Juan Tornoe

Fox Plans Spanish-Language Network

Today I had a chance to share my two cents on MundoFox on NPR's All Things Considered.

 

A Big thank you to Elizabeth Blair for the opportunity.

New Apple Product for Latinos: the iNo.

As in "iNo me diga" or "iNo se me había ocurrido" or "iNo quise decir eso" :-P

Providing Access to Your Website's Spanish Language Content in a Subtle, yet Relevant Way

We have been working on a way to clearly, but un-intrusively, provide access to our client's online Spanish content. The "En Español" button or hyperlink is simply boring (and it disenfranchises a percentage of the site's visitors), the Flag - be it from Spain or Mexico - even though helpful, to a certain degree leaves out people from other nationalities/heritages.

So in this new world where Social Media is pervasive, we found a way to "stand in giant's shoulders" and take advantage of the ever-present icons leading people to a company's social media pages: Sneaking in between the facebooks and twitters of the world a little icon with a simple "ñ" - enie. If in doubt of what it means, whenever someone hovers over it, a little text message appears which reads "En Español". Click and estarás en el contenido en español del sitio web.

Yes, the "ñ" is not exclusively used in Spanish but it has become a symbol that universally represents it.

Check our the unveiling of the Eñe Icon at our client's site: http://www.finishatut.org/ , The University of Texas System's new online bachelor's degree completion program.

Internet Gold Rush

Thanks to Latino Magazine for including my "dos centavos" on an article on their latest issue!

Internet Gold Rush
By Kathy Adams

Whether the Latino niche sites will survive is a matter of how unique and relevant they can be, said Juan Tornoe, founder of Hispanic Trending, a blog that tracks trends in Latino marketing and advertising.

“I think that they have to be something that is really, truly relevant, something that is not out there or not being offered by anyone in a better way,” he said. “Because just me going out there and saying, ‘Hey, I’m a Latino site, buy from me or read from me,” it’s not enough. You have to truly step out from the crowd.”

For example, “Why would Latinos subscribe to a Latino-only social networking site when they can use Facebook?” Tornoe asked. And Latinos don’t add the word Latino to their searches online, so Latino-centric sites have to feature content that will pop up in their results organically. “You have to really, truly be able to provide a product, a service, an experience that is not obviously Latino but takes into consideration the wants and needs of the Latino community,” Tornoe said.

While enthusiastic about their cause and optimistic about their viability, it’s too soon to tell which sites will succeed, especially for those still in the startup phase. Sites such as Descuento Libre may have a hard time being unique enough to compete, Tornoe said. Some have already dissolved, but sites such as NewsTaco seem compelling enough to endure.

“I think some of the big spur of Latino-centric sites will begin to fade,” [Tornoe] said. “The ones that have the stamina, have the staying power both emotionally and [financially] and are offering a needed product or service or source of information, they will remain.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Benetton: ¿Publicidad desesperada?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts on CNN en Español on Benneton's most recent campaign:

 

The Subtleties Of Marketing Beer To Latinos

October 10, 2011
by Elizabeth Blair


Any industry looking for major growth in the U.S. market can't ignore Latinos, who make up 16 percent of the U.S. population. As the Latino population grows, beer marketers are trying more nuanced ways of influencing this key segment.

"They love beer," says Jim Sabia, chief marketing officer for Crown Imports, which distributes Mexican beers including Corona and Modelo. "Hispanics are 19 percent more likely to purchase beer than the rest of U.S. consumers." On top of that, Hispanics will make up a large portion of the legal drinking age population in the future.

Mexican brands would seem to have a leg up with the Latino market. But Bud Light is their No. 1 beer of choice. Corona is No. 2. For the most part, the way all of the brands have tried to reach Latinos is through Spanish TV and radio, sponsorships of Major League Soccer events and concerts.

