "Go Diego Go," "Maya & Miguel" and later "Handy Manny," "El Tigre" and now even "El Chavo" (a popular 70’s sitcom) has been repackaged, animated and is making the rounds on TV.

It makes sense that there would be so much content created with Latin themes. Latinos in the US are the fastest growing and youngest segments of the population, accounting for one in every two births in the nation since 2006 and 25% of all kids 1-17 years old. But that's old news. So entrenched is this genre of content that it is hardly considered "Latino" content at all, but rather modern US content; a sign of the times.

However, there are a couple of problems that have gone undetected by content developers, and which are opportunities for the future of Latin-themed content and content in general. They are problems that like most "problems" can be seen as negative, or as I mentioned before, an opportunity. I am a huge proponent of the second. I was taught that problems are simply solutions waiting to be found.

The first problem is that the content boom does not extend beyond preschool and really needs to. Multicultural content all but ends as kids become tweens. There is an opportunity right now for content developers to rethink the mold and model for tween content and to redefine perceptions and stereotypes to bring them in line with reality, because unfortunately, what little is available for tweens is too often mired by inappropriate stereotypes and values that content developers have been too lazy to update, upgrade or both.

This should not be misunderstood, as it is too often, to mean that content has to be hyper educational in order to have value or lack the hip qualities attractive to tweens today in order to be appropriate. What it means is that content should reflect the rich diversity not only of cultures, but of opinions and capabilities that tweens today have.

They're not simply consumers. They, too, are receiving all the info-overload now available to the world. It's inescapable. Unlike the generations before them, they are, like it or not, processing that information and coming up with their own conclusions. And frankly, when they voice some of their opinions and conclusions, like those on global warming, we should probably listen.

The second problem is related to the first, but it has more to do with the lack of development across the various media platforms now used. If you look at what the better developers do today, Disney, Nickelodeon and others, they look at a franchise and before they go out with the first product, they have thought through the animated series, the books, the online games, the offline console game, the offline handheld games the phone application and the list goes on and on.

Why, other than the fact that it is really smart to do so, do you think that is the case? Yes it is smart to want to maximize the revenue potential of a content franchise as early as possible, but more importantly – and a shift from a past when you could develop a product and worry about future products later, as opportunities arise – the user is demanding that you be everywhere. They are insisting that you have the strategy thought through and that you be where they are. They are not only on TV anymore.

Tweens are using many different devices, social networks and virtual worlds at ever-increasing rates but the content is equally wanting across the board. They want and need updated content that gets them and they want to take their content experience from one medium to the next and insist on that flexibility.

So what's next in Latino content? This is an area of particular interest to me. I see content development that redefines the Latino experience as part of the greater population where their roles and their interactions are as diverse as they are. Most importantly I see a smart, hip wave of content that like the preschool content that inspired it will inspire the audiences understanding of who they are, whether Latino or not, in this "in between" or "Tween" phase of their lives, so that they can move on to the next stage confidently. And like that preschool content before it, that it will be wildly profitable and successful.

What will it take? It will take pioneers … like it always does with uncharted territory. The good news is that we have proof that there is a demand — Dora proved it — and that the internet offers good, relatively inexpensive means of distribution, so my advice to content producers is, "Get to work!"

For more coverage of the tween space, check out the Ypulse Tweens Channel, sponsored by the Tween Tribune.

More on Lazaro Fuentes
Lazaro Fuentes is the founder of HipChicas.com, a new Tween/Green/Latina-themed virtual world. He also founded a large Hispanic Non-Profit, where he developed programs to connect Hispanic youth with Hispanic businesses. He is also a member of the US Senate Hispanic Leadership Initiative and has received the Hispanic Leadership Service Award from the Boy Scouts of America’s Greater New York Councils. He has three tween daughters who inspire his passion for a redefinition of content. You can reach Lazaro via email at laz at hipventure.com.

Categorized under: Tweens

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