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Driving a Hispanic Initiative

Advance Auto Parts learns to speak Spanish

JULY 1, 2008
By Katherine Field

In 2001, Advance Auto Parts realized it needed to learn Spanish—and fast. The nation’s No. 2 auto-parts retailer, behind AutoZone, had just acquired Discount Auto Parts with the heart of its store count in the heavily Hispanic South Florida area.

The company, with almost 3,300 stores, and annual sales nearing $5 billion, is dedicated to driving its automotive business in pursuit of the rapidly growing Hispanic market. Darren Jackson, the former Best Buy executive VP who was appointed president and chief executive of Advance Auto Parts earlier this year as part of the chain’s turnaround, has charged his executive VP and customer development officer Elwyn Murray with advancing Advance Auto Parts’ Hispanic initiative.

“The acquisition of Discount Auto Parts in 2001 immediately opened our eyes to a world of Spanish-speaking communities, the likes of which we had never seen before,” said Murray. “The education we gained from that acquisition allowed us to carry the initiative to other markets.”
Surprisingly, the “other markets” aren’t the ones that most people associate as being Hispanic. For example, Advance Auto Parts isn’t in Los Angeles or Phoenix. Instead, the Roanoke, Va.-based retailer is in Greensboro, N.C., Nashville and other seemingly Anglo cities.

“Our footprint is in roughly where 40% of the Hispanic population is,” said Murray. “Nonetheless, the Hispanic growth is occurring in the markets we’re in, and it’s critical for us to capture that.”
Critical, because Hispanics now account for more than 15% of the U.S. population, according to just-released Census Bureau data, and will grow to 30% by 2050. The group’s spending power is rising faster than the general population and, at $1 trillion, Hispanics have more disposable income than any other minority.

Building staff: The surest way to reach out to Hispanics, said Murray, is through in-store staffing. Research has shown that approximately 69% of first-generation Hispanics cite Spanish-speaking employees as the most important reason for shopping a certain retailer. In answer, Advance Auto Parts turned to Consorte (pronounced Consortay) Media, a San Francisco digital-marketing company that helps employers connect with the Hispanic online audience—which numbers approximately 20 million.

According to Consorte CEO Alicia Morga, tailoring an online recruiting and hiring solution for Advance Auto Parts, designed to attract Spanish-speaking staff, isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. “Hispanics identify with more than just language or country of origin,” said Morga, who works with companies such as Best Buy and Advance Auto Parts to develop integrated marketing programs to target the Hispanic market. “We promote a metric-driven approach and testing what will work and what won’t.”

For Advance Auto Parts, Consorte developed marketing messages designed to attract bilingual employees at primarily the managerial level in selected geographic regions.
“Today we have Spanish-speaking team members in about 65% of our stores,” said Murray. “However, that’s not claiming victory, as we need many more. This is a hugely important ongoing initiative for us.”

Building brand: “The other dimension we’re dialing up in 2008 is our electronic-media spend targeted to Spanish-speaking customers,” continued Murray. The increase equates to five times the level expended in 2007. A new brand campaign, implemented through Dallas-based Richards Group, is intended to resonate with a Spanish-speaking customer base. Bilingual in-store signage, a tailored assortment, grassroots marketing efforts around Hispanic events and celebrations, and a Hispanic Council that includes Hispanic company leaders have put Advance Auto Parts on the path to a chainwide initiative. In the near future, Murray hopes, this program will be led by a single leader that will champion the movement across merchandising, marketing and operations.

Source: Chainstore.com

Se Habla Search?

June 30th 2008
by Alicia Morga

Not everyone online in the U.S. speaks English as a first language – but almost everyone online uses search. In fact, millions of searches are performed in foreign languages every day. Advertisers that aren’t buying non-English keywords, writing search ad creative in other languages and optimizing landing pages for non-English speakers are missing out on huge revenue opportunities.

Take Hispanics, for example. Hispanics are one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in the U.S. and will reach nearly 25% of the overall population by 2050 – and they’re going online in record numbers. Can your company afford to miss out on connecting with over 20 million online Hispanics because you don’t have a Spanish SEM program?

I know what you’re thinking: how can I manage foreign-language SEM programs on top of the hundreds of thousands of English keywords I already manage? The trick is to start small; pick a few high-impact Spanish-language keywords (Spanish is a good place to start, since it’s one of the most widely-spoken languages in the U.S. after English), write some culturally relevant creative that avoids stereotypes, test your campaigns to make sure they’re working, and then modify them if they’re falling short of your objectives. Lots of brands are getting non-English search marketing right, including Best Buy and Advance Auto Parts.

