Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
Pre-fab Rosca de Reyes
11:18 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Culture|Food|Marketing|mexico · 6 Comments
4 Jan 2007
Last night I went to a Mexican bakery in SF’s Mission District and the lady at the counter asked us if we wanted to put in an order for a Rosca de Reyes. This is how they do it in Mexico, but I guess not everyone has the luxury of having a Mexican panadería close by — and Mexican immigrant dollars must be earned — so enter the pre-fab Rosca de Reyes, made by Bimbo and coming to a grocery store near you:
Children in Mexico, Spain and some parts of Latin America celebrate Three Kings Day on January 6. The day commemorates the three kings who, according to the Bible, followed the star of Bethlehem to bring gifts to the baby Jesus. As a result, the holiday treat, Rosca de Reyes, is a sweet bread made in the shape of a crown. Holding true to tradition, Bimbo’s version of this Christmas dessert is adorned with jewel-like candied fruits. In addition, a small baby Jesus is placed within the packaging. Consumers traditionally hide the toy inside the bread for a guest to find. The lucky person is then responsible for throwing a party on February 2 to mark the official end of the Christmas season.
Target pulls Che CD case
3:41 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Marketing · 4 Comments
26 Dec 2006
The commercial use of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s image is nothing new, but a CD case bearing his image has sparked controversy and retailer Target has pulled the item:
Target had touted a music disc carrying case for Che admirers emblazoned with the Argentine-born guerrilla’s iconic 1960 portrait by Alberto Diaz, or “Korda.” A set of small earphones was superimposed on the image, suggesting he was tuned in to an iPod or other music player.“It is never our intent to offend any of our guests through the merchandise we carry,” Target said in a statement. “We have made the decision to remove this item from our shelves and we sincerely apologize for any discomfort this situation may have caused our guests.”
Whatever you think of Che, it was irresponsible for Target not to consider the possible implications of this beforehand. To me it shows a lack of understanding and a lazy lack of research about basic Latin American history, and mainly just an attempt to be uber trendy without considering the meaning of the image.
AOL targeting growing Latino market online
7:30 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Internet|Marketing · 3 Comments
5 Dec 2006
I’ve often questioned why there isn’t a more decent offering online for Latinos. In fact, when VL was created, it was partly born of that question. I’ve asked time and time again why — in spite of compelling data that shows that Latinos are online en masse — online businesses don’t make more of an effort to extend their tailor their services to the Latino market.
This may end up being a blip on the screen given AOL’s decline in popularity, but the company has just re-launched AOL Latino:
AOL has opened its Spanish language services to the general public through the launch of the new AOL Latino, complete with search (powered by Google), antivirus, antispam, email, instant messaging, blogs, photo sharing (AOL Latino Fotos) and calendars.The site offers more than twenty areas of Spanish and bilingual content and will cover original news articles from Spanish language news sources like EFE, Nomex, and the Associated Press, plus music from artists like Daddy Yankee, Ricky Martin and RBD in the “Sessiones @ AOL” section, and updates about the latest Hispanic Hollywood celebrities like America Ferrera, Sofia Vergara and George Lopez. The site also features a community area called Tu Gente complete with blogs, message boards, and chat.
Who will use AOL Latino? I’m not sure, since I don’t know anyone who uses AOL non-Latino. What it all comes down to is offering great content that they can’t find anywhere else, which will keep them coming back for more.
One company that’s doing it incredibly well isn’t a portal at all: Apple’s iTunes Latino has impressed me. I love Apple products, but I predicted that they would slap “Latino” on iTunes, translate it and voilá. Apple went above and beyond; they’ve researched the various Latino music genres, history, etc. and created playlists that I would buy without even listening to: an essential history of Argentine rock, for example. Upon closer inspection, they got it right. They did their homework. They’ve also done a great job in getting hot Latino celebs on board to share their personal playlists, including Julieta Venegas and Ozomatli.
If AOL can give Latino consumers half the quality that Apple does in the online music sector, they’ll be just fine.
Via / Adotas
Coke tries Latino marketing in Spain
12:57 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Ecuador|Immigration|Marketing|Spain · 1 Comment
11 Oct 2006
The Coca Cola company, one of the first corporations to dabble in U.S. Latino marketing (and international marketing emperors) are taking the idea of targeting Latin American immigrants outside of their home country to the Spanish market.
Coca-Cola, recognizing the tremendous growth of the Latino immigrant population in Spain — specifically Ecuadorians — has decided to tap into a market that is being ignored by other beverage companies. They are looking to appeal to the tastes of the Ecuadorian community, who nostalgic for anything reminding them of home, might embrace a soft drink that does just that. In addition, Coke is doing the same with for the Moroccan community.
The company has decided to bring two of their more popular soft drinks in both countries: Fioravanti, a strawberry drink which is consumed so much in Ecuador that it is only topped by Coca Cola, and Hawai, a fruit juice drink popular in Morocco.
Reality TV or Race Baiting?
3:24 pm By Maegan La Mala · Controversia|Entertainment|Marketing|race|TV · 2 Comments
1 Sep 2006
The latest news about CBS’ reality hit show “Survivor” has a lot of people wondering if this is another ratings ploy. For its new season, “Survivor” will take 20 castaways to the Cook Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. On the latest edition, Survivor: Cook Islands, the 20 contestants will be divided into four tribes by race. The teams are African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic and White.
