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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Firms Find Different Way Of Targeting Latino Market

In vibrant colors of red and green and yellow, the skeletons and other deceased characters from “The Corpse Bride” dance up a storm to show, as the commercial’s narrator states, they are full of life. Borrowing from images associated with Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead the television spot aimed at the Latino market differs from a general market spot using darker colors and an emphasis on the creepier aspects of Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated tale of nightmarish nuptials. “Day of the Dead is a very festive occasion in Latin culture,” said Yamily Escalante, director of business development for El Estudio, the specialized marketing division at New Wave Entertainment in Burbank. “Without actually saying (Day of the Dead) we used the images, made it colorful with the dancing skeletons and made it a lot happier and not so much a spooky spot.” With a population expected to have a spending power of $1 trillion by 2010, the Latino market is not just a niche market for entertainment and media companies but an area for tremendous growth requiring its own strategies to capture that spending power. Just as the big studios and networks recognize the growing population, they also recognize there is a different group that advertising needs to reach, said Alan Baral, a co-owner of New Wave with partner Paul Apel. “Creating ads in English and merely translating them in Spanish wasn’t serving the needs of the demographic,” Baral said. Getting to that demographic is part of the growth of New Wave and other Valley entertainment companies as they target the Latino population with marketing for both Hollywood blockbusters and original Spanish language content. But those companies need to do more than just give lip service in wanting to attract that population, especially when it comes to making content available through new ways such as the Internet that are popular with teenagers and young adults, said Greta Nodar, director of sales, Latino programming for Image Entertainment, based in Chatsworth. “We have to spend the money and need to make the commitment to reach that market,” Nodar said. “That is one of the challenges in an area where there is a young market.” Connecting with culture During a panel discussion at the recent Latino DVD Conference 3 in West Hollywood, Nodar and other panelists agreed that keeping a strong connection with their culture was a driving force behind the popularity of Spanish language home entertainment content be it films, television shows, or music. Nodar recalled there was a time when young people did not want to even speak Spanish. “Today they are proud to say they are Latino,” Nodar said. “They want to continue their culture. They live in the U.S. but go home and speak Spanish with their moms and dads and watch the telenovelas with them.” In creating its targeted marketing, El Estudio also tries to make that connection, Escalante said. In devising a targeted marketing campaign with a client, El Estudio staff watches the film and brainstorms with studio staff on what angle should be highlighted in the advertising, Escalante said. Using music That angle can be focusing on a certain actor or actress or using a piece of music that resonates with the targeted audience even if it isn’t heard in the film itself. In Spanish language and bilingual television spots for the Warner Bros. spring release “V for Vendetta,” for instance, El Estudio used “Gimme Tha Power” by Molotov because the song had the double appeal of being well known with Latino audiences and fit the film’s theme of fighting back against an oppressive government. “With ‘V for Vendetta’ just by using that song we were appealing to those that like Spanish rock music,” Escalante said. “Whether they are older or younger, that song is popular. I knew they would respond to those spots.” Julio Noriega, director of the film division of Venevision International, explains the interest in major studio content, especially with the youth market, as a way to be part of society and being aware of what films have a street buzz. “If we are able to create content and market it correctly,” Noriega said, “there is tremendous opportunity to reach them in Spanish and get them to buy in.”

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