Rethinking Hispanic Advertising

Hola - it's 102° in Seattle today. Why am I sharing this? Because no one can believe it. This is an all-time high temp in the history of my city. And I have no A/C in the office or at home. Pobrecita.

There's a fun TV spot I'd like to share with you. I'm sharing it because frankly it's a great ad. It happens to be an award-winning Hispanic ad from Latinworks--but you'll notice that there's not a lot of Spanish language in it.

This may surprise some of you who might think that advertising that reaches Latinos has to have certain stereotypical elements in it, or even language. And note that just because it's a "Hispanic ad" doesn't mean us gringos can't enjoy it.

It's about reaching the demographic, and it can be done any number of ways. But simply translating your general market ad is probably not be one of them.

Take a look...feel free to share your thoughts.

Hits the Spot!

Take a look at this great piece on Media Post. Author Diana A. Terry-Azíos describes the brand-loyal quality Hispanic consumers are shown to have. It also reminds us that immigrants may not see "their" brand at U.S. retailers. This is an opportunity for U.S. brands to step up and embrace that market in a compelling, engaging way for a chance at a lifetime of loyalty.

Wish I had written it myself!

The Sounders FC put Seattle on the map!

The brand-new Sounders FC team starts its season one week from today!


Exciting stuff! At Market to the Max yesterday, we learned from keynote speaker Adrian Hanauer that the club executives had made group decisions on everything from uniform color (check out the "rave green"!), to sponsor (Microsoft XBOX 360), to a marching band (Drew Carey's idea), to the fact that this will be known as the high-tech soccer club.

The best part? The focus has truly been on getting world-class players on the field.

In fact, I asked Adrian at the event about all the soccer fans in this region who happen to be Latino. "There are about 100 Hispanic soccer teams in the Greater Seattle Area, and I know that Seattle Sounders had been reaching out to Latinos. How is Sounders FC accomplishing that?" I asked.

The answer really impressed me. Besides the fact that they're building a Spanish-language website, that they're working with community members, and the fact that I've seen their print ads etc etc, he added the following (not exactly verbatim):

"A lot of people approach us about this and suggest that, with all the Mexicans here, we should get a Mexican player on the team to draw in that segment. But we know that Latinos are sophisticated soccer fans, and what they want is quality players no matter where they're from. So we're not going to pander to them by including a Mexican player for the sake of including a Mexican player. We're assembling the very best team we can."

And because of that, 21K+ season tickets have already been sold (more than for the Mariners!), for a team that hasn't even played a true game together yet. But they've been busy at practice and are ready to show Seattle what the sport is really about: PASSION!

Check out their site!

OPPORTUNITIES

Ke Buena will be broadcasting every game en español on 1210AM, and KUNS, the local Univision affiliate, is kicking off its weekly Sounders FC en Acción 30-minute recap show. We've been hearing about terrific opportunities to reach Latino soccer fans in the region by partnering with both media outlets; let us know if you'd like to hear more!

Contact us at info@conexion-marketing.com or 206-621-2185

U.S. Hispanic Market + Boy Scouts of America

Wow - I'm including here a link to an amazing series of We The People on MSNBC. Launch the video and learn about several national themes:

• The national Hispanic market--Did you know that ad spending in the Hispanic space is greating at four times the national rate?
• Boy Scouts of America--they're working hard at a national level to create culturally relevant programs to attract Latino scouts. According to Bob Mazzuca, Chief Scout Executive, "It's absolutely essential." >>On a local note, Luis Garcia and the Scouting & Soccer program he runs here is always looking for sponsorships and donors - contact Luis at lgarcia@seattlebsa.org to learn more!
• Politically, Latinos are active. And two-thirds of Latinos voted for President Obama, absolutely influencing our presidential election.
• Latinos account for half of all U.S. population growth--and Latino pop growth is not about immigration so much as U.S. births.
• 1 in 5 schoolkids in public and private schools in the U.S. is Latino
• The latest statistic suggests that by 2050, 30% of U.S. residents will be of Hispanic heritage.

Click here to watch the video segments--time well spent!