Because our company’s focus is the Hispanic market, I’ll outline how to create, manage and optimize a successful Spanish-language SEM program, but these principles could apply to any foreign language.

The Right Keywords

First, identify your top keywords in English, and then, find the equivalent in Spanish. Make sure you consult with a native speaker to pinpoint the right keywords – sometimes literal translations aren’t correct. For example, if you translate “debt” into Spanish using Babelfish or a dictionary, you’ll get the term “deuda.” But when Spanish-speakers are talking about debt in the terms of what to do about it, they actually use the word “préstamos.”

Smart creative

You may have the right keywords, but if you then have ad copy that doesn’t incite your target audience to click on your ads, those keyword purchases were worthless.

Make sure the Spanish used in the text ad is accurate, contextually and culturally relevant (checked by a native speaker), and conveys a relevant promotional message. Lastly, stick with straightforward calls-to-action: 10% off, free shipping, “the largest selection on the Web,” etc.

Relevant landing pages

Make sure your text ads lead searchers to a landing page that reflects the offer you just enticed them with – 10% off, free shipping, etc. You don’t need to translate your entire site, but a landing page in Spanish goes a long way in keeping a Spanish-speaking consumer on your site. As always, make sure these landing pages are checked and double-checked by a native speaker.

Test and re-test

So you’ve got your Spanish keywords, you’ve written some snappy ad copy, optimized your landing pages and you’re all set to start reeling in Spanish-speaking customers, right? Yes and no. Once you have all your campaigns up and running, it’s critical that you continually test and re-test their effectiveness. Do analysis of your Spanish-language keywords to see which ones are delivering the highest click-through and conversion rates – you may be surprised at which terms are the most effective. Sometimes the ad with the highest click-through rate has the lowest conversion rate. You can test everything from the ad creative and the landing page language and design, to specific promotional offers to see which ones work the best.

That way, you can eliminate the clunker campaigns and focus on the winners.
In fact, testing is the real “secret sauce” to being successful in multi-cultural and multi-lingual marketing. At Consorte, we carefully test each and every campaign to see if it resonates with a particular target segment of the market – such as young men in Los Angeles who like music or Spanish-speaking homeowners in Texas. And often, testing and analysis proves the opposite of what one might anticipate would work.

Hispanics are now 15% of the U.S. population and the U.S. Hispanic online market is growing rapidly, especially Hispanic online search – 80% of the online Hispanic population searches online. A large percentage of that group views the web in Spanish (51%) and prefers to get information about products in Spanish (65%). Now more than ever, Spanish-language search should be a part of your online marketing program.

Source: Adotas.com

¿Habla Español? M&M's Ads Speak Your Language

July 30, 2008
By STUART ELLIOTT

A popular campaign for M&M’s is taking on a Spanish accent.

The campaign, which carries the theme “There’s an M&M in everyone,” presents human beings who assume the looks and characteristics of the walking, talking candies that have sold M&M’s products since 1995.

The English-language ads were introduced in January 2007 by BBDO Worldwide in New York, part of the Omnicom Group. The Spanish-language ads, due to begin appearing next Monday, carry the theme “Uncover the fun inside yourself. Become an M&M.”

The campaign is being introduced by LatinWorks in Austin, Tex., an agency that specializes in marketing to Spanish-speaking people. LatinWorks and BBDO are corporate siblings; Omnicom owns a minority stake in LatinWorks.

The Spanish-language ads, like the English ads, will offer renderings of celebrities as M&M’s to convey the idea of unleashing one’s inner M&M. That is being underscored with a sentence in the new ads: “Have fun like a star with M&M’s.”

The first Hispanic celebrity to appear in the new ads is Wilmer Valderrama, the young actor known for his role in the long-running Fox sitcom “That ’70s Show.” The second will be Cristina Saralegui, the host of the national Spanish-language talk show on Univision, “El Show de Cristina.”

The campaign, with an undisclosed budget, is emblematic of the increasing focus by mainstream marketers on Spanish-speaking consumers. With Hispanics becoming the fastest-growing part of the American population, brands like M&M’s are starting to aim messages at them in Spanish or step up efforts to do so.

