Mayor Bloomberg and Latin Media and Entertainment Commission Announce New Efforts to Position New York City as the Center for Latin Media and Entertainment New LMEC Projects to Include Media Events Guide, Revamped Website, and New Partnership Between the New Media and Advertising Industry and Educational Institutions Across the City

NEW YORK, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will announce today at the annual "Made in NY" Awards reception held at Gracie Mansion new efforts of the Latin Media and Entertainment Commission (LMEC) to position New York as the center for Latin media and entertainment. The announcements include the City's first ever Latin Media Guide of events taking place throughout the city, the appointment of eight new commission members, the formation of a working group with educational institutions and industry leaders, and a newly re-launched website on www.nyc.gov .

"The Latin Media and Entertainment Commission was established to showcase our city's Latino arts and entertainment community and create new opportunities and jobs in these fields," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The Commission has brought together executives from Latin media and business organizations, and over the past four years these leaders have put their talents to work on the city's behalf. By welcoming eight new members and launching a new website and Latin media guide, the Commission is strengthening the art, music, and entertainment industries that make New York City the Latin Media and Entertainment Capital of the World."

As part of the Commission's efforts to create and support events that provide the most enriching Latin cultural experiences, the LMEC has partnered with the bilingual Latino website NYRemezcla to create the first-ever Latin Media Guide. The 2008 edition of the guide includes 14 events supported by LMEC. These events range from Latin film screenings to outdoor Latin music concerts and combined are expected to have an estimated economic impact on the city of over $60 million.

"We continue to work closely with the Mayor to identify, build, and tout top destinations in New York City featuring Latin advertising, new media, films, music, dining, art galleries, and more," said LMEC Chair Mario L. Baeza, Chairman and CEO of the Baeza Group, and Founder and Executive Chairman V-Me Media, Inc. "We are committed to fostering the growth of Latin organizations in New York in order to continue growing and enriching the cultural fabric of our great City."

This year, LMEC's goal to promote economic development for Hispanic advertising and media companies will be re-enforced by the addition of eight new board members: Patrick Dolan, Senior Vice President, Interactive Advertising Bureau; Robert Federico, Executive Director, Repertorio Espanol; Angela M. Freyre, Senior Vice President, Nielsen Media; Jacqueline Hernandez, COO, Telemundo; Jorge Reynardus, President/Partner, Reynardus & Moya; Jeffrey Thompson, Vice President Global Diversity, Disney; Joe Uva, CEO, Univision; Carlos Sanchez, President & General Manager of Telemundo 47.

The event listings in the Latin Media Guide are also part of a comprehensive calendar featured on the LMEC's newly redesigned website that can be found on www.nyc.gov . Some of the up-coming LMEC-endorsed events appearing in the new Latin Media Guide include TeatroStageFest being held June 2-15, the Latin Alternative Music Conference being held July 8-12, the New York International Latino Film Festival taking place July 22-27, the Latino Cultural Festival at the Queens Theater July 23-August 3 and the New York Salsa Congress August 27-31.

The new LMEC website will also include a summary of New York business incentives, an Online Business Survey, a directory of industry and Latino cultural institutions and subscription to a newsletter that will keep the public updated and informed about the LMEC's work and upcoming Latin events. The website will also highlight the LMEC's joint effort with many of the City's top colleges and universities and executives in the "new media" and Hispanic advertising fields to develop and strengthen New York City's growing Latin media and entertainment workforce. The partnership seeks to bridge the gap between educational institutions and the changing demands of the industry to provide opportunities to students.

About the Latin Media and Entertainment Commission (LMEC)

On October 28, 2003, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg created the NYC Latin Media & Entertainment Commission (LMEC) by Executive Order No. 43. The LMEC advises the Mayor on business development and retention strategies for the Latin media and entertainment industry and works with City agencies to pursue the LMEC's goals. Through research and strategies, the LMEC develops initiatives to retain, recruit, and expand New York City's Latin media and entertainment productions, businesses, and jobs as well as to attract and host high-profile Latin entertainment productions and events in New York City. The Commission is made up of leaders from the Latin and mainstream media industry, community leaders from the nonprofit and cultural sectors, and leading executives from the financial, advertising, and real estate sectors. Commission members include honorary Chairpersons Jennifer Lopez and Robert De Niro; LMEC Chairman Mario Baeza, Chairman and CEO of the Baeza Group and Founder and Executive Chairman V-Me Media, Inc.; and the Mayor's Advisor and Liaison to the Commission, Willie Colon. The heads of seven City agencies, under the direction of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, serve on the commission as ex officio members.

Labels: advertisement, Latinos

Source: Survey of 500 Latinos commissioned by Jack Morton

Word-of-Mouth, TV Much More Effective Than Print, Survey Finds
By Laurel Wentz

Published: November 03, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Experiential marketing is the medium most likely to persuade Hispanic consumers to buy a product, according to a recent survey commissioned by experiential-marketing company Jack Morton Latino, but respondents had strong opinions about how events should be organized.

Respondents said they shun a hard sell, with people representing the sponsor brand and expect a live event to be complemented by social networking, blogs and mobile-phone activities.

The online survey of 500 respondents focused on acculturated Hispanics, typically U.S.-born and bilingual. Of those surveyed, 39% said they had participated in a live brand experience in the last year. Asked which medium would be mostly likely to drive their purchase of a product, respondents ranked experiential media first (30%); followed by word-of-mouth (24%); TV (23%); and the internet (14%). Print media, direct mail and radio all got responses of 4% or less.

Word-of-mouth is especially important in the Hispanic market; 68% of survey respondents said they interact with between three and 10 family members weekly.

Just 2% of respondents said they preferred hard-sell "active interaction" with people representing the brand; most preferred a softer sell and a more passive message at an event, conveyed through signage or video presentations. The main technologies respondents expected live events to be linked to were social-networking sites and blogs (25%) and mobile phones (18%).

Isabel Villegas, senior Latino-market specialist at Jack Morton Latino, said the live-concert series the agency created for client Alltel in key Hispanic markets in the Southwest also involves Facebook and MySpace pages, as well as pictures taken of attendees at the concerts to be put on "find yourself" screens during the events and posted later.

Labels: advertisement, Latinos

Why should we care now?

By Raquel Cepeda

"Yo, my nigga, that nigga's crazy," declares a young Dominican guy in his late teens, early twenties. "Yeah, my nigga, that nigga was buggin' last night, my nigga," responds another hermano. Chatter like this floated in the air like the whiff of days-old garbage smoldering in the heat while I took my frequent summer jaunts along Vermilyea Avenue way uptown in Inwood, with my 11-year-old daughter in tow.