Juan Tornoe — whose favorite Mexican beer is Pacifico — is a marketing consultant based in Austin, Texas. Originally from Guatemala, he's watched the beer industry court Latinos for years, with mixed success. He points to a Corona campaign from 2008 called "Nuestro orgullo. Nuestra cerveza," or "Our pride. Our beer." Tornoe says it backfired.

"It makes sense for Mexicans, which is the largest percentage of Latinos living in the U.S., but if you're Puerto Rican or Salvadoran or Colombian, you're like, 'That's not my beer,'" he says.

Tornoe says it's important for advertisers to be aware of certain general cultural characteristics. "But don't overdo it. You don't have to make the culture the center of the show or be the spotlight of your ad," he says.

To reach bicultural Latinos, Tornoe tells his clients to treat them like you would the general U.S. market but give them subtle touchstones they might appreciate. He says Bud Light got it right with the 2007 Super Bowl commercials featuring comedian Carlos Mencia.

In one ad Mencia teaches a class of non-native English speakers from all over the world how to ask for a Bud Light. Tornoe says the commercials work because they're funny and because Latinos relate to Mencia "as a fellow Hispanic and relate to the experience of learning English." Also, they aired during the Super Bowl.

"It basically tells you, 'You understand that I am not glued to Spanish language TV all the time and I am not glued to soccer but that I actually enjoy watching the Super Bowl,'" Tornoe says.

The Latino population in the U.S. is so diverse, Sabia says, that it's broken into groups, and not necessarily by nationality. "We segment them by their attitudes as well as demographics," Sabia says. The segment names include "life indulgers" for Corona drinkers and "proud traditionalists" for Victoria.

Generational differences have influenced commercials for the Mexican beer Tecate, which is imported by Heineken. Felix Palau, vice president for Tecate's multicultural marketing, says until recently, the company's ads targeted only first-generation Mexicans, whom he calls the "newcomers."

"A consumer that has to work three jobs, who sends most of his earnings home to his family in Mexico. He's had a tough life," Palau says.

But he says many second- and third-generation Latinos would not relate to those ads. So now, instead of showing Latinos working at a restaurant, for example, the ads show them eating there. Palau says these ads show "a much more joyful, celebratory slice of life."

Source: NPR's Morning Edition

Hispanical Incorrectness

Hispanical Incorrectness /hiˈspanikəl_ˌinkəˈrektnis/ : The inappropriate use of language, ideas, policies, and behavior resulting in an offense to the Latino community as a whole or to an individual Hispanic.

Latinos, Cars, and Ford Motor Company

An interview with John Felice, General Manager Ford Lincoln Marketing

By Juan Tornoe

Through my good friend Alvaro Cabal, I had the opportunity to connect with John Felice last week. As mentioned above, John is the man at the wheel – pun intended – of all marketing efforts for Ford. He was kind enough to share with me many interesting insights on what’s going on in the industry, and specifically at Ford in regards to the Hispanic consumer and his company’s efforts to establish a strong relationship with Latinos.

Enjoy…

Juan Tornoe: Over the last year auto sales volume growth among Hispanics has over indexed in comparison to the General Market. What has Ford specifically experienced regarding Latino auto purchases?

John Felice: According to the data we have through June 2011, the Hispanic auto market is growing and recovering faster than its general market counterpart. Specifically, the Hispanic market has increased 23.8% and the general market has increased 17.5%

Year over year Ford’s Hispanic car mix has increased +6.0 ppts, 32% to 38%. Hispanics are back buying vehicles and looking for full efficient small cars with great design and features that complement their lifestyle. Ford Focus and Ford Fiesta are hitting that sweet spot.

If I was to pick a strategic priority for us, the one thing we could do better and put more emphasis on is growing our relationship and customer base with the Hispanic consumer.

It is time to raise awareness about the importance of the Hispanic consumer, because now Ford has a wider vehicle portfolio, beyond the trucks and crossovers; now we are right in the process of launching world-class small cars and crossovers. That gives us a great opportunity to have the right products at the right time for the Hispanic consumer.