M&M’s is the second product sold by Mars Snackfood U.S. — a division of the giant consumer-products company Mars — to sponsor a Spanish-language campaign in addition to its English-language ads. The first such campaign, introduced in 2006, was for the Snickers candy bar.

“We try to look to see if our general-market program is connecting with all consumers,” says Michele Kessler, vice president for marketing at Mars Snackfood U.S. in Hackettstown, N.J.

When it is not, “we supplement that to provide better reach,” she adds.

In considering Spanish-language ads for its brands, Ms. Kessler says, “it’s different for each campaign.”

The Spanish ads for Snickers are “very different” from the English ads, she adds, while the M&M’s ads in Spanish are adopting the premise of the English-language campaign.

One reason for that may be what Ms. Kessler calls the “significant growth” for the M&M’s product line since the start of the English-language campaign early last year.

“We’ve leveraged it across pretty much everything we’ve done,” Ms. Kessler says, including the introduction of ads for M&M’s Dark Chocolate that feature M&M’s versions of the cast members of the TV sitcom “The Addams Family.”

BBDO has been casting a wide net in transforming actors, athletes and other celebrities into M&M’s for the English-language campaign.

Sometimes they appear in character, like the cast of “The Addams Family” and Burt Reynolds, whose M&M’s likeness is as “Bandit,” the role he played in the 1977 movie “Smokey and the Bandit.”

Other celebrities appear as themselves — that is, their M&M’s are styled after how they look in real life. Among them are the chef Bobby Flay, the race-car driver Kyle Busch and the mother and daughter TV team of Joan and Melissa Rivers.

The M&M’s candy for Mr. Valderrama is modeled after him rather than any role he plays. A magazine ad shows him standing on a red carpet with photographers and fans in the background. He is smiling and waving a hand. (Yes, the animated M&M’s have hands, albeit with four fingers apiece.)

The ad is part of a sponsorship by M&M’s of the Alma Awards, to be presented by the National Council of La Raza on Sept. 12 in a ceremony to be broadcast by ABC.

In this instance, LatinWorks decided to “stay close to the general-market strategy,” says Alex Campo, associate creative director at the agency, because “the truth of the campaign is so universal, whatever your language.”

“It’s based more on a human insight than an ethnic insight,” he adds.

After studying the English-language campaign, says Luciana Gomez, group account director at LatinWorks, “we gave it a Hispanic spin, if you will.”

“We’re making sure we have people who are influential in the community, role models,” she adds. “If we used Kyle Busch, it wouldn’t be as relevant.”

Having Mr. Valderrama as an endorser is intended “to reach the bi-cultural,” Ms. Gomez says, referring to Hispanics who speak English as well as Spanish and are familiar with mainstream culture along with TV shows, movies, music and media in Spanish. Many of those Hispanics are first-generation or second-generation Americans.

The ad featuring Ms. Saralegui, which will appear in the fall, will be “targeting the Spanish-dominant Univision watchers,” Ms. Gomez says, referring to Hispanics who are immersed in Spanish all or most of the time. Univision is the most-watched TV network for Hispanic viewers.

In fact, says Ms. Kessler of Mars Snackfood U.S., the next Hispanic campaign for one of her brands, the Starburst candy line, which begins later this year, “will be targeting acculturated Latinos” because of its appeal to younger consumers.

A promotion last week for another M&M’s product, the new line of M&M’s Ice Cream Treats, used a Hispanic celebrity who is popular with bi-cultural consumers. He is Mario Lopez of “Saved by the Bell” and “Dancing With the Stars,” who is now appearing on Broadway in the musical “A Chorus Line” (and in People magazine as its “hottest bachelor” of 2008.)

The need to address Hispanics who are Spanish-dominant or bi-cultural is indicative of the challenges that face advertisers entering the market.

“Hispanic marketing is complicated,” Mr. Campos says. “There is not just one single consumer and with several countries of origin, there are slightly different ways of speaking.”

“And once we’re here,” he adds, “we assimilate at different paces.”

Ms. Gomez says the differences are noticeable within the agency, too, where “most of us are Hispanics.”

“It makes it interesting for us to work on this on a daily basis,” she adds.

Since “That ’70s Show” ended a successful run in 2006, Mr. Valderrama has perhaps become better known for his social life than his career, generating coverage on TV, in print and online for the parties he attends and the actresses he dates.

That may be changing. In addition to the M&M’s campaign, Mr. Valderrama is appearing in ads for the OP line of surf clothing, which is being revived by Wal-Mart Stores.

