Posted by Chuck Standfuss on Mar 14, 2018

There are 300,000+ Latinos represented in the Twin Cities population. They command $6.9 billion in buying power. Yet it is hard to understand that many companies in this market do not understand how to tap this market potential. Rick Aguilar of Aguilar Productions addressed the Club 10 luncheon and suggested ways in which this vast Hispanic resource can be tapped by metro-area businesses.

Club 10 Business Report
 
President Jerry Faletti rang the bell to bring the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. on sunny, late winter day in downtown Saint Paul. John Kupris led the assembled Rotarians in singing accompanied by Past President Doug Hartford on the piano. Nancy Brady provided today's Inspirational Minute centered on the effect of hunger in the City of Saint Paul and a challenge to Rotarians (“What will you do?”). Corey Edmunds facilitated the introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests. Today's greeters were Lindsay Weier and Tom Skalitsky.
 
President Jerry asked yours truly to speak to Thursday's Fellowship Breakfast. I talked about the topic for the day (“Table Topics” and the upcoming loss of the Boy Scouts’ office site and need to change the form of the Fellowship Breakfast for the next program year). I then introduced Past President Chuck Whitaker to preview his March 22nd Fellowship Breakfast appearance.
 
Sherry Howe then rose to speak about the New Member Reception on Monday, March 19th at Kellogg Square Apartments from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Corey Edmunds collected Happy Dollars. President Jerry announced that next week’s speaker would be Randi Roth, the Executive Director of Interfaith Action.
 
Past president Jay Pfaender introduced today's speaker, Rick Aguilar of Aguilar Productions. Jay first met Mr. Aguilar in the 1980’s and asked him to serve as a Board Member for St. Paul Winter Carnival forming the first Carnival multi-cultural committee. Later, Mr. Aguilar became involved with the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. His company, Aguilar Productions, began promoting the Hispanic market and now promotes broader cultural markets. He was present today to speak with Club 10 specifically about reaching the Hispanic Market.
 
Mr. Aguilar spoke about the many experiences he has had over the years in the Twin Cities consulting with organizations about their efforts to reach multi-cultural communities: the Red Cross; the Girl Scouts; and, with the help of Monseigneur Terrence Murphy at the College of Saint Thomas, establishing a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which later allowed Mr. Aguilar to connect to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber. Later, Bert McKasey of the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce asked Mr. Aguilar to serve on the Board and put together the first Hispanic Marketing Conference in the Twin Cities.
 
At the conferences that Mr. Aguilar has put together, he has helped marketers identify: Who is the market? How can they be reached? What is the main mission? In the late 1990’s, General Mills was an example of a Twin Cities company that did not have a clue regarding multi-cultural marketing. They did not understand that Latinos did not eat a cold breakfast and did not market effectively to that community. Now General Mills has a full-fledged multi-cultural marketing department. General Mills is tapping into the $1.4 trillion buying power of U.S. Hispanic market; in the Twin Cities alone, Latinos represent 300,000+ of the population in the Twin Cities and command $6.9 billion in buying power. According to Mr. Aguilar: “A successful company is always aware of the marketplace.”
 
The next major conference being promoted by Aguilar Productions is taking place on Thursday, March 22nd, at the Neighborhood House/Wellstone Center. More information can be obtained at www.aguilarproductions.com
 
During a brief Q-and-A session, Mr. Aguilar confirmed that the use of the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” can be interchanged in referring to this community. Also, upon cross-examination by past president Joe Kovarik and member Chuck Roach, Mr. Aguilar committed to placing an article about Club 10 in the April edition of his newspaper and then doing a quarterly follow up each quarter. This will serve to introduce Rotary to the Hispanic community. The onus will then be on Club 10 to include Hispanic members in the Club.
 
President Jerry thanked Mr. Aguilar for his presentation and presented him with a Club 10 recognition certificate and noted that a donation would be made in his name to the Saint Paul Public Library's "Reading Together" program. Also, Mr. Aguilar was presented with a Rotary coin inscribed with the Rotary "Four-Way Test." President Jerry then led those assembled in a recitation of the Four-Way Test ("Is it the Truth? Is it Fair to all concerned? Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships? Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?"). He then rang the bell to close the meeting at 1:12 p.m.
 

 

 

 

 

Chuck Standfuss, Scribe