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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Forget Mariachis And Sombreros; Focus On What Matters, Says GarciaBy Craig Altschul 
Garcia went well beyond his remarks from the platform - a presentation that elicited no questions or real buzz because it was essentially a summary of his new book, The New Mainstream: How the Multicultural Consumer is Transforming American Business. Still, Garcia had plenty to say to the ski industry, but it took an exclusive interview with the IR after his speech to get it out. Garcia is a journalist, novelist, and multimedia entrepreneur and founder of Mentametrix, a multicultural research and marketing firm. He's consulted with a number of major companies and trade groups, including Colorado Ski Country, USA. He was the AOL executive who launched the first iteration of AOL Latino. Garcia spoke to the conference attendees – reportedly largest group in the past 15 years – about the same time NSAA was announcing that preliminary estimates are that ski areas tallied a record 60.1 million visits this season – a 9.1 increase over the record 2005 year. He said Hispanics, and minorities as a whole, are the consumer base of the future. "Forty-nine percent of the U.S. population will be Hispanic, African-American, Asian, or mixed by 2050," he said. Doherty got Garcia aside to align the examples from his speech and book directly to our industry. A key point Garcia makes is that trying too hard may be worse than not trying hard enough. "Stay away from obvious ploys like plastering on mariachi music and wearing sombreros," he said. "Focus on things that matter to the 'new mainstream.'" He had described this "new mainstream" as one that predicts how Americans will eat, work, play, learn, and spend money in the 21st century, and why any organization that ignores the lessons of the new mainstream "is doomed to fail." "Ski resorts trying to successfully adapt to the growing minority population must recognize this new ethnic mix coming to resorts and be sure they are part of the equation," he said. He explained that members of the younger generations "consider themselves American, but have come into being in a different way from minorities and immigrants of the past. It's a new model where they don't just dissolve into the melting pot." He says it's "acculturation versus assimilation." "Ski resort environments need to be reflected in their message," he told Doherty. He reiterated the well-known demographic that "Hispanic families, by nature, like to do things together, so show them that your resort is welcoming to them and their entire families. Young people are multicultural today." Garcia touched on the numbers of foreign workers coming to ski resorts from South America (at least before the visa issues put some kinks into that program). "People coming from South America, who are perhaps working or visiting the Lake Tahoe resorts, for example, may well be interested in seeing the multicultural communities of Northern California and the Bay Area and that should be facilitated." Change is happening and "it's happening right now." He gave examples of how companies need to be quick to react. One of those companies was Bratz Dollz who rolled out multiracial, more urban looking dolls in the face of white Barbie. "That cost Barbie (Mattel) millions of dollars." His sports example is NASCAR where leaders re-cast their business in a multicultural vein. "They've seen a 630 percent increase in Hispanic fans. A Hispanic driver has won a race and Corona now sponsors a NASCAR tour event in Mexico." The message was clear from the platform, in his book, and in his more direct comments to the IR: The multiculturalism of America is transforming business." « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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