And according to The Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Valderrama has been signed as the star of a pilot for an hour-long comedy TV series, “The Emancipation of Ernesto,” which could appear on Fox.

Source: New York Times

Ford Flex Finds Novela Way To Reach Latino Consumers

June 29, 2008
By Della de Lafuente

Ford's Flex crossover will star in a mini-novela from Telemundo, the latest effort to target a hot new subsegment of the Hispanic population.

The Flex will debut July 7 in a 22-episode series Amores de Luna. It is considered the first time a crossover has played a pivotal role in an original serial created for TV and the Web, according to the network.

This push by Ford to woo U.S. Latinos follows successful efforts in recent years around the Edge and Focus. The automaker is aiming its message at an emerging breed of Hispanic consumer known as nuevo Latino, usually 30-39, bicultural and described as "an aspiring free spirit who follows and lives up to traditional Hispanic norms but who also is embracing more contemporary attitudes," said David Rodriguez, manager of multicultural marketing at Ford, Dearborn, Mich.

"There's a business case for marketing the Ford Flex, one of the fastest-growing segments in the Hispanic market," said Rodriguez. "Sales among Hispanics are outpacing the general market as it relates to percentage of growth."

As the setting for most of the action, the Flex is seamlessly integrated into the scenes of the two-and-a-half-minute episodes. They tell the story of the novela's other main character, Cecilia Marquez, a happy wife and mother with a steady job who wants more from life and sets out to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer. But conflict ensues as a new man enters her life, pitting marriage and family against her personal desires.

Although the miniseries is the showpiece, the Flex is the center of a broader, branded cross-platform entertainment campaign created by Telemundo to target Hispanics via the Web, mobile and network-owned stations KVEA, Los Angeles; WNJU, New York; and WSCV, Miami.

"It's a true multiplatform execution," said Enrique Perez, svp-sales at Telemundo Station Group, a division of NBC Universal, New York. "Each platform complements the other, and the experiences that we try to offer for each give consumers a deeper way to use TV, the Internet and mobile to connect with the novela."

Viewers will get a chance to determine the fate of the novela character (although we're told that in the end she doesn't choose the Flex over the suave male lead) via online and mobile voting toward the end of the series' run. Miniseries episodes will be broadcast on the three designated Telemundo stations, airing weeknights after the 11 p.m. newscasts. The episodes will be available for viewing online at each station's Web site the following morning.

Ford's ad spend in Hispanic network and cable was $39 million in 2007 and $7 million January-April 2008, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Source: BrandWeek

New Pitch for Tecate Light Is in English and Spanish

June 29, 2008
By Della de Lafuente

Following several unsuccessful attempts over the past nine years to launch the brew domestically, Mexican beer Tecate Light this week will embark on a dual English-Spanish multimedia strategy targeting U.S.-born Hispanic males.

This will be the first time Tecate Light, imported by Heineken USA, White Plains, N.Y., has executed an Hispanic-targeted effort in English, eschewing the traditional belief that all marketing created for a U.S. Latino audience must employ only Spanish messaging.

"The U.S.-born first or second generation [consumer] is more likely to have an American lifestyle, so they're more in tune with U.S. beer and the light beer category," said Carlos Boughton, Tecate's brand director.

Boughton said ad spend will increase by as much as 15%. Tecate Light spent about $3 million on Hispanic spot radio in 2007, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Two of four planned TV spots, one in English and one in Spanish, will break on network TV in major Hispanic markets in San Antonio, Texas; Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; and Albuquerque, N.M. Spanish creative will air on Univision, Telemundo and TeleFutura in 11 major Hispanic markets. Support includes print, radio, outdoor and POP in English and Spanish. Tag: "For those who want more." ("Por los que quieren más."). Lead agency is Adrenalina, New York.

A humorous spot, "Papás" ("Parents"), sees a couple in Mexico lamenting about their son, who upon moving to America was transformed from a Tecate Light aficionado into a domestic light beer drinker. "I never taught him that," his angry father says, pointing to a photo of their son and his amigos drinking a weak U.S. light beer. Says the sobbing mother, "It's my fault. I used to make him drink eight glasses of water a day."

Reaching the U.S. Hispanic male market may be a tough sell for Tecate Light, said Eric Shephard, executive editor at Beer Marketer's Insights, West Nyack, N.Y. Light beer accounts for 60% of the domestic beer category. The top three imported light beers—Corona Light, Amstel Light and Heineken Premium Light—sold 29 million barrels in 2007.

