Archive for the ‘Case Studies’ category

‘The Numbers’ (Listen like the NBA: ¡Con Emoción! Part 2)

February 15th, 2012

Last week, we promised we would highlight the numbers from our “Listen Like the NBA: ¡Con Emoción!”story, as well as how the NBA’s Hispanic marketing group leverages social media in order to keep their fans in the know and excited about the season even during the recent National Basketball Association (NBA) lockout.

“Numbers were up during opening week this season. Hispanics tuned in, continuing to build on the year-to-year growth we’ve experienced since the launch of the campaign in 2009,” said NBA Vice President of Multicultural Marketing Saskia Sorrosa.

But how big is this growth exactly?

Last time we spoke, NBA Hispanic Marketing: “Social Media a Key Component of Our Strategy,” éne-bé-a had more than 248,000 fans on Facebook and 1,800 on Twitter. Today, they have nearly 310,000 fans (25 percent growth) on Facebook and 5,600 on Twitter (211 percent growth).

One would think growth like this is due to a heavy social media ad campaign, but to our surprise, it was not.

“The growth we’ve seen on our social media assets is mostly organic. We have TV, radio and online ads that drive viewers back to our enebea.com page, but we don’t buy ads on Facebook anymore,” Ms. Sorrosa explained. “One strategy we’re currently focusing on is heavily cross promoting our éne-bé-a pages with our general market [English-language] pages.”

Ms. Sorrosa explained that 12 percent of the NBA’s (English-language) Facebook and Twitter followers – more than 11 million likes and 3.8 million followers, respectively – are Hispanic. Cross promoting allows the team to push culturally relevant content among bicultural, bilingual fans across the NBA, and drive them back to éne-bé-a social media assets for customized engagement. She also shared with us that they are keeping many strategies they have been using for years, like their “blog squad, videos, and Q&A sessions.” Overall, they are now focusing on cross promotion through the multiple online channels where they know Hispanic fans are consuming, while allowing social media to serve as their primary engagement piece.

We examined how éne-bé-a has driven an increase of fan engagements from an average of 70 per post during the 2011 season, up to 85 engagements per Facebook post so far in 2012. Ms. Sorrosa attributes the growth to the fact that “the content we are providing is better, and we are cross promoting on our English-language social media pages where we know Hispanic fans are also following our game.”

Ms. Sorrosa enjoys seeing Facebook’s new “Talking About This” tracker as well as Facebook Shares, which is now a feature that appears on each post.

“These features are incredibly important. They allow us to track how many stories are going viral, being shared, and sparking conversations,” Ms. Sorrosa said. “Since we are learning more from our audience, we (the éne-bé-á) know what (fans) want to see.”

And without further ado, here are the numbers:

2011 Enebea Viewership Growth

Hispanic regular-season viewership was up 59 percent in 2010-11 in comparison to the previous season (vs. 27 percent growth in non-Hispanic viewership)

 

2012 Enebea Opening Week Viewership Growth

During Opening Week 2011-12, Hispanic viewership was up 26 percent on ABC, TNT, and ESPN, over-indexing in comparison to non-Hispanic viewership by 160 percent

Hispanic Pop. Growth vs Hispanic NBA Growth

Over the past three years, the growth of the NBA

enebea twitter follower growth

The enebea grew by an incredible 211% on their Twitter page since November of 2010

enebea facebook fan growth

The enebea Facebook page has experienced 25% growth since Nov 2010.

enebea facebook fan enagement

Facebook engagement has grown by 21% since last season, up to 85 engagements (likes, comments, or shares) per post.

Noche Latina Merchandise Sales

Sales of Noche Latina merchandise at NBAStore.com was up 104 percent in 2011 in comparison to the previous year

 

Missed last years review on the NBA’s Hispanic Marketing?

Read “NBA Hispanic Marketing: A look inside the éne•bé•a”

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Super Bowl XLVI Ads: Hispanics Are Talking

February 10th, 2012

With 111.3 million average viewers, and 114 million tuning in just for Madonna’s halftime performance, Super Bowl XLVI made its mark in Super Tazón (Spanish word for Super Bowl) history, breaking the previous viewing record. This has presented the largest audience for what the Super Tazón has become known for and what we all look forward to: the commercials. From Chevrolet to Doritos, many big brands came with their best this season, but a ringing topic is – Did ad makers forget to include minority viewers?