Host Jeff Probst told CBS News’ The Early Show that it was designed as a unique social experiment.
The idea for this actually came from the criticism that ‘Survivor’ was not ethnically diverse enough,” he said. “Because, for whatever reason, we’ve always had a low number of minority applicants apply to the show. So we set out and said, ‘Let’s turn this criticism into creative for the show. I think it fits in perfectly with what ‘Survivor’ does — it is a social experiment. And this is adding another layer to that experiment, which is taking the show to a completely different level.”
CBS’ has drawn a lot of outspoken criticisms from different groups, calling this move insensitive because it will encourage audience members to identify most strongly with the group that corresponds to their particular race, leading to divisiveness between different cultures. As a result, there have been some advertising consequences for “Survivor.”
Dems courting Latinos via “la copa”
2:35 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Marketing|Politics|Sports · Comments Off
8 Jun 2006
A group of Democrats are dedicating 2 million big ones to an initiative to get Latinos won over to the party via an ad campaign that will run during the 2006 World Cup, according to AP:
Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network, said the group wants to use a “major sport like soccer to brand Democrats for a wider audience.”
The TV ad shows an empty soccer field as an announcer says: “For years now, we’ve been awaiting this moment. Our country is again ready to return to being the great nation that all of us always dreamed of. Get involved. It’s up to you.”
The radio ad will air in 70 markets all over the country.
Personally, while definitely a way to target Latinos en masse, I’m wondering if this campaign will be effective. The World Cup, perhaps more than any other sporting event in the world, is a way to escape, to dream, to imagine and to celebrate the sport as a culture. I think the last thing on people’s minds is the state of the country and how a political party might change that. Caught up in the revelry and emotion, it’s hard to remember that as a nation we’re in crisis.
Thoughts?
Via / Que Pasa
Adios, Juan Valdez
1:57 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities|Colombia|Marketing · 2 Comments
31 May 2006
The coffee icon and fictional character, Juan Valdez, symbol of the Colombian coffee industry in the U.S. for decades, is hanging up his hat. Probably a good thing, considering a whole generation of us grew up with this stereotypical image of Latino campesinos.
Juan Valdez is retiring. Long live Juan Valdez! The ambassador to the world for Colombian coffee, Carlos Sanchez, is hanging up his trademark poncho after four decades of playing the role of “Juan Valdez.”
I spoke too soon. Juan Valdez, the character, isn’t retiring — just the actor. Let’s hope the new one is a bit updated:
Now the national federation of Colombian coffee producers, owners of the Juan Valdez trademark, is searching for a man to inherit that poncho.Sanchez and his trusty mule Conchita have promoted Colombian coffee since 1969 with a leather bag, bushy mustache and straw hat typical of rural Colombia. That Juan Valdez trademark has become one of the world’s most recognizable, and the fictional figure has become one of the most famous Colombians of all time.
Via / Yahoo! Entertainment News
Photo via TVAcres.com
Holy calling card gets you blessed by Mexican priest
6:49 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Marketing|mexico|Religion · 9 Comments
23 May 2006
File this under: tacky marketing ploys. I’m usually not shocked by the sketchy marketing tactics that some companies use to promote their products to the Latino market. After all, I am in the business, so I’ve seen my share of lame campaigns, promotions, slogans, etc. But when I read about the Mexican Catholic Church getting kickbacks from a calling card company for use of the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe…I wanted to be amused but I just felt…ick.
The Catholic Church in Mexico is set to receive a cash bonanza from a U.S. company planning to sell prepaid phone cards with a printed image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s most revered religious symbol.“We are not selling blessings, we are promoting benefactors,” said Mexican Monsignor Diego Monroy Ponce, whose recorded voice will bless customers when they use the $3 and $5 cards to place long-distance or cell-phone calls.
Talk about cheapening one’s supposedly deeply held beliefs. I’m no Catholic, but this makes me sick.
Latino or mainstream, or are Latinos the mainstream?
1:17 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Culture|Marketing|Media|Music · 4 Comments
6 Mar 2006
The topic of “the mainstreaming of Latino” seems to be a popular one this week in media. An article in Billboard entitled “Latino music moves into the U.S. mainstream” is not about what the headline alludes to at all. It’s about the fact that the Latino population itself is mainstream, so much so that Latino performers can now “get away with” not doing Latino music and can “exploit” their Latino-ness for the good of their careers:
Marcos Hernandez barely speaks Spanish. He grew up listening to Barry Manilow, the Temptations, Michael Jackson and U2. And on his debut album, “About Me,” he sings soulful R&B — in English.
Latino kids pull on the purse strings
3:36 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bilingualism|children|Education|language|TV · Comments Off
23 Feb 2006
Why is that television believes children can get down with Spanish while adults cannot? For whatever reason, prime time TV (with rare exceptions like Freddie Prinze‘s “Freddie”) doesn’t want to bother with bilingualism, even though Latinos are a perfect demographic: 600 billion in buying power, median age of 26, average household size of 4 members, yadayadayada…
There’s a huge rise in the use of Spanish and bilingual dialogues in mainstream children’s television programming. We’ve posted before about Dora La Exploradora, but she’s not alone.
Hola!
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