A big advantage of custom publishing magazines is that they can be read by first generation Hispanics who often are not online. Chiqui Cartagena of Meredith notes that e-custom publishing is growing, but is still very small. Marla Skiko, VP, media director at Tapestry in Chicago, has an interesting definition for e-custom publishing: “When a web site creates a custom experience for a brand living on their site.”
Meredith has done research that shows that Spanish-dominant women are not online. According to Cartagena, “Younger, bilingual Hispanics are the ones that dominate that space, so if you are targeting that group, online makes sense. But most of our clients are trying to reach Hispanic moms with kids and we don't find them online that much.” Cartagena adds that the impact of a printed piece is still much greater with this audience than is online content
Julie Grayum, a public relations official at Lopez Negrete, which has done custom publishing projects for Visa and Bank of America, says “We’ve never done a custom website, but I imagine it could be very relevant to a certain audience.” However, she points out, computers are still not as prevalent as are mailboxes in Hispanic communities, so print is still the way to go.
Related Article:
Media Behemoths Battle Online Pure-plays for Hispanic Eyeballs (February, ’08)
