FH Hispania Plaza

This Week in las Noticias

Ray Fohr — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:58:26 -0400

Dolphins' Monday Night Fiesta Was Hispanic Done Right (Ad Age) – Yes, they watch Monday Night Football in Panama. And they recognize that the Dolphins have embraced a Latino fan base, not just as a Hispanic Heritage-month marketing exercise, but as an authentic and relevant part of the brand.

Univision, Time Warner Cable Launch Spanish-Language On-Demand Channel (Broadcast Newsroom) – Time Warner Cable and Univision Communications have launched the operator's first free Hispanic on-demand channel.

NBA Reaches Out To Hispanics With Enebea (Media Post) – Now the League is reaching out to Hispanic consumers, who constitute 15% of the League's fan base, by launching a multiplatform campaign called Ene•bé•a (en-nay-bay-ah, Spanish-language phonetic for "NBA.")

Hispanic market part of DNA of MLS (Sacramento Bee) – MLS commissioner Don Garber likes to say the Hispanic market is part of the league's DNA. It's a phrase repeated throughout the league's office and is apparent in the stands of its stadiums.

The V-Me Transaction Highlights the Value of the Hispanic Market (Portada) – Prisa is buying a 12% stake in V-Me and will increase its stake to a majority position within the next twelve months.

This Week in las Noticias

Ray Fohr — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:05:24 -0400

Spanish-Language TV Upfront Wraps Up (Ad Age) – Spanish-language TV appears to have survived this year's upfront market in better shape than many other TV outlets, a surprising development given the difficult economy.

Gustavo Dudamel gets a special Latino welcome (Los Angeles Times) – Perhaps no one was more excited about the L.A. Philharmonic's new music director than the 60 members of the Latino Welcome Committee, which formed shortly after the Venezuelan's appointment.

The evolution of Ruben Amaro Jr. (Philadelphia Inquirer) – Last winter, Amaro succeeded Gillick to become baseball's second Hispanic GM. He was, Wade noted, once again a most unusual rookie - a first-year GM at the helm of the defending world champions.

A Chat With Students About Their View of the Industry (Ad Age) – As I contemplated this shift in "conference" energy and attitude, I ran into a group of students from Florida State University's Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication. Founded by Felipe Korzenny, the center is the first of its kind in the U.S.

New project seeks US Latinos' oral histories (San Luis Obispo Tribune) – Plans are to send a StoryCorps Historias Airstream trailer to different towns and cities over four weeks to record conversations with at least 700 Latinos.

This Week in las Noticias

Ray Fohr — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:36:17 -0400

New Univision Networks president embodies future (NPR) – With the support of Univision CEO Joe Uva, Conde pushed for the first Sunday morning news talk show, "Al Punto" or "To the Point." He also backed the nation's first Spanish-media presidential candidate debate.

Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer Bullish On Mayweather-Marquez (SportsBusiness Daily) – Golden Boy has led a $20M marketing push behind the fight, with activation including HBO's "24/7" series and ads airing nationwide in movie theaters.

ESPN, NFL Campaign Honors Hispanics (Multichannel News) – The campaign is the latest in a series of efforts by the NFL to grow its Hispanic fan base, which has increasingly tuned in to watch what it calls "Fútbol Americano." According to Nielsen Media Research, 28.5 million Hispanics watched the NFL during the 2008 season (August 2008 through February 2009.)

Argentine miniseries 'Epitafios' returns to HBO (NY Daily News) – "Epitafios" (Epitaphs), the hit Argentine miniseries in which everything is a mystery except the killer’s identity, returns to HBO Latino this Friday after a four-year break.

John Leguizamo, Penelope Cruz win ALMA Awards (Sacramento Bee) – The ensemble family drama starring John Leguizamo, Debra Messing and Freddy Rodriguez won three awards at Thursday's ceremony, which recognized achievements by Hispanic artists in film, television and music over the past year.

SUM explains marketing SuperLiga in MLS and Mexico (The Examiner) – Boston Pro Soccer Examiner spoke with SUM's Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Communications Dan Courtemanche, who explained the marketing plan behind SuperLiga.

This Week in las Noticias

Ray Fohr — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:09:39 -0400

ImpreMedia Creates Digital Marketing Vehicle for Big Prize Fight (Editor & Publisher) – The promoters of the highly anticipated welterweight boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez have selected ImpreMedia for a digital marketing campaign that will revolve around a boxing microsite created by the Spanish-language newspaper and media company.