Source: BrandWeek

Careful word play targets Hispanics

June 21, 2008
By Aaron Nelsen

A billboard on U.S. Highway 77/83 reads, "Our huevos are bigger."

The bigger huevos are the subject of a Stripes' convenient store advertisement for its in-store restaurant, the Laredo Taco Company.

The sign's clever use of bilingual double entendre has caused quite a stir on this stretch of the Texas-Mexico border, in addition to being a source of amusement for some.

The success of the sign hinges on the Spanish word huevo, which literally translates as egg and figuratively refers to a part of the male anatomy.

The commingling of Spanish and English, while nothing new in the Rio Grande Valley, has become the latest marketing ploy in an effort to lure the coveted bilingual Hispanic consumer.

"Everybody likes a good message if it's the right message," said Bo Bothe, president and chief creative officer of the Houston-based Brand Extract LLC. "But, you could really offend somebody if you don't watch it."

Bothe and Brand Extract developed Stripes' ad campaign to announce itself after the company bought Circle K in 2006.

The key, Bothe explained, is to adapt the message to the audience.

Easier said than done, especially where cultures collide, but household names such as Burger King and Anheuser-Busch are increasingly embracing the concept.

Even the U.S. Army has adopted the practice with its "Yo Soy el Army" advertisement.

But, it's not as simple as it looks.

"It's really easy to put Spanish words on a billboard," Bothe said. "The reality is more complex."

Advertisers are continually in pursuit of an evolving and complex marketplace.

By comparison, English and Spanish-language advertising is well-trodden territory. However, the concept of combining the two, called "switching" in the business, is still in its inf

The Rio Grande Valley has become a testing ground for this brand of marketing, and the sweep of highway between McAllen and Brownsville is the palate.

Roadside signs roll out in English, Spanish and Spanglish, sometimes promoting the same product.

This is possible because of the Valley's unique setting. Culturally and linguistically sandwiched between Mexico and the United States, the Texas-Mexico border is a test tube of sorts where locals move freely between Spanish and English in conversation, often tangling the two in a creative blend.

Yet marketers walk a fine line when trying to cash in on those cultural distinctions.

If done well, they run the risk of alienating language purists, and if done poorly, they risk turning off their target market, according to Jerome Williams, professor of advertising at the University of Texas at Austin.

Williams' research centers on multicultural marketing and advertising, especially to African-Americans.

He says that when television advertising uses vernacular commonly used in the African-American community, the practice has a tendency to backfire.

"It's seen as demeaning," Williams said. "People feel like their culture is being exploited in a way to sell them a product."

Although Williams is less familiar with the Hispanic community, he says he wouldn't be surprised to find a similar response.

"First of all, there is no such thing as the Hispanic market," he said. "It's too diversified for a single ad to resonate with everybody."

Marketing is a hit and miss business, but there is a method behind even the worst campaigns.

Advertisers generally use the acculturation model as a guide. The model is a litmus test that balances language, cultural, foreign born versus U.S. born to determine how best to reach the desired demographic.

The overwhelming Hispanic Rio Grande Valley is represented by just about every category of the acculturation model, but companies still aren't assured of hitting their target.

Regional differences and use of the language vary widely among Hispanics living in the United States, according to Juan Torres, director of Latino marketing for Anheuser-Busch.

"What means one thing in Miami could mean something totally different and derogatory in South Texas," Torres said. "You have to be very careful and respectful."

In the end, it's a numbers game, and second generation Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the Hispanic population, Torres added.

"It clearly showcases the need to be able to speak to this consumer," Torres said. "The question is how? Sometimes blending two languages is a sure way."

As chief creative officer at Bromley Communications, Caterino Lopez says the gratuitous use of Spanglish in advertising is becoming common practice.

Bromley is a giant in the world of Hispanic advertising. Based in San Antonio the company has a credits reel that is a who's who of international brand names, including Continental Airlines, Yoplait and Burger King.

But, only occasionally has the company used Spanglish in its commercials.

"We tend to use it when it makes sense," Lopez said.

When Burger King approached Bromley with its chicken fries, the fast food restaurant chain was concerned its product wouldn't translate to its Hispanic customers.

Bromley resolved the problem in a commercial in which construction workers talk about the new chicken fry, switching from Spanish to English and back again.

