Your one-stop shop for all things Latin/Hispanic/Mexican
Yeah, this was the image that gave Mr. Dieter Zetsche a big P.R. headache and forced him to apologize to the Cuban exile in Miami.
Turns out the head of Daimler’s Mercedes unit, didn’t stop to think that using the image of El Ché to peddle a luxury car was not going to sit well with many people … especially the Cuban exile in Miami, who think El Ché is pretty much the same as the diablo en persona.
Ah… the wonderful world of marketing!
Attention, non-Hispanic Americans: Are you afraid of being killed in Mexico? Mugged in Central America? Sickened by some deadly bug in Peru or killed by the chikungunya virus in the Caribbean?
Worry no more!
Thank your undocumented and documented Hispanic immigrants for the latest trend in U.S. tourism: Latin American cultural immersion trips in the confort of your own city!
Sí, señores! Latinos are a smart bunch, so we are using the very same neighborhoods we took away from gringos to lure them back, and invite them to get a taste of our fun, dance, food and drink-filled culture! (And no, you don’t need to get a passport, nor take a malaria pill or take a kidnap ransom insurance.)
You are welcome…
Dear friends, followers and supporters:
This blogger is hereby joining forces with Burro Hall to make a bid for the “valuable assets” of the soon-to-be-doomed Americans for [sic] Legal Immigration organization, which, as we sadly learned today, is heading towards bankruptcy.
Per an urgent bulletin (LOL) first posted on Burro Hall:
We are sorry to report that for the first time in our organization’s history, we have failed to reach our minimum operational expenses for our final funds drive of 2011. All things being equal, this would put us on a final shutdown date of January 1, 2011
So Whaddaya say?… Will you all chip in and help us buy at least that one? We promise you months of hilarious pro-illegal immigration postings!
The folks at CafeMom today announced new funding -and some editorial hires- for their upcoming blog Mamás Latinas. And while I am not a mom per se, I am certainly a Latina (and a very nosy at that) so I quickly went to the site and signed up to see what’s going on.
Alas, the Mamás Latinas will not be live for another couple of months, but I was happy to see their registration page was a happy mix of English, Spanish, Spanglish and even some un-PC language when it asks visitors to fill up their “tradition.” Are you Mexican? Guatemalteca? From “Sud América”? or are you simply an “Otra” or a “Gringa”?
Yikes! Thankfully my “tradition” is 100% Mexican so I had no problema checking my box.
Now I’m just going to sit patiently and wait for my Kmart / Sears-sponsored information.
When it comes to reaching Hispanics, marketers are a real creative bunch.
First came Procter & Gamble with its groundbreaking research concluding Hispanics love to smell. A little later, McDonald’s concocted the Big Mac wrapped in a flour tortilla and more recently StarKist regaled us the Hispanic-inspired tuna.
Not to be outdone, Kraft Foods now says it has figured out what would make my people buy more of their ‘mayonesa’…. Duh! Just put some lemon in the damn thing!
According to some very important marketing person at Kraft Foods:
“In Mexico, base mayo has lime juice in it, and often, Hispanics add even more lime juice themselves,” Karmen Conrad, a senior brand manager at Kraft Foods told the Houston Chronicle. “We wanted to offer an authentic mayonesa to the Hispanic population in the U.S.”
Thank you, Kraft!
I don’t know what I would have done with my Hispanic-inspired tuna without a Hispanic-specific mayonesa.
¡Gracias, gracias!
Mexico is soooo ahead of, like, everybody else, that our soccer teams are embracing the Twitter craze like there is no tomorrow.
Take the Jaguares de Chiapas, a professional fútbol team, which this week launched an unusual campaign, using its players’ Twitter handles instead of their full names on their jerseys.
“Conscious of the age we live in, where we can all stay in touch through the Internet without regard to distance, Jaguares launched a campaign and realized various activities linked to Twitter,” the club said on its website.
Of course none of this would make any sense without the back up of a marketing partner, in this case Cerveza Sol, which is also being feature as -what else?- @CervezaSol.
Marketing geniuses have given us culturally-relevant Hispanic cheese; deliciously weird tortilla-flavored chocolates, Mexican Coca-Cola and even a Hispanic lettuce. So it was really just a matter of time before somebody came up with a Hispanic tuna.
And that day, my friends, has finally arrived.