State Farm Brings Its Band to TV (Ad Age) – The docu-reality show "La Banda Del Pueblo" ("The People's Band") is being filmed now by State Farm's U.S. Hispanic agency, Alma DDB, and Fire Advertainment, a branded-entertainment company. The show will make its debut Sept. 13 on NBC Universal-owned Spanish-language network Telemundo.

Sponsors Sign for Univision's Music Competition Show (Billboard Business News) – The series will feature aspiring professional artists who have not yet had their big break and give viewers the chance to vote for their favorite performers.

Making media work in a low-budget advertising era (St. Louis Examiner) – Sprocket Productions, primarily known as a San Antonio-based video production arm of the advertising industry, had to expand into Web products this year after being buffeted by the financial crisis.

Meet the Most Powerful Latino in the Media-Agency Business (Ad Age) – A few weeks ago, a big moment in the history of Latin American advertising took place when 45-year-old Colombian Mauricio Sabogal, until now CEO of Omnicom Media Group Latin America, was named managing director of Initiative Worldwide.

LatinWorks' winning strategy (Austin American Statesman) – In the past year, the agency has landed its biggest account, the Hispanic advertising business for Burger King. In 2008, the company bought Cultura, a Hispanic agency in Dallas.

Heard About Latinos in Social Media?: A Q&A With Co-Founder Louis Pagan

Maribel Ferrer — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:07:03 -0400

Following is a Q&A with Louis Pagan, co-founder of Latinos in Social Media. He shares all about the Latinos in Social Media 3-city tour that begins in New York in early October, his perspective of how to reach Latinos online, and insights on the growth of this audience. He, along with FH Hispania Plaza friend Juan Tornoe, and Nancy Perez are among the most influential drivers in connecting Latinos online. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for your time, Louis! (Maribel Ferrer)

MF: How did the concept of Latinos in Social Media come up?
LP: The concept of Latinos In Social Media (LATISM) came from a process of related events. We first noticed the involvement of Latinos on Twitter and were impressed by their numbers and correlated that with a known need from businesses that expressed a lack of access to Latino content providers. Our LinkedIn group was then established to reach professionals that may service this need. The outcome was a directory of Latino based services and content provided by professionals and amateurs alike that we published recently. We evaluated our progress and identified a need for further growth. Our answer was to expand our scope and unite Latinos who utilize social media as a means of networking and communication among bloggers, professionals and businesses. We tackled various social media portals like Facebook, and Twitter in an effort to expand our base and received much interest from within our community as well as businesses interested in reaching the Latino market. The formation of the Latinos In Social Media ‘Heritage Tour’ was a natural outcome of our resources. After New York, the tour will take to Orlando also in October and then to L.A. in early December and Houston in February 2010. For more updates on dates, visit the site.

MF: How did you determine which partners to engage?
LP: Social media is hard to measure and does not deliver any reliable metric. What we looked for however, were individuals within each target state who wielded a noticeable influence on various social media platforms. We looked at Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn numbers to determine which individuals had impressive network access. This process was critical as we had a limited time to develop a conference series during the impending Hispanic Heritage month and felt it would serve better to partner up locally with established networks rather than building that infrastructure ourselves.
We identified three individuals Juan Tornoe in Texas, Nancy Perez in Florida, and George Torres in New York. Each of these individuals are well respected and experts in their fields. They have helped grow LATISM in leaps and bounds.

MF: Why the need for such a tour?
LP: With 21 million Latino internet users, Latinos In Social Media serves as a voice and establishes a presence for Latinos in social media. We are unprecedented and seek to pave the way for Latinos who are now proven to be the most tech-savvy and innovative demographic on the internet today. We encourage innovation and leadership within our community and foster communication to further propel our vision of becoming the premier social organization for Latinos. LATISM is made up of individuals whose passion is social media. What is also unique about LATISM is our ability to cross-promote laterally among one another, while at the same time reach other levels in order to provide services to businesses that are in search of Latino content providers. We are bringing in individuals who are at the top of social media charts from bloggers to SEO providers to network gurus and consultants as well as heads of Latino outreach departments for major businesses to network and provide seminars aimed at social media and Latinos.

MF: Based on your experience, where are Latinos doing the majority of their social media networking?
LP: Maybe I look through rose colored lenses, but I see Latinos everywhere. I find networks of Latinos on Facebook as well as Twitter and MySpace to be sufficient. Latinos also can be found on QuePasa.com and various other narrow-visioned specific network providers like MiGente. But, I think someone who is seeking out Latinos on these smaller, specialized networks should tread lightly and know what they are searching for specifically if they feel the larger networks will not provide them with the interest they are looking for.