The idea, Lopez said, was to combine two things that on the surface have no business going together, like a chicken and French fry, but when combined work perfectly well.

Businesses accept some losses when they use switching as a device. Nevertheless, it's a sacrifice that more are willing to make.

"As long as we're hitting our target market, we're not so concerned about offending (people) not within that range," Lopez said.

As Spanglish weaves its way into the cultural mainstream, particularly among the desirable 18 to 34 demographic, expect to see more of it.

That's not necessarily a good thing, Lopez said.

"I've heard some that make me cringe," Lopez said. "Nine times out of 10, you're going to do it really bad."

Out of 10, the huevos billboard was a direct hit, Lopez admitted.

Riding the wave of success of its first campaign, Stripes plans to unveil another in July, said Sharon Yon, public relations and advertising manager for Stripes.

"We want our advertising to be memorable," Yon said. "We hope that sometimes people will even make it part of their culture, like an inside joke."

Source: The Brownsville Herald

Promotion of soccer match questioned

June 20, 2008
by José E. Garcia

Bringing familiar, big-name soccer teams to the Valley won't guarantee a big turnout, regardless of the Valley's large Latino soccer community.

A combined 102,978 fans saw the Mexico-USA and the Chivas de Guadalajara-America - Mexico's top pro rivalry - games last year at the University of Phoenix Stadium. But the week-long Copa PanAmericana tournament, which featured some of South America's top clubs, hardly attracted the numbers that the other two major events did at the same location last year.

A couple of reasons, primarily promotion, were cited for the lack of fans at the Copa PanAmericana. When the next big soccer event in Glendale - Wednesday's Chivas-New York Red Bulls friendly - was officially announced 20 days before the game will be played, it appeared that promoters hadn't learned lessons from Copa PanAmericana.

Soccer insiders in the Valley believe that it takes at least three months to properly promote a big soccer event in the Valley. The promoter of Wednesday's event, Rick Cantu of Rezin Sports Marketing, did do his homework, he said.

A preseason scheduling conflict for Chivas led to the late announcement of Wednesday's match, said Cantu, a former board member of successful United Soccer Leagues franchise Seattle Sounders.

"I was willing to take a risk (to promote the match)," Cantu said.

Cantu is familiar with the preseason rituals of popular international clubs, which usually enter bidding wars to participate in out of country preseason games.

Cantu said he only had 12 days to promote the Real Madrid-D.C. United preseason match in 2006 in Seattle, but that didn't keep 66,830 fans from attending that match at Qwest Field. Cantu said it's hard to tell how many fans will attend Wednesday's match, but he believes at least 30,000 will.

Ulises Ortez, promotions manager and soccer host for 1190 AM (KNUV-AM), said Thursday he'll be surprised if at least 15,000 attend the match.

About 8,500 tickets have been sold for Wednesday's game, University of Phoenix Stadium officials said Friday. Chivas has a strong following, but it's not the first time the team from Guadalajara, Mexico has traveled to the Valley in the past five years, so the novelty has worn off.

Plus, Ortez said he hasn't seen as much advertising for Wednesday's game. The Red Bulls won't attract the Valley's Latino fans, but what will is if Chivas' 'A' team travels to the Valley, Ortez said.

Cantu sent an e-mail with the list of Chivas players who will come, and it appears that the top players will travel to Glendale. Chivas will arrive in the Valley on Monday.

Former Major League Soccer finance manager and current Valley resident Dana Gagnon said he will support any soccer event that comes to the area, but in order for it to be successful there needs to be different ticket distribution mechanisms in place to get the word out.

"You can't properly promote a game here in three weeks," Gagnon said.

Cantu partnered with Food City and local soccer stores Deportes America and Deportes San Antonio to sell tickets.

Cantu is aware of what happened during Copa PanAmericana. That's why Wednesday's ticket prices aren't as high as the Copa PanAmericana's tournament, and why Wednesday's game will start at 8 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., which is when some of the Copa PanAmericana's games started, Cantu said.

Source: AZCentral.com

Corona debuts Latino ad campaign

June 19, 2008
Source: just-drinks.com

Corona Extra is to debut a new national advertising campaign highlighting the success Latinos have experienced in the US.

The Spanish-language multi-media campaign features a compilation of spirited vignettes and US landmarks showing how Corona Extra, along with Latino sports, music, and culture, have become an "integral element of the thread of American life".

