Seattle Sounders FC brings great energy!

Fredy and I, at the Hispanic Chamber this morning!

It was super having some key folks from the Seattle Sounders FC staff and team with us this morning at the King County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce networking breakfast.

Bart Wiley and Carlos Oseguera, longtime sports management for Sounders and Seahawks, talked about what the Sounder FC team's management is doing in terms of outreach. They talked about how the management is second to none, creating a membership alliance out of the fan base and giving its fans a greater feeling of ownership and loyalty.

They also mentioned that they've surpassed all imaginable goals when they not only sold 26K season tickets, but also by selling 1850 out of 2000 just-released nine-game passes over the past three or so days!

Bart and Carlos shared their excitement and appreciation for the magnificent response they've received from Seattle-area fans.

From the team, Osvaldo Alonso from Cuba, and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Fredy Montero from Colombia, joined the breakfast--at the early hour of 7am! They were cool guys.

Several members of the media were also present, as well as lots of new faces from companies that are looking to reach out to our Latino market. I heard it mentioned again this morning that, with the recession, companies are looking at new ways of diversifying their customer base, and some of them are exploring Hispanic marketing for the first time. (Hey, whatever it takes!)

For more info on the Sounders FC, visit their website.
For more info on the Chamber, click here.

Plaza Bank Gets It

Whenever I talk to groups about Hispanic marketing "best practices," I mention Plaza Bank.

Granted, the Bank was founded by businesspeople, some with Latino backgrounds themselves, with the unique objective of combining world-class banking services with financial literacy outreach for Latinos and other immigrants.

So Plaza Bank naturally gets it:

• Many of its customer-facing employees are native Spanish speakers, to best serve their Spanish-dominant customer base.
• They consider the products they offer and ensure that they can provide the products most in demand by Latinos. For example, they offer a fantastic $5 money transfer product because they know Latinos regularly send money to their families in their homelands, and they wanted to give customers and non-customers alike the opportunity to do it affordably.
• The Bank's website, merchandising and collateral are bilingual.
• Plaza Bank and its staff show multi-faceted involvement in the local Latino community, and are working to nurture relationships and trust all the while. They support organizations that serve the Latino community either with social services, education, or general financial services (they're a member of Bank On Seattle and have contributed to the CASA Latina, the Ernest Aguilar Scholarship fund for UW students and other organizations).
• And so on ...

I bumped into Vice President Danielle McIntyre today and we chatted in the Westlake Park sunshine. She said something to the effect of, "It's not about tacos and soccer tickets."

Danielle's right, and I couldn't have said it better myself. Companies sometimes try to appeal to the Latino community with giveaways, which is fun. But the foundation has to be solid--a foundation that nurtures trust and that shows consistency. So when the fun wears off, there's a reason for a real relationship.

If you're giving them something, make it something that's relevant to your product if you can. Plaza Bank has these great piggy banks they were giving away for families open children's accounts. This makes sense. At Sounders games for the past two years, as a sponsor, the Bank gave away branded soccer ball toys. This was of course a tie-in with the relationship Plaza Bank had established with the Sounders, and Plaza Bank has built a solid foundation with the Latino community. Alone these trinkets wouldn't have worked. They don't send people through the branch doors, and they certainly don't help retain clients. The word-of-mouth will do that.

A professional who is immersed in the Latino community and understands its members' needs, told a contact of mine today, "Plaza Bank is the bank for the Latino community. You can trust them there." That says a lot, especially in a community that may hail from countries where banks can close and FDIC won't save your savings.

Plaza Bank has built the right foundation, supporting its relationships with Latino customers with fantastic service and thorough knowledge of banking at all levels.

If you share their passion, visit them at their downtown Seattle office, their Kent Station branch, or their site to learn more.

Next Month: King County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Breakfast

I attend nearly every King County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce breakfast. Last month's featured Richard Velasquez, president of the Seattle Chapter of National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA), and it was great to hear about how Education, Community and Unification served as the three pillars of success in his life, and how he sees that this applies to all Latinos.

Next month's breakfast will be equally interesting to event-goers, since it will be focused on the launch of the Seattle Sounders FC. In case you hadn't heard, our new team sold 26,000 season tickets before the first game even took place--they are HOT!

Mark your calendar!
WHEN: Wednesday, May 13, 7 - 9:30am
WHERE: The Rainier Club, Seattle

Our friends Bart Wiley (Director of Business Development) and Carlos Oseguera (Hispanic Outreach Coordinator) will share the inside scoop - hope to see you there!

To RSVP, visit the site. Click here for the general Chamber site.

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