Initially, you'd find mostly Caribbean Latinos dropping n-bombs into rap lyrics—"Pigs," off Cypress Hill's classic self-titled 1991 debut, is just one example—but nearly two decades later, the profusion of the word into the New York City Latino vocabulary is reaching an almost caricaturist quality. In Spanish Harlem, el Bronx, and the Lower East Side, it's enthusiastically deployed in an almost faddish manner, as if it's going out of style literally tomorrow. With Nas threatening to name his latest album Nigga (he relented, eventually, but most fans still call it that anyway) a few months ago, and iconic Latino artists from the authentic urban native Fat Joe to one of my favorite internationalists, Immortal Technique, still flinging it about freely, the word, its meaning, and our sense of who can and cannot use it still dominates public conversation. The palpable racial tension that's been rearing its head this historic presidential election, the subject of race and who is truly considered black or white in this black-and-white race, is something Latinos need to pay attention to. For many of us, especially those of Caribbean descent who make up a sizable chunk of New York Latinos, race should matter, and so should that one particular word.

Personal feelings, premonitions, and politics aside, I took the two young boys' exchange as an interesting opportunity, an exercise in thinking about Afro-Latino identity in an unlikely way: through a hip-hop lens. Aside from the fact that we're in the thick of a predominantly Dominican enclave (for now) in our beloved Uptown Manhattan, and the first guy I'd overheard wore an oversized white T-shirt emblazoned with our motherland's flag, homeboy could've passed for an African-American man on any other stretch of blocks stateside. By comparison, his comrade looked more like Fat Joe's skinnier brother, with light eyes and pale skin. Was it OK, or more OK, for the darker-skinned kid to use the term?

As many times as I've heard it yelled across the streets and in playgrounds lately, it doesn't take away the sting. But it's naive to think Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban kids in New York City aren't calling each other and themselves the n-word, especially in 2008. (It's a global phenomenon, too: In West African cities like Freetown and Accra, heads that find out you're from the States and part of the hip-hop community will find creative ways to work the word into a conversation.) For us, the word usually surfaces in the same context that arises among young African-Americans: as a term of inclusion and solidarity. "It's just a code of communication to us, a 'hood word people throw around frequently," says half-African-American, half-Dominican rapper AZ, who released his "rap thesis" on the subject, titled N.4.L. (Niggaz 4 Life), last month. "I guess people want to use it now for press and all that; I don't understand what's all the big fuss about."

Somehow, the n-word has found its way back into hip-hop's critical zeitgeist: I'm interested in exploring, as a Dominican New Yorker, how we as a community have propagated it. Recently, due to the mounting criticism of Boricua rapper Fat Joe's use of the term eight albums deep into his career (including his latest, The Elephant in the Room), Latinos are being challenged to introspect. But I can see why an impulse to laser-focus on the issue now would bewilder a veteran rapper like Joe; he's used the word consistently since emerging in 1993, as have the Beatnuts, Hurricane G, and his late Puerto Rican cohort Big Pun, to name a few. In an interview with Chicago-based WGCI radio personality Leon Rogers, Joe said that while he didn't know exactly when Latinos started using the n-word, he felt that "somehow it became a way to embrace each other." He added: "Crazy shit is, my man Reverend Al Sharpton, whenever I see him, he'll be like, 'Wassup Joe, my nigga,' and he's the dude that protests 'my nigga.' He's my friend, so he says it to me as a term of endearment."

"It draws the racial differentiations into the Latino community, which I agree with," says New York University Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, Juan Flores, who regularly teaches courses on Afro-Latino identity here and abroad. "It's just an opportunity to check the power that Black Latinos reflect off each other and the Latino population." In other words, Latino artists use the n-word as a reminder that they too have been oppressed and are products of the transatlantic slave trade.

There may be a reason for the lack of attention: Many Caribbean Latinos are, to Americans at least, ethnically ambiguous products of miscegenation. Regardless of what we've learned in grade school, our history extends past Columbus and our Spanish conquistadores. "The European Spaniards have left a legacy of self-hatred and racism among the Latino population; without acknowledging that, we will not evolve past our own inequity," says Immortal Technique, an Afro-Peruvian hip-hop artist who also uses the n-word. "Racism in America, as horrible and ugly as it may be, still isn't as bad as what it is in Latin America, and the sad part is that we are being racist against ourselves."

Maybe, in a way, that's the statement Dania Ramirez intended to make when, as part of Nas's Grammy-night entourage earlier this year, the dark-brown Dominican actress sported a black T-shirt emblazoned with the n-word. Many folks in our parents' generation have rejected their blackness—I have older Latino neighbors who won't vote for Barack Obama simply because he's black—but those generations more informed by hip-hop are embracing their Afro-Latino identity and evolving past our own self-hatred. Perhaps. "One fallacy is that [the n-word is] blasé, like, 'Ah well, everyone can use it now that it has a different meaning,' because it's not completely meaningless," says Professor Flores. "The other extreme, though, is the absolutist who thinks no one can use it because it's taboo, under any circumstances. That's a problem, too, because every expression has the potential for ulterior meanings, depending on the circumstances of the person."

Crystal, a 13-year-old fair-skinned Dominican girl attending eighth grade in an Inwood public school, remembers first hearing the n-word in a song while hanging out with her aunt. "So then, we got on the computer and we looked it up, and it had the meaning and everything," she recalls. "I was like, 'Why would you say it in a song?' From there, you started hearing everybody on the street saying it, and then everybody started getting used to it." To be fair, parents aren't always able to interfere because they speak little to no English; those reared by hip-hop culture in the last two decades often use it themselves.

The similar term cocolo—most popularly used as an insult against Haitians by Dominicans, and by Puerto-Ricans against Dominican immigrants who look Haitian—is another word gradually being assigned a new meaning here among Latinos. Other words that translate to mean "black" among Caribbean Latinos are moreno/a and negrito/a, almost always used as terms of endearment. However, because none of these words have had the fraternal stamp of hip-hop approval, they have yet to receive their proverbial ghetto passes; speaking of which, Jennifer Lopez might've surrendered hers when she left the Bronx eons ago. While it's a fact that men in the hip-hop industry can get away with murder, women are held to impossibly high standards, and the question of authenticity played a role in how negatively the public reacted to J. Lo's use of the n-word on the remix for her 2001 single "I'm Real."

"I think with that, it was really based more upon class than anything else," Immortal Technique says. "Many people saw Fat Joe as technically black even though he was a light-skinned Puerto Rican, and he had affiliations with the streets that Jennifer Lopez probably lost on the way to Hollywood."