The new television campaign, "Nuestro Orgullo. Nuestra Cerveza" ("Our Beer.
Our Pride") developed by Hispanic agency Casanova Pendrill, shows Latinos celebrating their culture and successful Latino life in the US through baseball, boxing and soccer scenes.  A second spot celebrates Latino music and traditions in the US with a lively vignette of fiestas from San Antonio to Los Angeles to New York.

"Corona is not only a brand that represents Mexicans, but an iconic brand that symbolises all Latinos' success," said Guillermo Gutierrez, director of Hispanic marketing for Crown Imports, Corona's US importer. "By recognising and celebrating our rich culture and new found traditions in the US, we reinforce the strong emotional connection with our brand."

To support the national campaign will be several radio spots in Washington, North Carolina, Minnesota and Philadelphia, and out-of-home, targeted print and retail promotions with regional focus in key markets.

Corona Extra is also sponsoring Latin Grammy Award winner Alejandro Fernandez's US tour as part of their Conexion Corona concert series.

Best Buy reaches out to Hispanics online

June 16, 2008
Source: e-consultancy.com

The purchasing power of Hispanic consumers in the United States is significant - more than $700bn annually. Some anticipate that this number will grow to well over $1trn by 2012.

As would be expected given these numbers, reaching out to Hispanic consumers is fast becoming seen as a necessity for many offline businesses.

But Hispanics also represent the fastest growing group in the United States when it comes to internet usage, meaning that reaching out to them online may become increasingly important for online retailers.

As noted by an Internet Retailer article:

    "Most major online retailers neither provide web content in Spanish nor respond to customer inquiries in that language."

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy is one of the retailers that does. It launched a Spanish version of its website in September 2007 using the services of a company called MotionPoint, which performed the translations and provides ongoing maintenance and hosting.

The results of Best Buy's Spanish-language initiative are interesting:

    * According to site manager Ana Grace, "Customers are spending roughly double the amount of time on the Spanish site as English-language customers." Best Buy has not yet established why that is.

    * Best Buy has observed that bilingual Hispanics prefer to peruse the Spanish website "when they’re considering complex products, such as computers and home theater systems." I would point out that these are typically bigger ticket items so there is conceivably a noticeable impact on the bottom line if the availability of information in Spanish about such products boosts sales.

    * Some customers "toggle back and forth" between the Spanish website and the English website. Best Buy suspects that this may be occurring when a consumer needs clarification. Other customers have indicated that this is done to ensure that the pricing is the same on both websites.

    * Some customers are coming into Best Buy stores with print-outs from the Spanish website, showing that it does have the ability to drive foot traffic.

Best Buy has not released sales figures for its Spanish website. While some question whether the costs of translating and maintaining a Spanish website - which can run into the millions of dollars - make financial sense, I would argue that there is often significant long-term value in reaching out to customers in multiple languages.

Unlike social media proponents who claim that there's significant value for brands in having "conversations" with consumers through Facebook pages and novelty widgets, there is a rationale for many businesses in the United States to provide their websites in Spanish. Numerous studies have shown that a statistically significant percentage of Spanish consumers prefer to interact with Spanish-language marketing messages.

Even Forrester Research, the research firm I have often criticized for its social media analysts' excessive cheerleading of social media, is due credit for getting it right on this subject.

This all makes sense, of course. Language is one of the most powerful aspects of our lives and when a company is willing to deal with you using your native or preferred language, it, at the very least, isn't likely going to go unnoticed - especially when not every business will.

Given that relatively few major online retailers in the United States are offering Spanish websites, offering one might have the ability to provide a shorter-term competitive advantage that makes the required investment more tolerable while at the same time putting an online retailer in good stead should Spanish websites become the rule and not the exception.

For online retailers outside of the United States, this subject is still worth giving thought to.

Many countries have minority groups with purchasing power of note and evaluating, where applicable, whether serving them in their native languages may be beneficial for business is certainly a worthwhile exercise.

What Prompts Hispanic-Americans to Buy?

JUNE 11, 2008
Source: eMarketer

TV and the Internet are the most influential channels

As reported previously, Hispanic-Americans are heavy media consumers. New data from Vertis Communications reveals that in 2007 they were also more likely than the total US population to be influenced by media.

Among adults surveyed, 23% of Hispanic-Americans said they were influenced to buy something by watching television, compared with 19% of the total US population. Hispanic-Americans were also 44% more likely than the total US population to be influenced by the Internet.