MF: From your perspective, what are the top 3 most important things any marketer should know about Latinos in social media? (continues)

LP: Latinos are a diverse group within diversity. What I mean by that is that there are unique subgroups both culturally and in interest among Latinos - one thing we are not is homogenous.
A second thing for marketers to know about Latinos in social media is that we are unique from other markets. By way of our culture we are ‘naturally’ social. From reading and experience I feel this is the major force behind the growth of Latinos in social media. Last I checked we are adopting social media at a rate of 50% above any other group. Lastly, I would say that in spite of all of the above we are consumers after all. We are not from Mars and there is no magic formula or Brujería that one must know to reach us. A little common sense, dedication and research will provide enough information to become familiar with Latinos.

MF: How does a brand get started in social media aimed at Latinos?
LP: A brand can get started by aiming at the networks (like LATISM.org), that has already established a network of Latinos and form a relationship. If you choose to engage Latinos via social media then you are entering the world of permission marketing. This means your brand has to be transparent and relatable and would do well to convey an genuine concern for the Latino community (I actually recall a very hilarious satire piece on the Onion related to this).

MF: How much Latino presence do you think there is currently on the blogosphere?
LP: I started out as a blogger and in many ways I am still a blogger at heart (as a matter of fact, I still blog fairly consistently at LouisPagan.com). True blogging is a labor of love and is concerned only with providing content, nothing more. Latinos have grown in the blogosphere and have made tremendous steps to make their voices heard. For instance, President Obama had a bloggers-only conference call recently, which included one Latino blog that I am aware of. Also, from my own direct experience and witnessed elsewhere, the constant growing body of Latino bloggers have conveyed a feeling of saturation. Although that may sound negative it is actually a good thing as more Latinos step up their virtual podium providing more opinions and better content.Personally, I feel blogs are a forgotten part of social media. With all the hype about Twitter and Facebook in the news these days I see little attention given to blogs as opposed to a few short years ago when blogs were all the rage. Don’t feel sad for blogging though, because blogs hold their own. Blogs are ubiquitous, and can be found linked to from all social media portals. They are the tenacious opinion-platforms of individuals who seek to elaborate and communicate their point of view freely and unrestricted. If that’s not social media, I don’t know what is.

Louis Pagan
co-founder Latinos In Social Media (LATISM.org)
http://louispagan.com
http://twitter.com/louispagan
http://facebook.com/louispagan

A Novela for the Web

Maribel Ferrer — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:45:59 -0400

Univision today began airing Vidas Cruzadas, its newest novela—except this one is not to be seen on the ‘traditional’ home screen, but rather on a computer one. There have been previous attempts and series intended for Latino audiences made available exclusively online. What is different this time, is that the leads are well-known, bonafide stars Kate del Castillo and Guy Ecker and that the story has all the makings of a modern love dilemma: a successful career woman’s biological clock is running out, and just as she decides to be a single mom through in-vitro, she meets the man of her dreams.

For those with pre-conceived notions about the Latino market, this is decidedly not a story for the demo, and audiences are likely to be limited. And this is not the type of viewer Univision attracts. See, the dynamic of the market is constantly in flux and searching for these viewers is not a new thing for Univision and the advertisers supporting this project, mainly L’Oreal and State Farm.

Univision has heavily promoted this new story on TV and on its site. Fans of this novela also can follow it on Twitter, and Facebook (with 610 fans) and Univision’s own Mi Pagina (stating more than 30,000 friends).

Now different to the daily novela format, this only will “air” 3 times per week, which has some viewers confused judging from the comments left on the pages. Wonder if Univision will release viewer data, but from the makings of it, this is a bold vote for Spanish-language dominant Latinas online and a move directed at getting their eyeballs through programming they know well. We'll stay tuned to results and welcome projects that continue to prove the demo has a strong voice when it comes to the web.

This Week in las Noticias

Ray Fohr — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:25:45 -0400

Despite recession, companies target Latino market (Miami Herald) – An increasing number of advertisers, especially consumer-product companies and financial-services firms, are reaching out to U.S. Hispanics and putting a larger share of their ad budgets into Spanish-language media and community-event sponsorships.

ESPN Deportes Debuts First 'SportsCenter' Campaign (Multichannel News) – The multimedia campaign, features such notables as soccer star Lionel Messi, as well as such other Latin stars as Mexican professional boxer Juan Manuel Márquez, professional soccer goalkeeper Oscar ‘El Conejo' Pérez, Colombian actor Andrés Palacio and Mexican rock band Molotov.

Taking Hispanic Marketing Beyond Language, Acculturation (Ad Age) – Starcom MediaVest Group is partnering with NBC Universal-owned Telemundo Communications Group on an in-depth Latino-identity study to give marketers more insight into the changing U.S. Hispanic market and help the companies develop relevant content.

