John Velazquez wins the Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom | With Lili Gil
Louisville, KY—What do you think when you hear the words Louisville, Kentucky and the Kentucky Derby? Most people’s thoughts default to scenes of white-picket fences and families that embody a conservative- all-American culture…and, yes, you are right that is Kentucky! But today I am sharing a new personal revelation I experienced this weekend while at the 137th Kentucky Derby. While Kentucky is one of those few states with a Hispanic population of only 3% (versus 16% nationally), recent 2010 Census numbers reported an impressive 121% Hispanic population growth over the last decade (versus 5.4% for whites in the state). Back today I am reporting on a personal revelation…what started as a casual weekend with friends at the Kentucky Derby turned into a jaw-dropping Moments2Culturise; uncovering a potential Hispanic Marketing insight and gap that I personally didn’t even know was there. When I opened the program book for the big race, I was shocked to read the Jockeys’ names…Flores, Hernandez, Castellano, Gomez, García, Velazquez……and after a quick count, I realized that in fact of the 19 jockeys competing for the bed of roses, 11 were LATINOS! Yes, that is over 50%! How is this happening without Latinos even knowing? I was puzzled, and my marketing brain started racing as fast as the horses were! Then after a little googling, I learned these jockeys were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Venezuelan, etc… a perfect representation of our countries and culture battling it for …
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