Vertis said that Hispanic-American adult respondents were more likely than the overall US population to buy consumer electronics, even when the economy was down: 28% of Hispanics said they would buy a big screen or HDTV within the next 12 months, compared with 23% of non-Hispanics. More than one-fifth of Hispanic-American respondents said they would buy a video game console within the next 12 months, compared with only 12% of non-Hispanics.

"It is crucial for marketers to consider a multichannel effort when motivating Hispanic consumers to make purchase decisions," said Scott Marden, director of marketing research at Vertis, in a statement. "Television and direct mail should be cornerstones, along with Web advertising, of any multicultural marketing plan."

It is not just heavy media consumption, receptivity to TV and Internet marketing, and a penchant for consumer electronics that make Hispanic-Americans of interest to many marketers. The group also has the strength of sheer growing numbers. The Hispanic-American population is predicted to continue double-digit growth through at least 2012, when it will reach 29.4 million.

AT&T Dials Up Olympics Ad Push Featuring 'First Family of Taekwondo'

June 9, 2008
By Della de Lafuente

AT&T has dialed up a Latino-targeted ad push for the summer as part of a multicultural, multiplatform media buy that showcases Hispanic siblings Steven, Mark and Diana Lopez of the U.S. Olympic Taekwondo Team.

The marketing push via TV, radio, online, digital and direct mail is part of the telco's sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team and is the first time that AT&T has developed Olympic-themed messaging aimed at Hispanics. Omnicom's Dieste, Harmel & Partners, Dallas, handled creative duties and WPP's Mediaedge:cia was responsible for media.

The Lopezes of Sugarland, Texas, are known by martial arts aficionados as the "First Family of American Taekwondo." They are the first sibling group to make the U.S. Olympic team in 104 years after U.S. gymnastics brothers Edward, Richard and William Tritschler competed in the 1904 games in St. Louis, per ESPN.com.

The martial arts threesome is coached by older brother, Jean, and holds three of the four slots on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Taekwondo Team, which includes Mark, Diana and Steve, who is a two-time gold medalist (Sydney and Athens) and four-time world champion. The fourth team member is Charlotte Craig.

A series of three Spanish-language TV spots are out this week and will air through early September as part of a wide-scale buy for the Olympics initiated by AT&T with NBC Universal.

Under the deal, AT&T will serve as the sole telecommunications sponsor of the NBC and Telemundo broadcasts of the summer games. Some English-language versions of the TV spots also are planned; and online banners designed to run during the Olympics are in the works aimed at users via YahooTelemundo.com.

AT&T's ad spending in Hispanic TV reached $15 million through April of this year, totaling $56 million for all of 2007, down from $60 million in 2006, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Beyond the positioning for the Olympics, the campaign will extend to 22 Hispanic-dominant and emerging Hispanic markets via local Telemundo stations, Univision, TeleFutura, Azteca América, Mega TV and various independent stations. Key markets include: Atlanta; Chicago; Miami; Hartford, Conn.; Orlando, Fla.; Reno, Nev.; Raleigh, N.C.; Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Monterrey-Salinas, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco in California; Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Laredo, Corpus Christi and Harlingen in Texas.

"We wanted to show the Lopezes interacting together as a family, which is how our [consumer] segment uses technology, and we wanted something fun that would highlight their participation in the Olympics," said Laura Hernandez, AT&T's exective director, diversity marketing. "This allows us to put a family of athletes in our commercials who are pretty inspirational."

The spot "Jumps" features the entire Lopez family, including parents Julio and Ondina, and is a take on the left-to-right footwork that taekwondo athletes use to keep their bodies in motion when they are training (sort of like a runner who jogs in place to keep muscles and joints limber). "During the entire spot the Lopezes are jumping from side-to-side while on the home phone, using the cell phone or chatting online with each other and coordinating a family gathering to watch a movie," Hernandez said.

The spot helps to promote all of AT&T's personal communications options and services, ending with the Lopez parents literally jumping in at the end of the spot to join their children to watch a movie via AT&T's entertainment service. "We hit everything from wireless to broadband to TV," she added.

In the spot, "The Other Lopez," a literal Joe Consumer who also has the last name, Lopez, is surfing the AT&T Web site and stumbles onto video clips of the athletic Lopez family engaged in martial arts training. Inspired by what he sees, "Joe C." decides that since his family and the Lopez athletes share the same surname,