With few exceptions within our community—Raquel Rivera's 2003 book New York Ricans From the Hip Hop Zone devoted prime real estate to the discussion of Latino identity in hip-hop—this is a conversation we've failed to have, whatever our personal feelings. "It really don't matter if you're white, you're black, you're brown, or from the Boogie Down—it irks me to death," says Alain "KET" Maridueña, 37, an entrepreneur and artist. "Latinos in our neighborhood use it a lot—like every other word—and I'm trying to check people because I find that we're suffering, we're going through our thing, times are hard, there aren't enough opportunities out there, and I want us to rise up." But we won't rise up if we can't talk about the reasons why we haven't quite gotten there yet, and the words that've risen in prominence as a result.

Labels: African Americans, Hip Hop, Latinos

September 22, 2008
By Della de Lafuente

NEW YORK Everyone knows by now that the Hispanic demo is a growing one, but how do marketers go about addressing it? Is there a dedicated team in place charged with reaching Hispanics or are all marketers in a company responsible for focusing some of their efforts on the segment? And does anyone have the equivalent of a chief Hispanic marketing officer?

Not yet, although several companies have CMOs who happen to be Hispanic. For them, the job often involves becoming part evangelist—to help make a case for Hispanic marketing—and part corporate Hispanic compass, i.e. the point person in a firm charged with maintaining the cultural integrity of language, tone and messaging.

"You're the one who's constantly out there talking up this opportunity, crusading, telling our story, getting people engaged and focused on the brand and our agents and in making the business case for why I need to keep and grow my Hispanic marketing budget," said Luisa Acosta-Franco, assistant vp-emerging marketing at Farmers Insurance and a self-described steward of the company's Hispanic and other ethnic targeted programs.
The exact number of marketers focused exclusively on the demo is unclear. One indicator: The ANA's multicultural marketing committee boasts 135 executives with Hispanic marketing duties, including many who are veteran marketers and both Hispanics and non-Hispanics.

A look at various companies uncovered Hispanic-targeted strategies as diverse as the Latino culture itself. Job titles and responsibilities vary from company to company, with a mix of Hispanics and non-Hispanics leading dedicated efforts aimed at Latinos. Read on to find out how some brands are handling the challenge:

T-Mobile's Stockdale

Mark Stockdale, director, Hispanic marketing, T-Mobile, doesn't have to make the case for more Hispanic marketing. He lets his metrics do it for him. "Companies that are unable to provide proof of performance will be unable to get sustainable attention," said Stockdale, a native of Mexico City who helped to create the Hispanic-targeted practice at T-Mobile four years ago.

T-Mobile's Hispanic effort is plotted out over a two-, four- and six year business plan, reaching across the entire organization with the Hispanic market appearing now on the company's weekly internal business reports as a key revenue channel and ad spending growing in double digits in recent years, Stockdale said.

But Stockdale's job isn't all about charts and graphs. He also seeks to tap into the needs of the market. "It's making sure that if customers want to sign a contract, receive a billing statement, interact with a payment kiosk or speak with a customer service representative in Spanish, they can," he said. Earlier this year, the company opened its fourth bilingual dedicated call center in Brownsville, Texas.

The approach worked. T-Mobile's share of the Hispanic wireless business has climbed to 21% from 17% in the past three years, the company claims.

Fox Sports' de Quesada

Fox's parent company, News Corp., doesn't have a dedicated Hispanic CMO position, but someday it might, predicted Raúl E. de Quesada, assistant gm and vp-marketing, communications and creative services, Fox Sports International.

"News Corp. is really putting a lot of weight into where they are developing the Hispanic talent," said de Quesada, a native of Camaguey, Cuba. "Once that Hispanic talent continues to move up into higher executive positions, you'll see the Hispanic [marketing] effort will go the other direction."

De Quesada appears to take the "compass" role at Fox Sports. As the head of the on-air promotions department, de Quesada said he reads nearly everything before it goes on the air and, in most cases, he also handles the English to Spanish translation of content himself, looking to preserve the integrity of the intended Spanish-language messaging while avoiding offensive language to some or all Latino cultural groups that may end up lost in translation.

That extends to new digital formats as well. Said de Quesada: "Movement of multiplatform opportunities will depend on the availability of relevant content that can deliver across the board. We're working on that because content is what really rules the marketplace."

General Mills' Rodriguez

At General Mills, Hispanic-targeted marketing is handled as a part of a wider multicultural approach that includes messaging aimed at African American consumers. The Hispanic side of the business is led by Rodolfo Rodriguez, General Mills' director-multicultural marketing.

He leads an internal team comprised of marketers and staffers in sales and consumer insights who partner with the brand teams to help support their efforts to reach Hispanics and African Americans through separate targeted programs supported by specific, dedicated dollars for each.

One of Rodriguez's projects is "Que Rica Vida," a multibrand platform in its third year aimed at Latinas and highlighting various brands and lifestyle tips via TV, a quarterly 350,000-circ. direct mail magazine featuring original content and recipes developed by the Betty Crocker kitchens; a Web portal and grass roots marketing at festivals also support.

The company has increased its investment in the program year over year, including a content partnership this year with Univision to air multiple vignettes featuring Despierta América's Karla Martínez via TV.

Launched in August, the vignettes provide tips and ideas for helping Hispanic moms navigate life in the U.S., Rodriguez said.

Western Union's Galuppo

Western Union has the unusual position of being at the center of communications between new Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. and their native countries, and Hispanics immigrating to outside the U.S.

"We're doing business with Hispanic customers all over the world, not just in the U.S. or in Canada," said Gail Galuppo, evp and CMO of Western Union's global marketing program, including Hispanic business here and abroad. "We're doing business with Hispanics in Latin America, the Caribbean, South America, even in Europe and the U.K."

As a result, the brand's approach to advertising and marketing is somewhat unusual: Western Union focuses its ad spending budget, which accounts for about 6% of the company's total revenues, in the key countries and communities where it does business or wants to build awareness of the brand. Ad budgets are managed by marketing heads in target markets in order to grow its business in key money-transfer corridors.

"You won't see us on big, mainstream TV because we're trying to reach our customers in the ethnic media and newspapers specifically targeting communities, said Galuppo. "Whether they are Guatemalans, Dominicans or Mexicans, we really get down to what type of communication they're reading."

Reliant Energy's Rodriguez

Targeted marketing is the way Reliant Energy approaches its strategy for Hispanic marketing, hiring pharmaceutical marketing veteran Manny Rodriguez in March to oversee the company's efforts, which encompass both the Hispanic and the general markets.

"Depending on the space that you play in, like us being based in Texas where in some instances Hispanics are the majority, how we go to market and how we talk to them is very important," said Rodriguez, a native of Spain who previously worked for major pharmaceutical companies in New York.

