#4- Do you speak my language?
We continue our blog on Five Reasons for Higher Ad Recall Among Hispanics.
What do Budweiser, Bounty and McDonald’s have in common? They have all successfully reached the Hispanic market with Spanish language print, radio and television ads.
Spanish primetime advertisement spots reach over half the Hispanic population ages 18-49, while English ads only reach 40%.1 Deciding to advertise in a particular language involves more than simply translating copy. When done right, Spanish language ads produce 30% higher recall among Hispanics.
Why?
4. Language says something about your brand and its personality
What says more about your brand than the language you are using to communicate your message? When advertising to the multicultural or bilingual population, don’t just pick a language. For instance, for commercials running in the states, do not just put the language in English so that the spot is relevant to the general market as well. If you are targeting the Hispanic market, then aim for them—but keep in mind, the Hispanic market, although a minority market, stands as the largest minority market in the United States; they have different levels of acculturation, and with more acculturation comes a higher response from English language ads. So, when picking language, decide if you want to target the acculturated or unacculturated Hispanic market. From there, advertisers can naturally make language choices.
When the McDonald’s “She is Mine” commercial originally aired in the United States, the quick service restaurant corporation aimed at acculturated Hispanics with cross-over appeal to the general market. Della De Lafuente writes in Ad Week that the actress was a Latina, the music used was “vaguely Latin and all the characters [were] dark-haired[.] The setting could be any global city and the character a range of ethnicities.”4 Therefore, despite the use of English in the ad, when speaking to acculturated Hispanics, the commercial successfully resonated with the Hispanic target. Because the ad was culturally relevant (incorporating one of the four F’s), the ad was eventually transculturated into Spanish and used in Latin America. 4
Stay tuned for Higher Ad Recall among Hispanics #5 in a future blog.
Sources:
1. “Hispanics View TV in Language Used at Home.” (2011, Apr. 20). Marketing Charts. Retrieved from http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/hispanics-view-tv-in-language-used-at-home-17130/
4. De Lafuente, Della. (2008, Aug. 11). “Crossing Over: as Borders Blur and Cultural Mainstreaming Takes Over, Spanish-Language Ads Made in the U.S. can Increasingly Play in Latin America.” AdWeek. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.vapld.info/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA183043795&v=2.1&u=vapl_main&it=r&p=GRGM&sw=w
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