From Hayworth to Cansino: Turning the tide in Latino moviegoing sensibilities (Film Journal International) – Hispanics are 77% more likely to take turns picking films within their moviegoing party. For example, although one-third of Hispanic moviegoers in Spanish-dominant homes see movies with Spanish dubbing or subtitles in theatres, less than half prefer this format to a standard English-language experience.

Soccer Q-and-A with Don Garber, MLS commissioner (SouthtownStar) – The former NFL executive and marketing manager now counts 10 years on the job as the commissioner of MLS, helping oversee the arrivals of David Beckham and Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the development of six soccer-specific stadiums leaguewide and the league's expansion to 16 teams beginning in 2010.

Sotomayor Confirmed!

Maribel Ferrer — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:08:49 -0400

Today is a day for the books. Congratulations to Justice Sotomayor on becoming the first Latina on the Supreme Court. To view a great Orgullo Hispano (Hispanic Pride) piece on Sotomayor from Univision's capsule series honoring leading Latinos, click here. A link to the breaking story from CNN appears below:

Sotomayor becomes first Hispanic on high court

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in a 68-31 vote, as the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. Nine Republicans joined a unanimous Democratic caucus in supporting her nomination. The 55-year-old federal appeals court judge becomes the 111th person to sit on the high court, and the third woman justice.

Hispanics and Health Care Reform

Marieli Colon-Padilla — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:52:30 -0400

Last night, Univision national news featured an exclusive interview with President Obama on the economy which included thoughts on healthcare reform. Among the points emphasized by the President: he said his proposal would provide increased access to quality health care coverage, include options for preventive care for immigrant workers who have legal status, and ultimately reduce healthcare costs for all Americans. But why is it so critical to our demographic?

While more than 47 million people in the United States are uninsured, access to health insurance and ongoing health services is a more serious problem in the Hispanic community. More than 34 percent of Latinos do not have health insurance and Latino immigrants, at 58 percent, are much more likely to go without medical coverage. Sadly enough, despite higher pregnancy rates, 11 percent of Latina mothers do not receive prenatal care during the critical first 3 months. Although most Americans access private health insurance through their employers, it is estimated that only 2 in 5 Hispanics are covered by employer‑sponsored insurance.

Meaningful health care reform in the Hispanic community will increase access to health services and lower out-of-pocket medical costs. Another essential component of health care reform is ensuring that health services provided are delivered in a culturally competent and linguistically appropriate way. Approximately 1 in 8 Hispanics report that their health care provider rarely explains their medical situations in a way they can understand. Legislation that was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act (H.R. 3200), includes languages that would call for healthcare professional to receive linguistic and cultural training and also includes provisions to boost scholarship opportunities for disadvantaged students in the health profession.

Latino leaders such as Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Vice‑Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, has stated that “no community is less insured today in this country than the Latino community. So we absolutely need to reform our health care system.” We can only agree that inaction of meaningful health care reform brings serious consequences to the well‑being of the future of the Hispanic community in the United States. As Congress moves forward with solutions to fix our broken health care system, it is important that our elected officials hear from the Hispanic community and we communicate with them the importance of meaningful reform for all Americans.

Don't Kick Soccer Just Yet

Ivette — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:01:00 -0400

I love soccer. I love soccer during the World Cup the most. Fútbol has always been a part of my life – en las buenas y en las malas.

I’m not alone. Millions of U.S. Spanish-speaking Hispanics love soccer, too. The Gold Cup final this past Sunday drew record numbers of viewership. Yesterday, @UnivisionCorp tweeted “more than five million total viewers tune-in to 2009 Gold Cup Final On Univision.” Multichannel.com reported the cup “topped Nielsen charts in large markets in its time period in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, San Francisco and Sacramento.”

I think this is great for two reasons, out of many more. The first being the obvious, which showcases, yet again, the power of the Hispanic community. It further validates Spanish language TV. It makes a case that if Spanish language content exists, it will be consumed.

The second reason I think this is great is for the continuous, if not, growing popularity of the sport. Did you know that the Confederations Cup Final with Brazil and the U.S.A. was the most-viewed non-World Cup game for ESPN?

As marketers, we may be growing tired of tying in soccer focused programs to our Hispanic outreach efforts. But, don’t call it a game just yet… if ever. The audience is there, and with the continuation of the MLS, the upcoming World Cup next year and the possibility that the U.S.A could host World Cup 2018 or 2022, soccer may just remain as important as ever, if not more, in creating a connection with Hispanic audiences.