This blogger is happy to announce the launch of Auténtico, a “Hispanic-inspired canned tuna line” from the makers of non-Hispanic-inspired tuna StarKist.
According to a press release:
“Auténtico products blend StarKist tuna with bold spices such as red, chili and jalapeno peppers […]”
…because as everybody knows, Hispanics like spices and seem to put jalapeño everywhere.
¡Chunta-chunta-chunta-chún, vamos a comer atún!
Hat tip: HispanicTips
I have no idea, but I’m about to find out. So stay tuned for a full report Wednesday (or Thursday if the hangover turns out to be brutal and/or the owners decide to kick me out of there before the beer tasting begins.)
If you are going to get creative with your advertisement, and use the top of two beer bottles as substitute for the letter “h,” you might as well want to spell check your copy, so that winners will “receive” prizes and giveaways, instead of “receive” prizes and giveaways.
I’m just sayin’
1. Where in New York City can I drive that fast, with no traffic, nor traffic lights?
2. How did JLo manage to fit her gigantic derrière in that tiny little vehicle?
Anyone?
There is nothing more refreshing than spending some time with a 23-year-old U.S.-born Latino and hear his take on Hispanic media and marketing… Oh, and if such a 23-year-old is terribly good looking, well, all the better.
On Tuesday, I was lucky to moderate a panel featuring Mr. Canela and Post Foods senior director of marketing Tony Shurman.
The session focused on a Post Foods’ Hispanic marketing promotion featuring Mr. Canela as the spokesperson of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal.
When I asked Canela (a star of Telemundo telenovela Más sabe el diablo) about the content on Hispanic television, he simply said it isn’t “quite there yet.”
“Why do telenovelas have to be so… so… so… dramatic?” he asked.
And that was not all. While Shurman informed us the Jencarlos Canela campaign far exceeded the company expectations; the young kid said that was at least half the sales boost was owed to his mother.
“I got home and I was like, ‘Mom, what is this?’ There were cereal boxes all over the place…I asked her, ‘What are you going to do with all these cereal boxes?’
You gotta give it to corporate marketers for their continuing efforts to lure Hispanics to whatever it is they sell.
Take Southwest Airlines which is kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month by inviting everyone to come together on September 16th and sing Cielito lindo.
Yes, that is correct. On Friday, Sept. 16 Southwest flight attendants and crew will lead passengers in flight, at airport gates and airport ticket counters to join in and sing along. Per a press release sent out today by the airline’s Hispanic ad agency, Dieste:
“This is the way Southwest Airlines, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, found to show their respect and appreciation for the Hispanic community.”
I don’t know you, but this blogger will feel respected -and very much appreciated- if she were to get cheaper tickets and less stripping and frisking at the airports.
I’m just sayin’ ….
I just learned today that when Latinos and African-Americans travel we contribute to some huge, rapidly growing market known as “multicultural tourism.”
At least that is according to Kim Hunter, the CEO of Lagrant Communications, a P.R. and marketing firm. As Mr. Hunter informs us, “African-American and Hispanic traveling behaviors have steadily been on the rise.”
But that is not all. Some research (somewhere) also shows that:
“Hispanics were also willing to spend $71 billion in traveling.”
This, I guess, is mostly because when it comes to our vacation, we are a very willful bunch.
But if marketers really, really want to take advantage of such an important market, they’d better start by understanding that we do not travel like everybody else. No, señor: While both, African Americans and Hispanics want to go somewhere “they will be accepted,” African-Americans travel with their churches, while Hispanics travel with their children.
[I suppose this leaves non-Hispanic whites making the pilgrimage to Cancún, childless and mostly willing to get wasted on bad tequila shots.]
If you are in the advertising, or food marketing business, you’d better get acquainted with Ecuador’s singing sensation El Delfín, whose “Andean techno-folklore” style will help your next TV spot truly unforgettable.
Behold this advertising jewel via Maruri Grey, which –not surprisingly– has earned plenty of advertising awards in its native Ecuador.
I love it when marketers go out of their way to make their products relevant to us, Latinos.
Take Descuento Libre, which is already being coined as the “Latino Groupon” and offers all sorts of discounts, including deals in your next purchase of conchas at your local Mexican panadería, or on the admission to a Mexican dancing show.
Because really, what else can we possibly want to save on?
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