Reliant has had an ongoing Hispanic-focused marketing program for nearly a decade, devoting significant ad spend to targeting Latino consumers, said Rodriguez.

He serves as vp of brand and marketing services, essentially holding the CMO job, though it's not his title. Duties include oversight of all marketing in the general and Hispanic markets and directing advertising, public relations, market research, sports marketing and promotions among other duties.

Said Rodriguez: "To gain a position in the marketplace, it's all about understanding your core brand, your consumers and the demographics, and then investing in the marketplace, showing a presence in the community and respecting and rewarding the brand loyalty of Hispanics. Segmenting and targeting is what makes the difference."

Farmers Insurance's Acosta-Franco

Marketing to Hispanics is central to the corporate messaging program at Farmers, where Latinos are a core consumer and considered key to the company's growth strategy.

Acosta-Franco, assistant vp of emerging markets, leads that marketing, which is best known for ads featuring actor Edward James Olmos touting the benefits of insurance to the uninsured, though the company also makes a point of hiring bilingual agents.

"Ultimately, a good marketer needs to be knowledgeable and respectful of the culture to be successful," said Acosta-Franco, noting that a Spanish surname doesn't guarantee that a marketing executive will bring a personal and an industry perspective for the job.

Labels: advertisement, Latinos

October 20, 2008
By Michael Applebaum

As part of its Hispanic marketing efforts during the 2008 tax season, H&R Block ran a series of TV ads that featured fictitious company reps Horacio and Roberto engaging in bold tactics to illustrate the brand's relevance to Latinos. In one spot, the two young guys enter a hair salon and ask a beautician to do their taxes. Instead, she cuts the tax form into a string of paper dolls. The narrator urges viewers to go to H&R Block, uttering "Estamos contigo" or "We're with you."

Earlier in the year, general market ads for H&R Block depicted wry scenarios with an alternative message. One TV spot involved two guys dressed in Germanic Alpine garb discussing how to reap tax deductions for lederhosen accessories. They are thusly informed, as the tagline says, because they "got people" at H&R Block.

While these two campaigns spoke in different ways to different consumers, they both positioned H&R Block as being "a brand on your side," said vp-marketing Kathy Collins. "Our communications objective is to share our tax knowledge, our expertise, our people. Be it 'Estamos contigo' or 'You got people,' the message is clear."
Marketers like H&R Block have long understood the need to create advertising that is developed specifically for the Hispanic market. The question is: How far can that advertising veer from what's being sent into the general market without damaging a brand? Most marketers and their agencies agree, the answer is not too far.

"You don't want a brand to have a completely different look or feel in Spanish," advised Jessica Pantanini, vice chair of Hispanic marketing agency Bromley Communications, San Antonio, Texas. "You have to figure out which of your brand drivers will work with Hispanic consumers. Then you'll know which aspects to leverage from the general campaign."

At H&R Block, for example, a primary goal of the general market campaign was to wean consumers off tax software. But research revealed different barriers among Hispanics. One was the incorrect assumption that retail branch employees did not speak Spanish-an idea countered by a pair of Spanish-speaking flamingo dancers in another TV spot. The other was the belief that consumers did not need an expert to do their taxes.

"In general, there was a perception among Hispanics that H&R Block is 'not for us,'" said Laurence Klinger, svp/cso at Lápiz, Chicago. "We had to show that, yes, the brand is for you and we know you are in a different financial place in your lives. That's how we came up with 'We're with you.' In other words, 'We're on your side.'"

In addition, he noted, the Seinfeld-ian humor of the original spots might have been lost on some Hispanic viewers. And vice versa: Few Americans likely would have understood the cultural expression "before a rooster can sing," which was used to demonstrate the speed of H&R Block's refund in a third Spanish-language TV spot.

Tag, You're It
When should a general market tagline be used in an Hispanic campaign? Sometimes, a brand has no choice but to come up with a new tag because there is no literal Spanish translation for the English version. That was the case earlier this year when Chase followed up its black-and-white themed branding campaign, dubbed "What Matters"—a double entendre for which there is no Spanish equivalent—with an Hispanic effort called "Juntos Se Puede" or "Together we can."

To be sure, adapting ads to the Hispanic market means more than getting out your Spanish dictionaries. A new tagline often arises as the result of specific insights into Hispanic consumers. In Wal-Mart's latest back-to-school campaign, for example, the general market tagline "Save Money. Live Better" became "Save More. Live Better" ("Ahorra Más. Vive Mejor"). That may seem like a small change, but it was an important distinction.

"To Hispanics, it's not just that Wal-Mart saves you money. It relieves angst because you know you'll find what you need, it has a good return policy, and so forth," explained Alex Lopez Negrete, whose Houston agency created the campaign. "If Wal-Mart is only talking about money to Hispanics, it's leaving something off the table."

For General Mills, which late last year launched its first Hispanic market campaign for Nature Valley granola bars, it wasn't so much that Hispanic consumers experienced the product differently, but rather had a different view of nature itself.

"Hispanics don't feel they have to 'get away' to find nature the way Americans traditionally do," explained Ingrid Otero-Smart, president and CEO of Casanova Pendrill, Costa Mesa, Calif.

Thus, her agency shifted the brand's focus from the images of mountains and waterfalls that dominated the general market campaign to the product's packaging. Outdoor ads, which continue to run this year in Los Angeles and other markets, feature a blown-up image of a granola bar wrapper printed with those same images and the headline: "La Naturaleza en tu Bolsillo" or "Nature in Your Pocket."

Rodolfo Rodriguez, director of multicultural marketing at General Mills, said that it was important for the brand to have a "single unified voice" in the marketplace, especially since some Hispanic consumers may be exposed to both campaigns. "Many of the iconic images of nature remained consistent in both campaigns as they appeal to both consumer segments and help reinforce the positioning," he added.

Some brands tend to draw on universal themes in their general market advertising, in which case the development of an Hispanic campaign may be a natural transition.

Take State Farm. Its ongoing TV spots features slice-of-life vignettes to illustrate the importance of insurance under the rubric of "State Farm Is There"—an idea that could have broad appeal beyond the general market. Variations of the line ("I'm there," etc.) in Spanish were used this year in a series of TV spots via Alma DDB, Coral Gables, Fla.

The scenarios, however, are intended to resonate specifically with the Hispanic audience: A couple opens a dance studio for little girls; a young man buys first apartment; a regional Mexican band looks to make it big in the U.S. A fourth spot about an expectant father awaiting his first boy has a little fun with Hispanic parents who name their girls feminine versions of boys' names (e.g., Fernanda, Daniella).

