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By: Héctor Hereter *
Special for New England’s Hispanic Market Report
Published on 09/15/04
"Let’s translate it and be done with it", said a Marketing VP during a long
and exhausting strategy meeting about launching a new advertising/public
relations campaign in 23 Latin American countries. That executive didn’t
last long in that position.
Sensitivity, I think is the most important element in any advertising/marketing/public
relations effort conducted by any big corporation trying to seduce the
United States’ Spanish speaking population or those living in Latin America.
Let’s start by the very same word of Hispanic. This concept describes very
poorly, a group of people whose only common trait is their language, but
with huge historical and cultural differences. If you travel from North to
South, starting in Mexico and ending in the Patagonia, you will not hear
anyone describing himself as "Hispanic". You will hear "I am Venezuelan,
Colombian, Argentinean or Chilean" as you travel from country to country.
One word of advise: never address a Chilean as Argentinean, a Colombian as a
Venezuelan, a Cuban as a Mexican or a Puertorrican as somebody from the
Dominican Republic, they will be very much offended.
Furthermore, the word has a strong colonial reference to Spain, and it would
be the same as if Latinos refer to Americans as Englishry. But I think that
for now we have to settle for this word or the other alternative of Latinos.
More than a melting pot, "Hispanics" are a salad made up by many fresh
vegetables which, although sharing the same pot, preserve their very own
identity and substance. So when choosing the right American dressing, South
American salsa, Caribbean "mojito" or Mexican "chile con carne" to spruce it
up, you must bear in mind those differences.
Well-established "Hispanic-Latino" corporations in the United States also
face big challenges in reaching the different segments comprising the 38.8 (millions)
Spanish-speaking people living in the U.S. mainland. Univision’s morning
program "Despierta América", an equivalent of "Good Morning America", goes
to great length to please each and every sector. They tailor their segments
depending on the regions they want to reach: if Miami, mostly Cuban or
Caribbean; West Coast, Mexican or Central American; and the North East,
Puerto Rican or Dominican Republic. They even have a list of words that may
be acceptable in one place and have a horrible connotation in other, so they
must be avoided at all times by their commentators.
So translating is not the best strategy for getting Hispanic’s attention,
maybe you will get it but not as you had hoped to.
Although marketing figures and research are a big help, understanding the
U.S. Hispanic population goes beyond that. Like any other culture – whether
African American, Anglo American or Latin American – they respond to
specific icons and messages. When designing a strategy you must be aware of
the intangibles that must be included. So the Public Relations specialist in
the field becomes an intricate part of that strategy.
At the end of every Cultural Sensitivity Training I perform for top
executives being appointed to a Latin American country, I suggest reading
the works of renown authors such as Rómulo Gallegos, René Márquez, Gabriel
García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes and Octavio Paz. After
navigating through these books the reader develops a natural instinct for
choosing the right salsa or "chile con carne". In the same token we "Hispanics"
should read Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, William Faulkner, John Dos Passos
or Ernest Hemingway to develop a feel for mainstream America, so we won’t
confuse pancakes with tortillas and end up sprinkling them with "pico de
gallo".
Héctor Héreter is an independent Public Relations/Affairs consultant with an
extensive experience in global affairs, particularly those concerning Latin
America and the U.S. Hispanic market. As a journalist he worked for several
main newspapers in South America. As a Public Relations professional he had
consulted 100 Fortune companies with interests in the U.S. Hispanic Market
and/or Latin America, among those Mobil, American Airlines and Anheuser-Busch.
Hereter is well versed in the complexities of structuring culturally
oriented Public Relations efforts, handling a wide range of assignments that
include media relations, crisis management, financial and political
assessments and media training.
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