Focused Content, Targeting and Research Key Elements to Hispanic Marketing

Delivering the opening keynote ay the Miami ad:tech Conference, SMG Multicultural CEO Monica Gadsby shared some findings regarding the Hispanic audience online. According to Gadsby, 19.5 million U.S. Hispanics are online, fifty percent view video (an index of 241 compared to the general market) , 70 percent of Hispanic women are online and Hispanics make up ten percent of all online users.

Gadsby addressed the full house audience and focused on three areas as they relate to Hispanic marketing: Content, Targeting and Research. Beginning with content, Gadsby cited the need for more content options for Hispanics. While Hispanic content has certainly increased, more is needed and it must be easier for Hispanics to access.

While it would have been very odd even just five years ago, Gadsby cited the prevalence of Spanish language content in mainstream television including Scrubs, Disparate Housewives and Ugly Betty.

For Miller Brewing, her agency created an online soccer game for Miller Lite directed at the Hispanic audience which, like many online games, wasn't all that special but was very successful with most users spending between 15 and 25 minutes with the game.

Leveraging the Hispanic audience's high usage of mobile, social media and video, Gadsby's SMG Multicultural created a teen-focused campaign for Cover Girl. The campaign incorporated a partnership with the band RBD and the full gamut of online media elements such as, in part, a branded MySpace page, tie-ins with music sites and a sweepstakes. The campaign was designed to be bilingual and provided the user to choose the language in which they wished to experience the elements of the campaign. this choice, according to Gadsby, played into Hispanics' shifting use of language depending upon their mindset.

In terms of targeting, Gadsby didn't say much other than to note AOL's acquisition of Tacoda which helped expand behavioral targeting to some Hispanic sites.

Regarding research, Gadsby urged research companies to dig deeper into the Hispanic market and provide more stable, reliable research. There are companies, such as BIGresearch and Experian, already providing some research but Gadsby says pressure needs to be put on the big guys such as Nielsen and comScore to get a bit more into the game. Agencies need to ask for it and publishers need to push for it.

At the end of the keynote in answer to a question posed by ad:tech Chair Drew Ianni who cited his own experience working on a $320 million Cingular budget of which none was allocated to Hispanic efforts, Gadsby said patience is required when finding and convincing those with budget control to reallocate budget. Rather than assuming Hispanic agencies or digital agencies are the place to go, Gadsby advocated identifying Hispanic marketers and those who control their budgets no matter where they work. It sounds simple but many assume the only place to access Hispanic budgets is whithin Hispanic agencies which according to Gadsby, is not a good assumption.