We conducted the following interview with Jim Legg, EVP Client Leadership & Innovation at the San Jose Group on how his agency is helping the Chicago White Sox to market itself to Hispanics.
Portada: Is San Jose Group in charge of media buying and planning?
Jim Legg – The San Jose Group: Yes, we handled media buying and planning for this 2010 Hispanic creative campaign (TV, radio, online), and the Chicago White Sox do incremental planning throughout the year as well.
Portada: Can you explain the main objectives of White Sox's marketing strategy?
Jim Legg: The primary objective is to bring more Hispanics into the ballpark. The secondary objective is to create excitement about the game. Obviously, we want people to join us at the Chicago White Sox; making that our number one objective. However, if the people are not excited about the game in general or don’t understand the excitement of the game then it is our job to get that information out.
Portada: What are the main differences between marketing to USH and marketing to the general market?
Jim Legg: I am a firm believer that marketing to Hispanics is just another demographic or target audience. I am not a believer that Hispanics are from Mars and the general market is from Venus. It has to do with the ability in understanding the nuances. It involves being able to understand the demographic, psychographic, and behavioral insights and then marketing appropriately.The differences depend on our target audiences. The strategies being applied to the general market might be completely different than those of our audience. For example, I was in a recent call with a client talking about how there is a term that seems to be a hot term used right now inside of channels and media called “task”. What is the “task”? What this comes down to is; do I need to drive trial? Do I need to educate? Do I need to create awareness? What do I need to do? My task with the general market might be completely different than with the Hispanic market. For example, Chicago White Sox, when you think of where baseball is inside of preferences for sports, Hispanic’s is much lower than the general market. Therefore, the task might be different than the one used inside the general market.
Portada: Can you explain what marketing /advertising vehicles you are going to use during the rest of 2010?
Jim Legg: For the Chicago White Sox we have television, print, radio, digital and Orgullosox.com; which is not a channel or media but definitely a platform we are relying on. Also, the in-stadium experience as well as parking lot events, community out-reach, charitable programs, and community relations.
What's the importance of the online component in terms of budget?
Online is definitely an important vehicle included in the 2010 media buy which represents about 15% of the total media investment.
Is there any Mobile initiative?
Yes, in an effort to create additional buzz / excitement around the White Sox during the baseball season, we partnered with the local radio stations to a create mobile contest. Before every Hispanic-themed night, DJs do a Chicago White Sox trivia contest where the Hispanic community is encouraged to text to win prices which include White Sox tickets & memorabilia.
Portada: Are you geo-targeting any Hispanic population in particular?
Jim Legg: Yes, the Chicago DMA. The channels we’re using are Spanish language so we’re going to be skewing towards theunacculturated and bicultural.