"We all find ourselves at these kinds of 'intersections' in life," said Madeline Perez-Velez, account director at Alma DDB. "With State Farm, it was a matter of leveraging insights with our consumers find the right situations."

Team Effort for Marketers and Agencies
Communication between marketers and their Hispanic/general market agencies can produce some desirable synergies. For instance, when DDB first shared its storyboards for a baseball-themed State Farm spot with Alma DDB, the Hispanic agency immediately recognized two things: 1) The idea certainly work for its target audience; 2) Here was an opportunity to realize an efficiency that otherwise might not be gained.

"Given our priorities this year, we probably weren't going to be able to do a sports-related TV spot," said Perez-Velez. "But we loved the idea. Baseball gives you that smile and [a platform to create] a lighthearted moment."

To leverage its Major League Baseball sponsorship, State Farm has been running the spot (filmed with a bilingual cast for two versions) during the MLB playoffs on TBS and on Spanish-language stations including Fox Sports en Español. The 30-second spot, shot outside Wrigley Field in Chicago, involves a teenager who recovers a home run ball and, seeing the poignant reaction from a young boy nearby, hands him the baseball. "You know that place where the love of the game is the real souvenir? I'm there," he says in Spanish, followed the State Farm/MLB sponsor tag.

"This is not just about taking their [DDB's] creative and recasting it," said Tom Maney, svp-ad sales for Fox Sports en Español. "It's about borrowing their brand equity and delivering it to the Hispanic market in the most appropriate way."

Bromley, meanwhile, did just that last fall in developing an Hispanic market campaign for AstraZeneca's pediatric asthma medication, Pulmicort.

The effort, including print ads and a direct mail kit offering an informational DVD and coupon for free samples, was based on an insight into the target audience—moms with children under age eight—that was summed up as: "It makes me very nervous not to be in control of my child's asthma." Whereas an earlier general market campaign (by Saatchi Healthcare, New York) had positioned the brand more generally as an asthma medication for kids, the Hispanic ads spoke directly mothers to ease her anxiety over the disease.

A side-by-side comparison of a portion of the two campaigns reveals the different approach (see photo caption). In the general market ads, the image is of a child alone and the core message is that asthma does not have to take control. In the Hispanic campaign, mom and child are shown together and the ad says that, by preventing asthma symptoms, Pulmicort helps both the child and her mother breathe easier.

"We needed to empower mothers to talk to their children's doctors and educate them on treatment options," said Vernonica Vela, account director at Bromley. "Asthma is confusing for everyone, but raising awareness was particularly important [for our audience]."

A common thread among all these campaigns is a description of the process by the interested parties, many of whom say the initial sharing of creative briefs and strategic goals was key, but from there it was up to the individual agencies to come up with the goods.

Greg Sutter, marketing communications manager at State Farm, said "there were absolutely no constraints" placed on Alma DDB in creating spots for the Hispanic market.

Collins of H&R Block agreed. "We told Lápiz, 'The handcuffs are off!' Bring us what's right for the consumer and the brand," she said. "And they delivered."

Labels: advertisement, Latinos

September 25, 2008
By Jackie Madrigal, Radio and Records

NEW YORK The New York City Council voted unanimously Wednesday (Sept. 24) to call on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the Arbitron portable people meter’s (PPM's) potential effects on the diversity of radio.

The Spanish Radio Association -- comprised of Hispanic radio broadcasters Border Media Partners, Entravision Communications, Spanish Broadcasting System and Univision Radio -- said the measure "should serve as a wakeup call for local governments and minority communities around the nation."

In response to the New York City Council measure, the SRA issued the following statement:
"Arbitron's flawed PPM ratings methodology will severely harm media diversity and ultimately limit the variety of voices and viewpoints on the country's radio airwaves. It is a real threat not only to minority communities, but it could also have a devastating impact on local economies and needs to be taken seriously. The PPM ratings methodology should not be rolled out until all concerns are effectively addressed.

"Several members of the Spanish Radio Association have a long standing presence in New York City, working tirelessly as a vibrant extension of the minority communities they serve, and as a strong part of the economic fabric of the communities they serve by creating jobs, paying taxes and supporting small and minority-owned businesses that rely on our airwaves to reach the community. Urban and ethnic stations not only provide vital news and information, they also provide a lifeline for their communities by helping to organize, promote and service a wide range of local civic campaigns and programs. The importance of Spanish-language and urban radio stations in New York and around the nation is immeasurable, and Arbitron's unaccredited methodology produces unreliable and inaccurate measurement data that will destroy years of progress diversifying radio. Unfortunately, Arbitron is a monopoly, and even though the SRA has invested time and effort to help
Arbitron develop a system that will provide reliable rating data, their lack of understanding of minority communities combined with their lack of commitment to these communities, has resulted in our recommendations being ignored."

Arbitron released the following statement in response to the resolution passed by the New York City Council.

"We are disappointed by the Council's failure to recognize: that broadcasters, agencies and advertisers in New York and other major markets have made it clear that PPM is critical if radio is to remain competitive in an increasingly challenging media marketplace; the quality of the PPM samples in terms of African American, Hispanic and Spanish-dominant representation; the continuing dialogue Arbitron maintains with Urban and Hispanic broadcasters and agencies; and the outreach we are making to highlight the value of African American and Hispanic consumers in the PPM world.

"While Arbitron does not believe that the FCC has jurisdiction over our company, we are willing to continue our voluntary meetings with the FCC and other government officials. Arbitron's role as an independent research company is to provide stations and advertisers with information that is based on the actual behavior of radio audiences. That is what PPM delivers today."

Radio & Records is a sister title of MarketingyMedios.com.

Labels: advertisement, Latinos

Melba Newsome
YOUR GUIDE TO CASHING IN ON THE YOUNG, URBAN MARKET

WHEN THE MANUFACTURERS OF CONVERSE SNEAKERS wanted to investigate the consumer appeal of entertainment mogul and basketball player Master P (Percy Miller), they hired Jeffrey Meade, 23, and Patrick Walsh, 22, founders of Washington, D.C.-based Mjini Urban Youth Experts, to research what resonated with young, urban consumers. Converse was negotiating with Master P to endorse several lines of sneakers. Linking up with one of the country's hottest rappers had its appeal, but Converse wanted to make sure he would attract urban youth.

Meade and Walsh were paid $1,300 per day plus expenses to find out. Their company subcontracted with Arnold Communications, an advertising firm that help conduct the research. They talked to dozens of young men at malls, basketball courts and community centers in Los Angeles and New York, and recorded these conversations to find out what would spark their interest in Converse. Who better to discover what clicked with the young, black male market than two young, black men?

