While writing this article, I tried to narrow down the number of pitfalls that marketers encounter when advertising to the Hispanic market. There are many, but for the sake of brevity, I will address the three that I come across most frequently:

● Overusing Hispanic traits in ads;

● Cloning a general market strategy for use in the Hispanic market;

● Keeping Hispanic advertising less ambitious and far more conservative than that aimed at the general market.

Overusing Hispanic traits

We have all heard again and again that Hispanics are very family oriented; that they are very close to their extended family; that they take care of their elders; that children tend to live at home after they reach 18. We’ve also heard that Hispanics tend to be emotional and sentimental. They listen to their hearts a lot and value relationships. This brings me to the first common mistake: the overuse of the above traits in Hispanic advertising and how this can sometimes weaken or cloud a selling message.

A few years ago, a telecommunications company aired a commercial introducing a new plan for international callers to Latin America. The commercial was absolutely beautiful. It was shot on location in many parts of Latin America and the scenery was breathtaking. It showed vignettes of people abroad receiving calls from their family in the US. The background music score was very nostalgic.
The research company that pre-tested this commercial uncovered very positive findings for the client. After a couple of months on the air, however, the amount of calls to the free phone number in the commercial seeking more information was very disappointing. The client was perplexed. What happened? Why was there was so little interest?

The client contacted us because they wanted another firm to re-test the spot. We did so and found, to the client’s and agency’s amazement, that the first research company had misread the results. Even though the target audience understood the main message and liked the spot, all they retained were the bittersweet images of the people back home, the beautiful scenery and the feeling of nostalgia for their family and country. The execution had gone overboard using warmand-fuzzy family scenes and nostalgia to sell its product. After people saw this commercial at home, they made a call – but not to the free number to inquire about the calling plan. Instead, they called their mother, or their grandmother or their sister in Latin America. They had been distracted by these warm scenes and completely forgot about the calling plan!

Our client decided to start from scratch. A new commercial was shot based on our findings and recommendations.
In this new spot, the calling plan was ‘the hero’ – not the family or the scenery. It was a happy commercial but also one that provided factual information about the calling plan. This new commercial broke all previous records in number of calls received and new subscribers to the plan.

Cloning the general market

The next pitfall is using a general market strategy for the Hispanic market. Generally, marketers like to do this because it keeps everything nice and organized. It is also the path of least resistance: upper management will buy into their plans faster and it’s easier to deal with one strategy.

Using a general market strategy may be effective but this can only be determined after testing various options. I can’t count the number of times that marketers have decided to use a general market approach before any testing has been conducted among the intended Hispanic target.

Before taking this step, advertisers must be sure that this will be the most compelling strategy. It isn’t that the general market strategy is plain wrong, it’s just not the one that will attract most Hispanic consumers. An even worse scenario is forcing the use of a general market commercial (re-shot with Hispanic actors) to target Hispanics.

Here’s an example of both pitfalls. A while back, we tested a commercial for a drink that was being sold as ‘offbeat and wacky’ in the general market. The client wanted to define the brand the same way in the Hispanic market, so a number of commercials were produced using this strategy. By the way, this was the first time this client had advertised to the Hispanic market and this was the first piece of Hispanic research it had conducted. In other words, without knowing if this wacky, offbeat personality would sell in the Hispanic market, the client and the agency had already produced five radio commercials, which we were going to test.

The focus group participants rejected this strategy. Unfamiliar with this drink’s general market spots, Hispanics had their own image of the product – they saw it as fun and friendly – and what was being presented went against that perception. They felt that this product, as presented in the radio executions, was for weird, confused people! 

We also tested a commercial for an ice-cream brand that was a word-for-word adaptation of the general market spot.
In this case, the spot used humour to make its point – American humour translated into Spanish.
The spot features a couple of vignettes. One tested well, the other did not. It shows a little boy telling his father that he’s going to wash the family car. What he neglects to say is that he intends to use a scouring pad. When the father finds out, the announcer comes on and tells him: ‘Relax, and enjoy some of our ice cream.’ No one saw the situation as funny. And, everyone agreed that this would not be the right time to enjoy this product.

Inordinate caution

Another mistake advertisers make quite frequently is ‘holding back their horses’, in other words, running more ‘in-the-box’, less ambitious advertising in the Hispanic market. Hispanic consumers complain about this phenomenon all the time.

Why does this happen? Many reasons are cited. The one we hear most often from Hispanic agencies is that Hispanic production budgets are much lower than those allocated for the general market. But we all know that big budgets don’t always lead to great commercials nor do low budgets result in poor advertising.
There is another possible reason, however, for creating less-ambitious Hispanic ads – the idea that simplistic, innocuous commercials are good enough for the Hispanic market or even worse, that ‘out-of-the-box’ commercials do not appeal or are not understood by Hispanic consumers. How many times have we heard the phrase ‘Hispanics take everything literally’?

This is generally true in instances where the audience is looking for concrete information. It should not be used as an excuse, however, to lower standards in the Hispanic market. Less ambitious, more run-of-the-mill advertising falls short of achieving goals, especially with Hispanic teenagers and young adults who are bilingual and also watch American TV and tend to compare the Spanish with the English language ads.
For example, we tested some commercials for a sports drink that strongly appeals to Hispanic male teens and young adults. They complained that the Hispanic commercials for this product constantly showed young males like themselves playing different sports (basketball, soccer, baseball) in different venues (the park, the beach, the gym). These commercials may be new but they always come across as old and tired. These consumers couldn’t help comparing them with the general market commercials, which they described as cutting-edge. And the question remains: why does a leading-edge product use tired, run-of-the-mill commercials to attract its Hispanic target?

Unfortunately, the root of many of these marketing mistakes is the result of preconceived notions or impressions about ethnic markets. When it comes to the general market, no client expects its agency or researchers to be experts on Americans and the American way of life. Think for example what you would say as an American if someone asked you ‘What are Americans like?’ You probably wouldn’t even know where to start or what to say. The American market is not a static market. New things happen all the time and that’s why studies are conducted every day. You would never ask such a general question of your agency or researchers. Yet this question is asked every day of Hispanic agencies, consultants and primary researchers. What is odd is that there are people who answer this question, ignoring the fact that things are constantly changing in the Hispanic market as well.

Questions

1. How would you summarise the suggestions made by the author for avoiding the three pitfalls mentioned?

2. Regarding your own country, give some principles for avoiding cultural mistakes in situations similar to those described in the case.