BY RICK BELL

Pundits might argue that ignoring the estimated trillion dollars annually pumped into the U.S. economy by Hispanics would be the kiss of death for any rational thinking business.

Call it poor business judgment on the part of an industry destined to go the way of the buggy whip, yet several of the nation’s largest companies still waver on marketing to the country’s Spanish-speaking population of some 44 million as of 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Financial services like banks and insurance companies haven’t quite caught on,” said San Diego-based Sun Marketing President Mary Beth McCabe, who began her marketing career in 1979 at Spanish-language TV network Univision Communications’ affiliate station in Chicago. “They’ve been slower to adopt Hispanic marketing.”

Sure, megabanks like Citigroup and Washington Mutual Inc. have other concerns in the face of the subprime mortgage meltdown. And it’s entirely possible that as insurance companies continue posting healthy profits, there may not be a sense of urgency to mine for new business.

Yet McCabe, who also worked in local television for McKinnon Broadcasting’s KUSI-TV when she arrived here, said when she opened her marketing firm in the early 1990s, marketing to Spanish speakers was a completely foreign concept here, despite a booming Hispanic population and an international border just a 15-minute drive from downtown.

“They were so slow to get it; people tended to look at their own habits and think others have the same values,” said McCabe, whose clients include several local auto dealerships and national clients Gerber Foods and Pardee Homes.

Turning Point

Still, there are companies that see value in Hispanic marketing.

Besides population figures and spending habits, there’s plenty more data available quantifying it. Univision now offers marketers research from the Nielsen Homescan Fusion Project on Hispanic consumers’ specific purchases; and a national study released early this month by comScore Inc. for Terra Networks USA revealed the habits of Hispanic Internet users.

So, the methods of gathering data on consumers are highly sophisticated, and the data is virtually irrefutable. Bottom line, the numbers don’t lie.

“Companies closest to the cash register see it,” McCabe said. “Grocery stores and other retailers are working one-on-one with Hispanics. Other companies may be too far removed to notice. But the money is there.”

Telecommunications firms also have realized the value of the submarket. McCabe says Pardee’s Spanish-language Web site has received “millions” of clicks.