"We only have a couple of years on the targeted consumer, so they were eager to talk to us," says Meade. "It turned out that kids responded well to Master P." Last February, Converse began marketing "The Smooth," a sneaker endorsed by Master P, and, last summer, it added "The MP" and "Chuck Authentic." A series of print ads for the sneaker lines ran in The Source, Slam and Vibe magazines, publications that are widely read by hip-hop and rap fans.

The Smooth brand has sold out and the other two brands have proven to be successful, particularly in the South. Marketing to the trend-setting urban youth consumer has become big business because of their buying power ($300 billion) and influence over the mainstream consumer market. McDonald's plays hip-hop music, and even Colonel Sanders, the staid, white Southern gentleman, has become a slam-dunking rapper who handles his walking cane more like a Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brother than a senior citizen. Whether it's shoes or orange juice, this demographic has its finger on the pulse of the mainstream marketplace, which translates into an expanded market base, increased brand awareness and higher sales volume for the companies that produce these products and services.

"What works in urban cities, works in suburbia, but not vice versa," says Roy L. Brannon, president and CEO of the Brannon-Cottrell Group in Dallas, a full-service advertising agency specializing in campaigns targeting urban ethnic markets. "The general market will accept what the urban consumer wears. If you can capture them, you can capture the mainstream market. When rap music first came on the scene, it was in inner-city underground clubs, but when it reached the suburbs, it became commercial." Today, more than 70% of hip-hop albums are sold to whites.

Because the market is young it represents an audience companies can follow and profit from as it ages and builds wealth. Majority companies have targeted millions of dollars at urban youth marketing campaigns because they recognize this market's viability and influence. Even if your business doesn't have the advertising budget of a McDonald's or KFC, there are other techniques for getting your product in front of the urban youth market. In this article, we'll show you how to determine if this market fits your business and what strategies you can use to successfully pursue young urban consumers.

GENERATION X/Y

The impact of urban youth can be felt everywhere from fashion to music to sports. This includes an estimated 70 million 12- to 17-year-old (Generation Y) and 18- to 34-year-old (Generation X) African Americans, Latinos, Asians and Caucasians who live in both inner-city and large, upscale urban environments, such as New York Los Angeles and Chicago. This demographic is heavily influenced by the music (rap, R&B, gospel, hip-hop) and fashion that characterize its identity. African Americans drive both of these arenas. Urban youth have their own language, icons and heroes.

"We've found that these kids are very individualistic, and they don't respond to anything outside of their reality," says Brannon. "They don't care about the status quo."

At the same time, this market sets and is influenced by trends in the fashion and music industries that are then followed by the general consumer market, especially affluent white suburban youth.

"If FUBU started advertising to suburban kids, they would lose," says Meade. "Their urban constituents would find something else to wear and suburban kids wouldn't wear it. The best way to get white kids into a product is to get black kids to buy it."

This demographic makes a considerable amount of household purchasing decisions for their families, from what food to eat to what diapers to buy, according to Howard Buford, president and CEO of Prime Access Inc. in New York, an advertising and direct-marketing firm that specializes in marketing to previously overlooked audiences, such as African American and Latino consumers. "If you're a business person, it matters what store they go to and what they buy. In order to accomplish this, you have to create linkages and word-of-mouth advertising."

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Clearly, marketing boosts visibility and sales, which translates into healthier profits. However, before shelling out money for prime-time commercials or full-page magazine ads, make sure you've done your homework. A misdirected marketing plan can be worse than no plan at all.

First, you need to assess what your goals and mission are and whether marketing to urban youth consumers fits into your overall business plan. What age group do you currently market to? Does your product or service fit the urban youth market? Is your product or service "life stage" (defined by age)? If so, it would be difficult to transcend this market. How will it impact your bottom line? Elevate brand value? Increase profits? Increase your visibility in the community?

"If this market doesn't identify with your product or service, you can't stretch that brand name. However, you might consider launching a product line geared toward a younger market," says Buford.

When you put together a campaign for a specific audience, you have to evaluate their lifestyle, how and where they live, their likes and dislikes and their spending power.

"There's a real schism between `old school' and `new school,'" says Buford. "People who own businesses tend to be old school. They assert their ideas and opinions over what the new school, or urban youth, believes or values. Old schoolers have to transcend new schoolers' differences, which are expressions of themselves and what they represent."

Before launching Mojo Highway Golden Ale under their company, Mojo Highway Brewing Co. L.L.C., in Washington, D.C., last year, Chairman and CEO Lee Chapman and President and COO Curtis Lewis, both 29, scoured every bit of information they could find to learn about the consumers they hoped to reach.

"We read InfoScan, Competitive Media Reporting, Scarborough Data [marketing research services]," says Chapman. "Anything that would help us understand where and how much the urban demographic spends on beer and why." Because they wanted to reach their peers--20-something, college-educated beer drinkers--Chapman and Curtis relied heavily on their own experience as well as data on this market.

Their most effective marketing strategy: hosting more than 100 onsite promotional events in clubs and bars. "On-site promotions educate, create awareness and allow consumers to sample our product," says Chapman. Today, their beer is sold in 60 bars and liquor stores in New York and Washington, D.C.

In many large advertising agencies, traditional focus groups and surveys account for most of the market research. Such methods are expensive, however. And as Mjini (Swahili for urban environment) demonstrated with its Converse research, the grassroots approach is less expensive and can be equally effective in gathering valuable information.

TAILOR YOUR MESSAGE

Savvy consumers that they are, urban youth can quickly sense if a product doesn't fit their needs, experts say. Therefore, you should be able to stand behind what you advertise.

"They can sniff out fakeness and insincerity, so your creative efforts have to be real," says Brannon. "The message is very important too--how you say it and what you say. You have to get input from those who know the market."

Urban youth have to believe your product or service is for them, says Buford. "You have to ask yourself how do I communicate they're welcome in my store or that I want them to do business with my company? You must align yourself with the ways they identify themselves in their choice of clothing, music and icons."

Although being a black-owned microbrewery might initially attract African American consumers, Mojo Highway Brewing Co. L.L.C. has made a concerted effort to build a multi-ethnic following for its $6 (average cost) six-pack of beer. Crafting a message that resonates yet differentiates your company from the competition is a challenge. The tag line for Mojo--"the perfect detour"--plays off the name [Mojo Highway] and appeals to young consumers who want something other than Budweiser or Coors. The company has no national ads, but Mojo's public relations agency, Washington, D.C.-based Starnet Management L.L.C., already knows the kind of ads it won't run. "I can guarantee you there won't be any frogs, dogs or camels," says Vincent Sizer. "Mojo wants to attract those who are legally able to drink and wants them to be responsible drinkers."