Using the online listening power tool Radian6, we researched a quantity of over 60,000 online mentions1 of brands that advertised during the Super Bowl to find which ones resonated most with Hispanics.  We analyzed conversations by Spanish dominant and bilingual Hispanics using sophisticated search method techniques, facilitated by the software.  By doing this we were able to capture not only the pure Spanish conversation, but also the English speaking Hispanics whom are increasingly important to brands in the US’s evolving American culture.

So lets dig into the numbers…

¿Tienes Hambre?  - Food Brands mentioned by Hispanics

Doritos led the food conversation among Hispanics during the Super Bowl. Most of the conversation took place on Twitter and the predominant language for this brand was Spanglish; “Doritos y dip no hay mejor combinación :-) ” (Eng: Doritos and dip, there is no better combination). In comparison, powerhouse brand, M&M’s, only held 1.7% volume of conversation versus 97.7% for Doritos when compared head to head. Dannon’s Oikos Greek Yogurt commercial made a dent, but only garnered 0.6% of the total Hispanic conversation among the 3 food brands.

 

Hispanic mentions of 3 food brands: Doritos, M&M’s and Oikos (Radian6 graphic)

 

Which Beverages did Hispanics chat about?

Moving forward in our Super Bowl Ads analysis, beverage giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi equally dominated the conversation with 47.8% and 47.3% respectively. Here are a few verbatim from the high volume of posts for the two soft drinks: “¿Qué le dijo un refresco de cola a otro? I´m pepsi and I know it” (Eng: What did a cola soft drink tell to another? I´m pepsi and I know it) and,  “Me gusta el comercial de coca cola #podemosserhéroes” (Eng: I like the coca cola comercial #podemosserhéroes).

Trailing behind, beer giant Budweiser and Bud light represented the least amount of conversations with less than 5% combined, as our research showed that Hispanics were more prone to chat about soft drinks than beer.  The two dominant conversation forums among Hispanics were Youtube and Twitter as Facebook did not play a significant role when engaging fans into conversations.  This is not uncommon as Facebook users typically have private settings which would not be seen in our research.

hispanic-2012-superbowl-conversation-beverage

Left: Percent of Hispanic beverage conversations by brand. Right: Conversation Cloud for Coca-Cola & Pepsi (Radian6 graphics).

So how do you think the carro industry was perceived by Hispanics?

Based on our analysis, two brands fully commanded Hispanic attention around the Super Bowl.  Cadillac came out on top with 36% of the total car conversation versus Chevy’s 34%.  For a report of all Hispanic mentions of car brands see the link to the full report below.

Let’s review how all the Chevy ads performed. The Sonic took the top spot at nearly 31% of all mentions among Chevy’s 4 commercials.  However, we can say that all four Chevy models, Volt, Camaro, Silverado and Sonic, shared a relatively equal amount of the Hispanic conversation.

hispanic-2012-superbowl-conversation-cars

Left: Car industry conversations. Right: Chevy's conversations by model (Radian6 graphics).

 

What about Latinas?

Let’s not take for granted the millions of female viewers. H&M presented “a muy caliente” commercial with David Beckham sporting his new underwear line, which had near 100% positive sentiment among Hispanic “chicas”: Que hombre chauuuuu OFFICIAL David Beckham Bodywear…(Eng: What a man byeeee OFFICIAL David Beckham Bodywear…

Surprised by these findings? Not me!

Also, let’s not forget the New York Giant’s Victor Cruz, who proves to be a favorite amongst Hispanics online, especially his end-zone salsa with the Latinas sharing comments of support.

hispanic-2012-superbowl-conversation-latinas

Left: Conversation Cloud for Victor Cruz. Right: Tweet mentions for Victor Cruz (Radian6 graphics).

Your Thoughts

I would love to hear your opinion about all the Super Bowl Ads. Do you believe that Hispanics and other minority groups were ignored?  What no one can ignore is the fact that Hispanics are not only very active online, but also very eager to share their views about these large brands.

Want the Full Report?

Due to size restrictions, we only put several of the highlights of the report on this blog.  If you would like the full report please provide your information below and you will receive it by email.