Interestingly enough, each year we get our dealers together from around the country, and next week they are going to be here in Dearborn for our annual dealer meeting, and as the marketing guy, one of the few things I am talking about is the importance of the Hispanic market for them and their business. That’s how important it is to us.

JT: Could you share with us the themes that you will be covering during that meeting?

JF: We want to make sure that all the dealers are aware of the growth and importance of the Hispanic market, so we will be sharing some of the demographic trends, some of the industry trends – which I just mentioned. Also, we’ll share some hopefully eye-opening statistics around recent Census data showing the distribution of the Hispanic market; because people usually think of California, Texas and Florida, buy you look at the growth and it is everywhere in the U.S.! It’s not just a regional opportunity. Then we will be sharing them some of the marketing platforms that we have to improve our marketing to Hispanics. Things like increasing efforts in our Tier 2 (our Dealer Association), that is, working with our dealers collectively in our advertising to dedicate more resources to the Hispanic Consumer. We will also talk about some of our other very successful platforms, like Drive One 4UR School, which is a very successful community base program that we’ve had for many years, where the local dealer partners with the school and they set up a test drive event at the school property, and for every test drive there is a donation made to the school. Then the dealer gets to go to the school to support one of their sports teams or a building project, presenting them with a check for $4 or $5 thousand. It is a great win-win program because we get people exposed to our products and we get to give back to the local community. This year we have done these specifically targeting areas with high-density Hispanic populations, having all the language and making sure we have bilingual staff present. We are going to be expanding this effort going forward. Then we will talk specifically about them, about their staffing in their dealerships; do the local dealership’s sales and service teams reflect the community. 


JT: I understand that not only Latino auto purchases are increasing, but also there is a shift in the types of vehicles they are buying… Tell me what has Ford seen on this regard.

JF: A couple things we are seeing is a continued shift in segment preference, obviously Trucks and SUV’s have always been an important segment for the Hispanic market, but we are seeing more and more buyers – and this have been a trend over the last 10 years – shifting to smaller cars. That may be driven a lot by fuel efficiency or the makeup of the industry, but it is one of the trends we are seeing, especially towards the C Segment (like the Ford Focus or the Honda Civic) or the CD segment (like the Ford Fusion or the Toyota Camry), small and mid-sized cars.


JT: What are the main reasons Hispanics are migrating towards small cars, as you mentioned earlier?

JF: We have seen the same trend in the general market; in recent times fuel efficiency is so much more important, as gas prices have risen from $2 per gallon to $3 or $4 per gallon. The economic elements of that have given consumers the motivation to think about other alternatives. Do they really need the capability of a big SUV or can they have a car instead? The other systemic issue in the industry is that traditionally in the U.S., small cars have been “cheap and cheerful”, haven’t been with the latest technologies and features and all the things that consumers – both Hispanic and general market – want in a vehicle. This has quickly changed. For example, the new Ford Focus has all the latest technologies, has best in class fuel economy, the MyFord Touch and SYNC Technologies, Active Park Assist where you can literally take your hands off the wheel and the vehicle will parallel park itself, just by using the gas and break pedals. That is technology that you would only find in luxury cars before!

So again, the two big trends or key drivers would be the strength of the product offering in smaller vehicles and fuel efficiency.

We feel we are in a very good position to be in the right place at the right time with a product portfolio for the Hispanic consumer.


JT: What has Ford specifically done through their marketing efforts to connect with the Latino consumer?

JF: Part of it is having a dedicated Latino agency – Zubi Advertising – that works with us to be relevant to the Hispanic consumer, so we try to tailor our marketing messages specifically. It is a very important part of our marketing strategy to make sure that we are relevant and bilingual in our marketing communications. Also, we are very specific in tailoring our creative and other marketing assets to resonate with the Latino consumer; we get a lot of help from Zubi on that and that won’t change.

But, as I mentioned before, something that will be a specific point of discussion during our dealer meeting, is our engagement with our retailers and getting them more active.  I believe that is it very important to us to reach the Latino consumer at the community level. This is done through people and marketing platforms. If you take a very successful platform, like Drive One 4UR School and make it relevant, through having the right language capabilities and everything else, it can really help you connect with the Latino community. So we are evaluating our internal programs to do that.