Urban youth consumers don't respond to messages that are heavy-handed or condescending. Keep it simple and relevant, says Raymond O'Neal Jr., executive vice president of Vibe-SPIN Ventures in New York and publisher of Blaze magazine, an urban music publication.

"Golf as a brand [sport] wasn't meaningful to blacks years ago," says Buford. "But Tiger's [Tiger Woods] appearance said we're welcome and this is for us. He creates a linkage to young blacks, and now that's happening in tennis with Venus and Serena Williams."

Indeed, this market longs for a sense of belonging, so your message should make them feel that by purchasing your product or service, they are included.

KEEP PACE WITH CURRENT TRENDS

Urban youth consumers tend to be trend and style conscious, which means you must keep pace with their interests and buying habits to formulate a successful marketing strategy. This is particularly tree of fashion.

"These consumers have loyalty for a while, but they'll switch to your competitor in a heartbeat," says Brannon. "Your product or service has to be new and fresh and uniquely for the urban youth consumer. What's hot this week won't be next week. The dilemma becomes how to keep up with their trends. Businesses need to stay in tune with these consumers. Ask for input from teens to understand why they respond or don't respond to your product or service."

Although it may be tempting to use celebrity endorsements, be aware that they can become dated, says Carol Patterson Brooks, president of Correct Communications Inc. in Newark, New Jersey, a marketing and communications firm specializing in providing access to niche markets. Instead, tie in rap, R&B or hip-hop and other music to appeal to this market. Even a local icon, such as a radio personality or local youth sports hero, can be appealing and bring in urban youth consumers.

MAINTAIN A HIGH PROFILE

Because urban consumers identify with their communities, unless your business is part of their work/you are invisible to them.

"Giving back to the community, being involved and being seen at community events says you're one of them and you support them," says Brooks.

For example, if you own a restaurant, you could sponsor a local sports team or, if you can't afford to do so, donate hotdogs and drinks at their games. Create partnerships with schools or community centers to participate in or sponsor events, campaigns or fund-raising drives. Take charge of a community project, such as cleaning up an empty lot so kids can play sports there. Tie in a product promotion with a movie theater chain to drive your company's sales.

Besides wider name recognition, Mojo landed a vending contract when it supplied beer for a Congressional Black Caucus party held at Washington, D.C.'s Velocity Grill in the MCI Center. "The entire evening cost us about $200 and we got an account out of it, too," says Chapman.

Penna De Kelaita, 30, owner of SpiceRax in Los Angeles, discovered that sending press kits to specific media outlets was an inexpensive and effective way to spread the word about a new product. She wanted to let young, multiethnic consumers know about Shout-Outs, her colorful greeting card line that features eight multiethnic cartoon characters. De Kelaita spent $3,000 for slick press kits that she sent to publications with readers she hoped to reach. As a result, Shout-Outs were written up in the six publications. In addition, her Website (www.spicerax.com), which includes an online shopping mall where consumers can purchase her cards for about $2.50 each, receives up to 2,000 hits per week.

The power and influence of the urban youth market represent an opportunity for black businesses to capture a segment of the consumer market that can bring increased brand awareness, profits and an expanded consumer base. By focusing on their communities, keeping pace with the trends they set and formulating a message that speaks directly to them, you can strategize to reach this audience with success.

"There is no question that mainstream marketers have recognized the value of this market," says Brooks. "Black businesses must be engaged as well."

HIP MARKETING TIPS & RESOURCES

TIPS

* Partner with an urban radio station to sponsor an event or broadcast live from your office or store.

* Place an ad or have a story written about your company in urban culture magazines and newspapers.

* Design colorful street posters to advertise your business in urban communities.

* Create palm cards: postcard-sized cards that advertise an event or product.

* Dispatch street teams: professionally trained members of your marketing or advertising team who hit the streets to spread the word--through fliers and word-of-mouth--about your company's products or services.

* Distribute coupons or sample products in college dorms or sports venues.

RESOURCES

* Minority Markets Alert (publication) 212-941-0099

* EUR (Electronic Urban Report) www.eurweb.com

* Correct Communications 973-242-3305

* Icon Lifestyle Marketing 212-929-3800

* Target Market News Inc. 312-408-1881 or www.targetmarketnews.com

* Multicultural Marketing Resources Inc. 212-242-3351

* Teen Research Unlimited 847-564-3440 or www.teenresearch.com

* Mjini Urban Youth Experts 617-249-0442

* Brannon-Cottrell Group 214-652-8451

* Prime Access Inc. 212-696-5000 or www.primeaccessinc.com

Labels: advertisement, African Americans, Latinos

Survey Suggests There's Still a Good Deal of Confusion About Multicultural Market
By Beth Snyder Bulik

Published: February 25, 2008

YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- Marketers are hiring more talent and spending more money than ever to chase multicultural consumers, yet they are divided on how to reach them -- and unsure they're getting good returns on their investments.

While 84% of the marketers believe multicultural marketing is "critical to my business," almost 40% said they don't know the financial value of multicultural groups to their companies, according to a study for executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles by Brandiosity.

They also had a variety of opinions on which agencies to hire to reach the Hispanic, African-American and Asian groups. Of the 60 companies that were surveyed on which shops they use for multicultural-marketing services, 58% said they tap general-market-research firms; 51% said they use multicultural agencies; 42% use general-market agencies; and 35% use multicultural-research firms.

'Same stuff' as 20 years ago
In fact the overall picture painted by the survey suggests there's still a good deal of confusion about the multicultural market. Pepper Miller, president of Miller Hunter Group, a market-research and planning group in Chicago, said marketers really don't understand it any better than they did 20 years ago. "I entered the business in 1985. The other day I found a paper I wrote back then, and I read it and I thought, 'Man, this is the same stuff we're saying now!'"

More than two-thirds of the respondents were chief marketing officers or senior VPs of marketing. Another 14% were VPs, managers or directors. They represented a wide variety of industries including retail, consumer package goods, telecom, financial services, fast food and apparel.

Carla Palazio, partner at Heidrick & Struggles, said the recruiting firm commissioned the study to discover what companies need -- particularly what sort of talent they're looking for -- to target multicultural segments, specifically through the eyes of the CMO. What it found was a disconnect: Multicultural marketing is perceived as very important -- but there are still a lot of companies that lack a real companywide strategy to address it. "The root of this is the lack of awareness at the organization. While the CMO understands it well, they almost have to evangelize [the value of multicultural marketing] to the rest of the company," Ms. Palazio said.

