Mercado Bilingue, the Dallas/Ft. Worth market's Spanish-language Monthly (Circ. 50,000), has been developing a cross-promotional partnership with Univision television and radio.
The free monthly is distributed primarily through home delivery, but is also distributed at Carnival Grocery stores as customers check out.
The underlying objective of the Mercado Bilingue / Univision partnership is to strengthen both brands and their audiences. Univision radio, for instance will use Mercado Bilingue as a registration point for various types of contests, such as ticket-giveaways.In turn, Mercado Bilingue receives valuable exposure to the radio audience, who is encouraged on-air to pick up a copy of Mercado Bilingue for the latest contest details, etc.
“It is a mutually-beneficial partnership. We both serve the same audience, so it is a great opportunity to strengthen both brands among that audience,” says Brent Murphy of Mercado Bilingue. “We are essentially their outlet to the grass-roots Hispanic community, delivering their message door to door.” Similarly, Mercado Bilingue is benefited by gaining the additional market penetration that Univision's broadcast capabilities provide.
Murphy also sees a possibility for this relationship to develop even further in 2006, with the two brands taking part in community involvement events around the Dallas / Ft. Worth area.