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1 Online mentions gathered from dates 2/3/2012 – 2/6/2012

 

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Listen like the NBA: ¡Con Emoción! (Part 1 of 2)

January 30th, 2012

Emoción

The National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Hispanic platform, éne-bé-a, which we featured in a two-part series last season, is off to a fast start. With growth numbers almost unrealistic to any brand, the éne-bé-a’s key to their organic social media growth is being a great listener.

The éne-bé-a’s new “Emoción” campaign was born directly from listening to their fans, according to NBA Vice President of Multicultural Marketing Saskia Sorrosa. With this effort the NBA is taking their reach to Hispanic audiences to the next level.

Captivated by the emotion Latinos brings to the game, the éne-bé-a team, with the help of their Hispanic ad agency, Bromley Communications, is aggressively going after this audience. And they are very proud of the outcome from the “Emoción” campaign, in particular their TV and radio creative, which is an extension of their successful “Pobre Garganta” campaign from the 2011 NBA Playoffs.

“The campaign did well during the time it ran. Fans embraced it, and more importantly, identified with it,” Ms. Sorrosa said. “It highlighted the passion that Latinos bring to our game in a dramatic way and used a popular song by Coldplay that connected with both Hispanic and non-Hispanic fans to make the spot universally appealing.”

Check out the éne-bé-a’s commercial featuring Coldplay’s hit song “Paradise” below.

 

Growing During the Lockout

If you don’t follow sports, you may not have been aware that the NBA had a near season-ending, 161-day lock-out this summer/fall/early winter. It affected many fans, cities, players and businesses, but the éne-bé-a team did not give up on their drive to communicate with their die-hard fans.

“Fans were engaged and ready to tip off the new season,” Ms. Sorrosa said. “We ended 2010-11 on a high note, with viewership and attendance numbers significantly up from previous years. The intensity of competition, athleticism and exciting play from 2010-11 built up a lot of expectations, and that momentum followed through during opening week this year.”

Such positive outcomes are not pure luck; the team worked around the clock monitoring conversations to make sure they kept their audience’s interest and passion at the forefront of their strategy. Indeed, their ‘emoción’ campaign and the use of social media with cross promotion had much to do with their success.

“Our éne-bé-a Facebook page and Twitter feeds were an important resource for us to connect with our fans during the lockout.” Ms. Sorrosa said. “It allowed us to understand the general sentiment among fans, continue our engagement, and communicate relevant information in a timely manner. Our social media team also developed a @nba_labor Twitter feed, with official news from the NBA that focused on providing accurate information and updates on the state of CBA negotiations. This feed was especially important for media, including our Hispanic media, to ensure the news that was reported was accurate and up-to-date.”

The éne-bé-a page posting highlights from what is regarded as one of the best slam dunk competitions of all times

The éne-bé-a page posted highlights from past seasons during the lockout, such as this one from what is regarded as one of the best slam dunk competitions of all times

Interestingly enough, the NBA used a mixed media strategy to keep people ‘emocionados.’ They ran classic games and series on NBA TV, and then engaged fans online through social media as a reminder of why they loved the game to begin with. This worked to remind their audience ‘de los buenos tiempos’ (“the good ol’ days”) and of the greatness of the game, then and now.

“‘Fans loved reliving some of the best moments in the NBA,” Ms. Sorrosa shared. “Fans remembered the plays and commented about the matchups on our social media assets. It generated excitement, sparked conversation, and built anticipation for the new season to start.”

Latino Players and Latino Markets.

With the Big 3 in Miami, Carmelo in New York, and Chris Paul in L.A., the éne-bé-a internal team is looking toward the future of multicultural communications within these huge markets and across the country. To keep up with the opportunities, the group has transformed from a two-person team operated by Ms. Sorrosa, into a full-blown multicultural department targeting “Hispanics, African-Americans, Youths and Women.”

But even then, marketing to Hispanic sports fans can be tricky. As Victor Villalba, Manager of Spanish Language Broadcasting for the Dallas Cowboys, explains in Hispanic Marketing with ‘America’s Team,’ Hispanics are fans of a diverse group of players and, like many fans, they gravitate toward excellence.

