Connecting National Brands to Local Audiences
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More than 300 attendees from all over the United States and Latin America attended Portada's Fourth Annual Hispanic Digital and Print Media Conference on September 30 h in New York City's Scholastic Auditorium, Greenhouse with Rooftop Terrace.More than 95% of the many attendees who answered the feedback forms noted that the event had helped them to do business.The vast majority of attendees also gave very high marks to the event's content. Dozens of clients responsible for hundreds of millions in Hispanic marketing budgets were present at the event. In the next pages you will find a text and photo review of what happened during Portada's flagship annual Hispanic Advertising and Media Conference.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
BEST BUY'S HISPANIC PRIORITIES: MOBILE, HOME THEATER AND GAMING
Teresa Solomon Iglesias, Director of Multicultural Initiatives, gave a presentation on the relevant theme of how to connect with local Hispanic audiences. She stressed that mobile, home theater and gaming are the categories she is prioritizing in her marketing initiatives due to the fact that Hispanics over index in those categories. “Service is the key to engage the consumer”, she added.
MACY’S EXPECTS 20% OF CUSTOMERS TO BE HISPANIC
During her presentation Kristyn Page, Multicultural Marketing Director at Macy’s, noted that she expects 20% of Macy’s customers to be Hispanic by 2020. Currently, 17% of the retailers’ customers are Hispanic. Page added that the Hispanic customer is very loyal to Macy’s. Page also explained that it is crucial to understand the customer on a granular level and focus on what they actually buy. In terms of the media Macy’s uses to reach Hispanics, Page noted that “TV is still king for national branding purposes”. Radio also plays an important role.The broadcast strategy is complemented with magazines, newspapers and digital media.
On a PR basis, Macy’s also has an interesting strategy with a new multicultural PR strategy handled by Latinvox.Grassroots events play an important role: each major market has a Latina Coach which is present at these events.
TERESA WAKELEY, MARKETING MEDIA MANAGER AT VOLKSWAGEN,
Presented the objectives, strategies and results of Volkswagen’s World Cup campaign. Wakeley noted that Volkswagen did a paid media campaign on Facebook to promote its World Cup related promotions.
(Check out the article: “Best Practices: Volkswagen Fifa World Cup Campaign” on Portada's Best Practices Marketing to Hispanics regular feature on www.portadaonline.com.)
IN A VERY INTERESTING PANEL ON GEOTARGETING
Julie Weitzner, VP of Media, at Razorfish described the developing market for data about consumers online behavior. Datapoints that are available include, for example, persons who are coming out of a car lease who have high purchasing power. Weitzner also noted that due to the likely increase in the number of tablets to approximately 38 million by 2014, the definition of mobile is changing to “portable”.
Another interesting question Weitzner explored in her panel together with Paul Meyer, VP of Digital Media, Publicitas and Juan Jose Duran, Interactive Media Director US of Televisa Publishing and Digital, is why many advertisers don’t spend the extra money to develop banners specifically for each country IP. For example, if General Mills is promoting their food items will they spend the extra money to create a banner that says “Living in the USA and missing your favorite Mexican recipes, click here to see how we can help you”?
DANIEL VILLAROEL, DIRECTOR MULTIETHNIC MARKETING, MAYBELLINE GARNIER
Fellow marketers that it is crucial to understand the ROI of a robust marketing campaign to attract the Hispanic consumer.Also that the path to understand the Hispanic consumer begins with research, first secondary research and then primary, propietary research. “It’s always important to be able to measure the results (ROI) either with scan or POS data”, Villaroel concluded.
EXPLAINING THE EVOLUTION OF THE NEWSPAPER SECTOR
The keynote interview of Steven Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers, was one of the highlights of the Conference. Some focal points of what one of the major players in the U.S. digital and print media markets has to say:
Newspapers in some Markets are Growing Again.
According to Swartz, year on year growth comparisons in several markets where Hearst Newspapers has media properties are positive. Due to the gloomy environment for newspapers, during the last three years, even a lower rate of sales decline was interpreted as positive by some analysts; so positive growth rates are definitely a good sign. Swartz noted that categories with a positive evolution include classified (employment), and retail. Among the weaker categories Swartz cited financial (particularly banks) and automotive. In addition, there is also a positive trend in newspaper circulation.
Evolving into a One Stop Shop for Advertisers.
Swartz, one of the main architects of the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium, described the partnership between Hearst Newspapers, and other newspaper groups, and Yahoo!Through the Consortium, Hearst Newspapers offers it deep connections in local markets to sell Yahoo digital advertising products. Swartz emphasized that Hearst Newspapers has evolved into a one stop shop for media solutions. In fact, the company calls itself Hearst Media Services. Hearst sales teams, who have strong local connections with advertisers, sell into Yahoo!, Zillow (an online real estate classified ad site) and the properties that Hearst fully owns and operates (e.g. Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express News). Asked whether the one stop shop approach, which includes selling third party products, can hurt the branding of the properties owned by Hearst Newspapers, Swartz explained “that it is a reality of the marketplace that advertisers needs can not be satisfied with just one or two media properties”. A member of the audience who is an advertising agency executive asked Swartz, what agencies could learn from newspapers organizations.Swartz answered that if he could have done anything differently he would have implemented changes faster.
General Market “Core” Products Reach Hispanics Comprehensively. Hispanic Specific Products Complement them.
In heavily Hispanic markets like Houston and San Antonio, the main print products (San Antonio Express News and The Houston Chronicle) and their digital presence already reach at least 45% of Hispanics. In fact, online 78% of Houston Hispanics that access the Internet click on Chron.com or Yahoo! Every month.Swartz noted that in Texas, where Hispanics are a very important part of the population, the content of the general market product is very much geared to Hispanics.Hispanic specific products (e.g. La Voz in Houston and Conexion in San Antonio) complement the main product. For example, The Houston Chronicle’s La Voz is distributed 80% through racks in areas that are heavily populated by Hispanics in Houston (the remaining 20% is home delivered on Sunday to Chronicle subscribers that are Hispanics). Another example of a Hearst Newspapers publication targeted to Hispanics is The Laredo Morning Times, which produces two to four Spanish language pages daily. “With Laredo having a 94% Hispanic population, and being a border town, everything they produce is targeted to a Hispanic audience”, Swartz noted.
Free vs. Paid.
Regarding the free vs. paid online content debate, Swartz said that Hearst Newspapers has been increasing its household penetration via free websites. When asked if Hearst Newspapers website will ever charge for online content he replied that most content will be free. He added that only a few stories are available to paid subscribers. Usually these are more in depth stories that readers prefer to read in paper because it’s either a long investigative piece or a feature story (e.g. Travel section) with many photos.
The Evolving Role of the Journalist.
Swartz, an exjournalist who was the founding editor of Smart Money and a The Wall Street Journal reporter in the eighties, noted that the role of the journalist has changed considerably.The opportunities technology offers to journalist are almost endless”.
AWARDS
The Hispanic Digital and Print Media Awards are the main recognition for campaigns, media properties and advertising and media professionals in the Hispanic digital and print media sectors. The 2010 Award winners, the most voted candidates, were announced during the Award Ceremony during Portada's Fourth Annual Hispanic Digital and Print Media Conference in New York City on September 30.