We have three forms of auto advertising here in the U.S. We have Tier 1 or The Factory – my advertising, Tier 2 or dealer associations, and then we have Tier 3, which is your local dealer advertising. We have always had a Hispanic effort at the Tier 1 level; we are greatly expanding our Tier 2 advertising through various initiatives in Latino advertising; and the next step is to work with our retailers to not only advertise but to work to better meld into the fabric of the Latino community. Those are some of the things that we will be talking about in the meeting next week.

JT: Are there any media outlets that have you notice working better for Ford in reaching out to Latinos?

JF: We use several of the traditional media outlets – TV, radio & print – that have been utilized to reach out to Hispanics, but we have also found success away from traditional media in more experiential events where you interact with the Latino community vs. just trying to run advertising on various dedicated media.

Digital has also been a very successful media; with penetration in social media outlets such as twitter and facebook. We just opened our new facebook “Ford en Español” page; it is in a soft launch, so it is not officially out there, but it is coming up. Also, through Zubi, our Hispanic marketing team, we are working online with AOL, Univision, and Terra; the have been really successful platforms for us. We launched a very successful program for the Ford Fiesta called, “Ready pa’ tu Mundo” (ready for your world), which included a feature called a Slider, where you go from full Spanish, into Spanglish, or full English. 

JT: Anything else you would like to ad?
 
JF: I want to emphasize my personal passion to raise our awareness and market presence with the Hispanic Consumer. It is to me a tremendous strategic opportunity to Ford Motor Company; we have the right products at the right time.  

Note: Interview conducted on September 23, 2011

Census Hispanic

Census Hispanic: /ˈsensəs_hiˈspanik/ (Noun) An individual who claims having Latino ethnicity, based on the Census’ definition of, “Hispanic is anyone who says they are”.

Latindoctrinate

Latindoctrinate /ˈlatəˌinˈdäktrəˌnāt/: (Verb) To teach someone the fundamentals, ideas, attitudes, customs, behavioral characteristics, history, and social institutions of Hispanic culture as well as Latino achievements throughout time.

On Lowes.com in Spanish

By Juan Tornoe

I remember back in May 2009 – “Medieval Times” it seems with the way the web is developing, the closing of The Home Depot’s Spanish website took me by surprise. They really had no online competitors back then; Lowe’s “En Español’s” site wasn’t more than a colorful placeholder. Still, The Home Depot made the tough decision to bring the site down and it has stick to its guns up to this day.

August 17th, 2011… Right there in my inbox: Lowe’s launches Lowes.com en Español. No, they didn’t just update their old site, or added a couple more pages in Spanish; they did not hold anything back! This is what I call a comprehensive site; check it out for yourself. Anything and everything you need/want to find in Cervante’s tongue is there – well, not in the Castilian of that time, but you get the idea. From information, to buying online, all the way to a great do-it-yourself section called “Ideas Creativas”. You can tell I’m impressed.

Their press release quotes Gihad Jawhar, Lowe’es vice president of Lowes.com saying, “Our No. 1 priority at Lowe's is to ensure our customers have the best possible experience shopping with us, whether they plan a project with our employees in the aisles of their local store or at home through our online tools and services. Providing a Spanish language option on Lowes.com is a natural next step as our website develops to provide improved customer service.”

All this information was intriguing enough to make me reach out to Lowe’s and engage in an email exchange with their spokesperson, Sarah-Frances Wallace. Out of those messages came the following Q&A, which I am pleased to share with y’all:

Juan Tornoe: How was the process to come with the decision to launch a full-fledged Spanish site?

