Spanish Language Media: Finally relevant?

The Obamas’ twin appearances on “Piolín por la Mañana,” heard across the country on Univision Radio, are a testament to the ballooning political power of the Spanish language news media, and in particular to the power of Univision, which owns the biggest Spanish-language television and radio outlets in the United States.

Do good, kiss and Makeup!

While I was growing up my sisters and I, like most young Hispanic girls, loved and adored makeup. But I noticed many of my Latina lady friends wore a lot of it. That I did not like. That is why Covergirl ads always appealed to me. I like how the ladies on the ads always seemed so fresh-faced, not over done, and sweet. That same brand has been trying to connect with Hispanic women more and more each year. Today the brand announced a charitable partnership between its Clean brand of makeup and the Children's Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) program, an organization dedicated to addressing the critical, global need for clean, safe drinking water.

Even cooler is that this past September, actor Dania Ramirez (X-Men,Hereos) the newest spokesmodel for COVERGIRL, returned to her native Dominican Republic to help deliver a year's supply of clean drinking water to villages in need as part of the Campaign. I personally love Dominican Republic. It is a gorgeous country. I was there a few months ago and the people were extremely friendly. The contrast between the luxury hotel we were staying at and the rundown streets a few blocks down was so sad.

"I was thrilled to be back in my home country to help COVERGIRL deliver clean drinking water," said Dania. "I know firsthand that a shortage of safe drinking water can be a matter of life or death. When I was growing up, at times we had to boil our water before drinking it so we didn't get sick or worse. That's why I'm so proud to be part of [this campaign] and to help save lives in my home country and other areas of need.”

In the Dominican Republic, Dania and the COVERGIRL team joined forces with CSDW and Population Services International (PSI), an organization that works in partnership with CSDW across Latin America and helped facilitate the delivery of clean drinking water in the Dominican Republic for the COVERGIRL Clean Makeup for Clean Water Campaign.

Pet Supply Retailers Spanish-Language Ad Spending

Meet my two babies:
Sofia (gray) and Charlie ( black & white)
These spolied-brats control my life.

Last time I visited Peru, I noticed pet-ownership had become more popular; some dogs even appeared better dressed than their owners. But only in my recent visits, have I noticed specialized pet boutiques sprouting up on several street corners. That's not the case here in United States where chain pet suppliers are as popular as Wal-Marts.




Have you seen these pet stores? Raincoats and boots for my dogs? That's a little too extreme, even for a whooped owner like myself.

• Apparently, pet suppliers this year felt that investing in advertising campaigns aimed towards Hispanics was not a priority.
  
• In 2005, pet store chain advertising seen on Spanish-language media seemed to be at an all time high yet this year, spending shrank 75 percent.

In 2006, that amount shrank to $135,376. The remainder of Petsmart's budget - a mere $488 - went to local Spanish-language newspapers. ( source: HMW )

• The No. 4 advertiser is none other than Fort Lauderdale-based Pet Supermarket, who in 2005 devoted $34,200 of its dollars on Hispanic advertising. But this year, that number dropped to just $21,300. According to Nielsen, a vast majority of Pet Supermarkets can be found in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale designated market area ( DMA), but Nielsen cannot specifically pinpoint in what media Pet Supermarket spent its money. It is assumed it was spent on spanish-radio ( cheaper, & a lot of penetration is my guess).

In addition, Don Cowan, director of public relations for Petco, says the company does not do any national advertising, even for Hispanics. He says Petco has had some spanish ads but it's been awhile and the company is keeping a close-watch on Hispanic marketing needs.

Personally, I've never seen an ad about pets in Spanish, but Here's my idea:
Envision a grandmother over a stove cooking some arroz-con-pollo. Suddenly,

she looks around the room to make sure no one is watching her, grabs a spoonfool of food and throws it in the dog's bowl. Then, a Pet Supermarket representative pops-up and shows her the way to the store. Once there, abuela is amazed by the grand aisles stocked with a variety of food made specifically for dogs.

In case you were wondering, that little old lady would be my grandmother who I constantly have to reprimand. Whenever I find my dog vomiting after having spent an entire day with her, I know she didn't feed him Purina Puppy Chow.

Mister Cowan, if you need help with an ad, please feel free to contact me-I've got more where that came from.