Indeed, among the 20 biggest challenges executives expressed, almost half could be categorized as problems proving merit inside the company. They listed roadblocks such as "explaining to management their importance," "getting buy-in and support from company leadership," and "getting senior level marketers to understand that the world is changing."

Mike Fasulo, CMO of Sony Electronics, said he has experienced some of the disparities the study uncovered. "I can respect some of those statistics, because it took us two years before we went to market because we wanted it to be comprehensive and sincere." Mr. Fasulo's group made multicultural marketing a priority about three years ago and today has an internal team dedicated to it, as well an outside multicultural agency, research and insight initiatives, and retail partnerships.

Undervalued worth
However, he was surprised that more companies didn't know the financial worth of multicultural segments, because the data are there. In electronics, for example, he said many product categories overindex for multicultural groups vs. the general population, including flat-panel TVs, satellite radio and video gaming. And though the economy has slowed, both disposable income and growth of multicultural segments "far exceed" the general market, Mr. Fasulo said.

Respondents also were asked which minority segment was most important to their businesses. The majority selected Hispanics first at 65%, followed by African-Americans at 30% and Asians at 24%.

However, the respondents were split over the idea that it "takes a Latino to market to a Latino." Some 35% agreed, while 39% disagreed.

"For myself, I believe I've had an easier time," said Alberto J. Ferrer, managing partner at the Vidal Partnership. "But I see many non-Hispanics do well. They tend to be open, willing to listen to the agency, and they don't live in the land of clichés -- or, as I wrote in one of my blogs, the land of sombreros and maracas."

As for using general-market researchers rather than multicultural agencies or researchers, Ms. Miller said: "That is such a big mistake. I'm still so frustrated with general-market research. So much of it is disrespectful, and it's just too vanilla -- and not just for African-Americans but for Latinos and for Asians, too."

Lack of structure
But why the disparity between increased efforts and lower perceived effectiveness? One reason may lie within the study, in that 44% of the executives said their companies were not effectively organized to handle multicultural marketing. So new hires and ad-budget increases become lost or marginalized in a system not structured to handle them.

Isaac Mizrahi, director of multicultural marketing at Sprint and one of the survey participants, agreed that the results seem contradictory. "When I see results like this, it makes me wonder what exactly is their definition of multicultural marketing," he said. The findings indicate "there is still a significant amount of education that needs to happen," he said. "There are a lot of preconceived ideas about multicultural markets. And to be honest, it's not an easy area. It takes a lot of time, a lot of insight and research, and truly understanding the marketplace before you even propose something."

Ms. Palazio said multicultural marketing will grow when other marketers see the results of companies such as Home Depot, Verizon, Bank of America and ING. "They're already seeing 10% to 12% of revenue coming from this segment," she said. "That's the easiest way for other companies to have a reality check."

Mr. Ferrer said: "There is a bona fide business opportunity here, and if you don't see that, you're not a smart businessperson. It's not about being a bigot; it's about being smart. ... I understand people not doing [multicultural marketing] because of tight budgets or [lack of] company support, but not knowing is just silly."

Labels: advertisement, African Americans, Latinos

By Jack Riley

You’ve all seen it, you’ve all cringed. A well-meaning company runs a print ad with a beautiful African American couple dressed like a typical suburban White couple, pitching a product that has little or no relevance to an African American consumer with a dialog bubble-filled with words that no African American person would ever string together. Another attempt at diversity advertising misses the mark. Diversity marketing is more than putting a face of color in an ad campaign. It has to begin from the ground up as a unique, targeted, relevant marketing program with multiple components.

Before any of that can take place, however, a company has to be committed to the premise of diversity throughout the organization. Without a true organizational commitment, the program will come off as simply pandering to a minority group to generate sales and create a climate of mistrust internally and usually externally as well. Next, a company must understand the fact that diversity marketing is good business. Without those key components in place, diversity marketing will simply manifest itself as rhetoric and will translate into an insincere, inconsistent and ineffective message to a savvy minority consumer group that most marketers underestimate. Minority consumers have been keenly aware, for years, of the difference between what is true diversity marketing and what is manipulative window dressing designed to lure minorities into a product that has limited relevance and often even less appeal to the typical minority consumer. We believe that diversity in the workplace positions Fifth Third Bank to create diversity marketing with integrity which is transparent to the customer.

Companies who embark on diversity marketing must first take great pains to understand the minority group that they are targeting. Analyzing lifestyle behaviors, product usage and accepted messages is crucial to developing products and services that will serve as the foundation for diversity marketing programs. Even more important to the communications focus of the program is understanding the ethnic and cultural elements of the targeted minority group. Obvious issues such as special holidays, language and indigenous foods need to be addressed along with the more subtle signals such as generational aspirations.

Once you’ve established a base of understanding, it is imperative that the product is right. In banking, products and services can be tailored not only by their design, but by the internal experts available to the consumer to help drive the focus of the product so that it is truly a relevant solution. Who understands the unique wants and needs of an Arab American better than an Arab American? Now that you understand the consumer and you have developed a relevant solution with subject matter experts, it is time to communicate to your target audience, with the operative word here being target. While in many ways, minority groups’ media habits are more homogenous than those of the general population, delivering a message requires targeted creative and often non-traditional media. For example, urban radio alone is not the silver bullet for reaching African American consumers. It requires an integrated media plan that includes traditional media and grass roots venues such as public relations, sponsorships and the pulpit. Each venue has its own creative approach, but the message must be steady and singular, and again, relevant to the community to which you are addressing your message.

Creativity is vitally important to diversity marketing. Your homework on gaining a true understanding of your target group will guide your creative direction. It’s just not enough to use a minority face or minority ad. Alignment with copy, dialogue or headlines is critical.

As with any campaign, measuring results drives the future steps of your overall diversity marketing program. Sales results, survey projects, and anecdotal data should all be considered in developing new horizons for your program.

In summary, an effective diversity marketing program must contain:
• Organizational commitment to diversity.
• In-depth analysis of the target minority consumer group.
• Relevant products and services with internal subject matter experts.
• Non-traditional targeted media.
• Creativity that reflects the true minority consumer group with a singular message.
• A measurement mechanism that captures results.

Finally, my advice to any company embarking on a diversity marketing plan is to seek the council of an experienced minority public relations or advertising firm. The complexity and depth of understanding for minority marketing, especially those which present language barriers, cannot be fully comprehended until, as the proverb goes, “you have walked a mile in their shoes.” Support from a minority firm can provide you with that virtual stroll in your target consumers shoes, and in the end, isn’t that what all good marketing is about . . . walking in your customers’ shoes.

Labels: advertisement, African Americans, Latinos, Media