Sarah-Frances Wallace: Our top priority is meeting the needs of our customers and making sure they have a pleasant shopping experience in store and online.  The decision to offer Lowes.com in Spanish came to fruition as we listened and responded to the needs of our Hispanic customers, who told us they needed the right tools and resources so they are able to find exactly what they need easily and wherever they choose to shop with Lowe’s.  And as our Hispanic customer base continues to grow, we will evaluate other opportunities that allow Lowe’s to better communicate with our Hispanic customers and offer them a positive, welcoming shopping experience in our stores and online.
 
JT: What are your goals for the e-commerce side of it?

SFW: Grow awareness of the Lowe’s brand among Hispanic consumers by providing them the right tools and resources in Spanish needed to inspire them and help them identify the products and services they need to continuously improve their home.
 
JT: What did you think about Home Depot's decision a while back to close their US Spanish site? Did this influence your decision?

SFW: We won’t speculate on the decisions of Home Depot. But we are confident this is the right decision to meet the needs of our customers and make sure they have a pleasant shopping experience in store and online.  We’ve been offering in-store signage in Spanish for our customers for a long time now. So, offering our Web site in Spanish is a natural extension of the welcoming, accessible environment we provide to our Hispanic customers in store. We’re proud to now have a Spanish site available so our Hispanic customers’ experience is seamless whether they are in our stores or shopping from their home computer.

JT: How are you promoting the site amongst Spanish Speakers?

SFW: We’ve spread the word about Lowes.com en Español through print, broadcast, radio and digital advertising.
 
We’re also currently offering a $10 of $50 project starter for the first 150,000 customers who register with the site. Visit Lowes.com/español and register today to get your project starter and check out the site.
 
Our La Cancha Lowe’s mobile tour will also be promoting the site. Lowe’s started the La Cancha Lowe’s Fan Experience tour in 2007.  La Cancha Lowe’s is a traveling mobile rig where customers can interact with the Lowe’s brand at select soccer and cultural events throughout the US. In 2011, the La Cancha Lowe’s will travel over 40,000 miles to some of the nation’s largest soccer (World Football Challenge) and Hispanic cultural events (Cinco de Mayo, Fiestas Patrias, Festival Telemundo).
 
LowesCreativeIdeas.com also launched in Spanish. Customers can access the Spanish language content by visiting www.LowesCreativeIdeas.com/espanol. Lowe’s Creative Ideas offers inspiration to first-time homeowners and savvy DIYers alike. Ideas Creativas de Lowe’s will launch in print this September in collaboration with Siempre Mujer magazine, followed by a Holiday 2011 edition.

JT: What reactions have you received from customers & the industry?

SFW: The site is still very new and we are currently gauging the response from our consumers so we can continue to adapt and improve the site to meet their home improvement needs.

 

It seems to me that Lowe’s is in it for the long run. I’ll be keeping an eye on the site and so should you.

Featured on About.com Hispanos

Thank you to Susana Baumann from About.com for the feature and inteview on their Hispanos section.

US Beer Brands Tap Into Growing Hispanic Market

I was recently interviewed by England's LifeStyle News Global, again addressing Beer brands reaching out to Latinos. Here is what they published:

 
Thanks a million Peter!

Dallas Morning News: Hispanic Consumers Gain Clout

Today, I was quoted on the Business Section of the Dallas Morning News:

Thanks for your consideration Maria!

Brewers Go Courting Hispanics

Today I was quoted on the Wall Street Journal:

The main challenge brewers will face in wooing Hispanics is creating ads that feel authentic to them, says Juan Tornoe, a partner with Cultural Strategies Inc., an Austin, Texas, firm that specializes in multicultural marketing. The quality of beer ads aimed at Hispanics has varied widely over the years, he says.

In 2004, the Mexican import Tecate touched off a controversy with a billboard that showed a bottle of the brew with the tagline, "Finally, a Cold Latina." Tecate, then imported by a Belgian-Mexican venture, pulled the ad after some Hispanic consumers complained it branded all Latin women as hot-blooded sex symbols. "The most important thing to do is not stereotype and to take into consideration the culture," says Mr. Tornoe.

 

A big thank you to David Kesmodel!