latino lingo

All things related to effective Hispanic marketing, Hispanic advertising and Hispanic public relations.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Hispanic online ad spending sees continued increase

Marketers made some cuts to Hispanic advertising in traditional Spanish-language media but increased 2% in online spending, according to a report by the Jack Myers Media Business Report.

According to the report, total Hispanic ad spending is forecast to drop 11.2%, with a slight rebound projected for 2010.

The report predicts Spanish-language advertising will not reach its 2008 peak of $4.25 billion again until 2012, although its share of total US advertising continues to increase.

Labels: ,

Sunday, October 11, 2009

You can't run a Spanish newspaper like an English one

The news a few weeks ago that Registro, a Spanish-language weekly based in New Haven, Conn., ceased publication was unfortunate -- certainly in that I personally know those who lost their jobs. While unfortunate, it also certainly wasn't surprising news. Its parent company, Journal Register, had declared bankruptcy, and there was a noticeable decrease in advertising over the last few years.

When the only 2 Spanish-language newspapers in the state that have ceased to exist in recent years are those owned by English-language newspapers, we need to look a little deeper at what has actually happened. Certainly because the closure of the newspaper bucks the national trend that is seeing an increase in Spanish-language print publications.

The other, Tiempo, a Spanish-language weekly owned by the Meriden Record Journal, closed in 2006. Registro, like Tiempo, was essentially doomed from the start, primarily because its sales staff was the same sales staff as its English-language counterpart. The sales staff at Registro did not know how to sell the newspaper. Period. To general market companies, it was often pitched as a "value added" bonus to an English-language media buy thereby de-credentializing it and minimizing the significance of the newspaper's ability to reach an important customer segment.

Additionally, the parent company didn't adequately invest in developing ties to the community or with its readership. Many a festival, parade, community event, church gathering, festivity, etc. passed by without active participation from Registro. In fact, I tried to include them in a 2-day festival in New Haven that attracts more than 50,000 people that I help to promote with a small non-profit. However, the then-publisher was only interested in participating if the non-profit purchased a series of ads to promote the festival. While I understand the need to make a quick buck, this short-sightedness of the publisher demonstrated the fundamental lack of understanding of why it's important to establish connections, not just transactions, with the Hispanic community.

I presume this lack of connection is what lead some Hispanic advertisers to not want to buy from Registro as they called them a "gringo" newspaper. Some Hispanic business owners and non-profits even went as far as refusing to give interviews for news stories as they didn't trust the newspaper. Clearly, there was a problem with connecting to the very people it intended to inform.

The lesson here is not that the Hispanic market is not economically viable; evidenced by the fact, new media outlets -- including a new Spanish-language weekly and an AM radio station -- have emerged in Connecticut, and its direct competitor has more ads than ever. The lesson, as it is for all general market organizations looking for success in the Hispanic market, is that you have to reach the market in a culturally-relevant manner to have long-term success. It's not enough to build something and hope that we will come.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Citi first to offer mobile banking in Spanish nationally

Stating that 1/4 of their customers are Spanish-speaking Hispanics, Citibank announced they are the first major U.S. bank to offer mobile banking in Spanish, according to a Hispanic PR Wire release. The mobile platform will allow customers to manage their accounts, pay bills, locate branches in Spanish from a cell phone.

Citi Mobile en Espanol mirrors the functionality of the English-language Citi Mobile for Smartphones.

Labels: