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Comcast works hard to capture Hispanic viewers

Comcast works hard to capture Hispanic viewers

Content

THE OFFER

Comcast ran two direct mail campaigns in early September 2005 targeting Spanish-speaking Northern California Hispanics. The first campaign, mailed out in late August, was in partnership with JC Penney. As an incentive to sign up for CableLatino Completo, new subscribers were offered a free photo session at JC Penney. Comcast promoted their On Demand feature and offered new subscribers an introductory fee of $36.99 per month for the first six months.

The second campaign, mailed out in early September, targeted both Spanish and English speaking Hispanics. It offered a cable and high speed Internet package for $69.99 per month for the first six months.

THE MAIL PIECE

The first campaign was a 5 x 7 self-mailer written in Spanish. The front featured a professional photo of a Hispanic family, and offered new subscribers a free photo session at JC Penney. Inside the mailer was an advertisement for The History Channel en espanol and Comcast’s On Demand, both available to CableLatino Completo subscribers.

The second mail piece was a 6 x 11 self-mailer written in English and Spanish targeting Hispanic parents (See image). The front highlighted the cable and high speed Internet offer and the back featured a Hispanic family using their laptop outside with the slogan “Give your family the tools they need to succeed,” written in Spanish and English.

Inside, the text emphasized the educational benefits of being connected to the Internet, including homework help and research tools. Also in 2005, Comcast distributed a glossy, fourcolored Hispanic magazine to thousands of Latino families in Northern California. The magazine, written in Spanish, was designed to educate Latino consumers on the convenience and value of On Demand de Comcast and Comcast’s CableLatino, as well as promote Comcast’s high-speed Internet.

THE PRODUCT

Comcast is the country’s largest cable operator, with more than 21 million subscribers. Since it began offering Hispanic packages in 2003, Comcast has gained more than 250,000 subscribers according to a statement by the company president John Vronk. Comcast offers Spanish-language cable services in nine of the 10 largest Latino markets, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, Denver and San Francisco, with a potential market of about 3 million Latino households.

Comcast’s CableLatino Completo is an analog service, but customers who subscribe to it receive a digital box so they can take advantage of some of what digital has to offer, including video-on-demand. CableLatino is available in Miami, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Fresno, Calif., Albuquerque, N.M., Baltimore and Philadelphia.

The programming package includes Spanish-language video channels, music channels, a lifeline English-language slate of programming, and On Demand programming.

Research showed that Comcast lost Hispanic customers when they had to buy a bunch of other programming – expanded basic and digital basic – to get the Spanish-language networks they wanted to watch.

THE OUTCOME

Cable companies and digital providers have been successfully employing direct marketing campaigns in an effort to win the millions of Hispanic households that don't yet have cable. In 2004, Adelphia Communications and Time Warner both launched direct mail campaigns that got good to excellent response rates.


NOTE: The direct mail promotions in this article were tracked by ParadyszMatera ( www.paradyszmatera.com ) through its Market
Relevance Promotion Library. ParadyszMatera is a media brokerage services company specializing in Direct Mail, Online Marketing and Creative, Print and Alternative Media. Additional research and interviews were conducted by Portada®.

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