Reaching English-preferred Hispanics Across Multiple Screens

There was a lot of buzz around mobile marketing at Hispanic Retail 360, sponsored by Stagnito Media. Hispanics over index in smartphone usage and consumption of digital content, which is great news for marketers in general, but raises questions about how to specifically target consumers, in what language and with what messages. These were also topics covered in a conference session, “Reaching English-preferred Hispanics Across Multiple Screens.”

According to panelist Brett Dennis, chief media communications officer of Latino agency Conill, success has resulted from customizing creative for a given audience. He shared an example of work done for Toyota, a brand that ranks high with Hispanics. The company’s English-language message was of reliability and safety, where the Spanish creative was more about the excitement of the brand. Dennis participated in a panel discussion around Reaching English-preferred Hispanics Across Multiple Screens.

“We want to deliver messages in a relevant way,” says Dennis. “Consumers don’t live in one world.” Hispanics consider themselves as much American as country of origin, he says, and messaging should respect that.

Lung Huang, VP of digital advertising, global partnerships, Dunnhumby, works with The Kroger Co. to make the most of the grocery retailer’s loyalty program. “We work to create an emotional connection with (Kroger’s) consumers,” he says. “We’re trying to get the right message to the right person in the right place.” The company is able to cull a tremendous amount of information from loyalty programs, and is able to reward the best customers with coupons on items they purchase regularly. But, he says, where it used to take three to five marketing messages, such as POS and store fliers, it now can take seven to 10, from direct mail to digital.

According to Rob Da Silva, SVP, Ipsos MediaCT, Hispanic millennials consume a tremendous amount of media per day. It’s common for this generation of 19-to-35-year-olds to have three screens in front of them, including a laptop, a smartphone and a TV. In terms of media consumption, he says, “their day is more like 34 hours than 24 hours.”

Through various mediums, marketers have more access to consumers than ever before. Further, they have more information on consumers and their preferences and behavior than ever before. But, panelists agree, it’s as important to know the “why” as it is to know the “what." And that is the crux of the challenge.

At the end of the day, says Dunnhumby’s Huang, “companies like customers, not data…. [At Dunnhumby] we look at 9 terabytes of transaction data every day. And it will continue to grow because we’re able to capture more and more. But we want the insights. We want the one-to-one media plan, rather than focusing on the 35-to-54-year-old woman who eats yogurt.”