“Fans are just fans of the game’s best players, not necessarily only the Latinos,” Ms. Sorrosa explained. “However, it helps strengthen the emotional reach. Having 27 Latino players, including those who are U.S. born, helps develop a deeper connection.”

For example, in Miami, Ms. Sorrosa explained, “48 percent of fans attending games are Hispanics, even before the Big 3” came together. Although she did acknowledge that it would “make it more compelling” for all fans, it is all about listening. Paying attention to your audience and responding quickly with the right message.

The Future. #LATISM. And Overall Success.

The éne-bé-a is already working incredibly hard at reaching Latinos in their native countries, which we will discuss in the near future. (Be on the lookout for our NBA Latin America story several weeks from now.)  A group we recommended for the NBA to follow was the Latinos in Social Media movement, better known as #LATISM.

“We’re not sure yet how we would partner with them, but it’s on our radar,” Ms. Sorrosa said.

What Ms. Sorrosa made clear throughout our interview is that the NBA is doing whatever possible to utilize available outlets and media channels to cross-promote their message to fans on both their English and Spanish-language social media assets. They observe conversations occurring naturally on Twitter and Facebook to gain insights about their fans all season round. Speaking with Ms. Sorrosa, it definitely feels as though there are big things coming for the éne-bé-a.

To share some perspective, here are some success numbers from Nielsen, one of the leading research groups in the country: Opening week of the 2011-12 season was up 26 percent in Hispanic viewership in comparison to the same time the previous year, which over-indexed in comparison to non-Hispanic viewership by 160 percent. Close to 6 million Hispanic viewers watched during opening week alone, not counting fans watching on ESPN Deportes.

We welcome you to share this story, as well as share your thoughts about any or all topics discussed in this story. Be on the watch for Part two next week with a focus on ‘The Numbers.’

About Saskia Sorrosa

Saskia Sorrosa, Vice President of Multicultural/Targeted Marketing for the NBA

Saskia Sorrosa, Vice President of Multicultural/Targeted Marketing for the NBA

As Vice President of Multicultural/Targeted Marketing for the NBA, Saskia Sorrosa is responsible for brand strategy, brand positioning, content development, event promotion, and advertising efforts targeted to the U.S. Hispanic, African-American, Youth, and Female segments. In October 2009, Sorrosa successfully launched the NBA’s first-ever integrated marketing campaign targeted to the bicultural, bilingual Latino fan, known as éne•bé•a (the pronunciation of the NBA in Spanish); followed in December 2010 by the launch of the league’s youth platform, NBA Hoop Troop.

Prior to assuming this role, Sorrosa launched and managed the Burson-Marsteller Medellin, Colombia office, where she was responsible for positioning and growing the firm in the Antioquia region, as well as broadening its client base.

 

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El Sporting KC: Focus on Social Media (Part 2 of 2)

December 14th, 2011

Lo prometido es deuda (A Promise Delivered)

As we promised you, here is part two of Sporting KC’s Hispanic reach through sales, marketing and, as you will learn today, social media.

If you haven’t read the story “Prepárate: Marketing to Latinos Major League (Soccer) Style,” here’s the quick recap.

Many sports teams have been trying to reach Hispanic consumers and talk to them through sales teams, but not many were thinking about speaking with their audience. Sporting KC brings in the brilliant Latino Marketing Manager Sinhue Mendoza, who puts several marketing plans in place to connect with his Hispanic audience. With small budgets, and insights on Hispanics and social media use, he utilizes mostly social media to reach out and connect. He turns Sporting KC to one of the most successful teams reaching to Hispanics, as well as turning those potential fans into diehard fans, by leveraging local hero, #99 Omar Bravo.

Facebook El Sporting KC - Omar Bravo Latino of the Year

High engagement on a recent post from El Sporting KC about Omar Bravo being selected Latino of the Year

But what exactly is “successful?”

First, let’s look at the numbers as of date written on 12/10/2011 and note that all growth has been organic so far. Sporting KC has 364 fans on Twitter, 834 fans on Facebook and 1,607 views on YouTube.  The Facebook and Twitter channels have existed since early 2011 and the Youtube channel was created in October of 2011.   But we all know that numbers in social media can mean a whole lot of nothing, so we are also inviting you to see their interaction with fans first hand.

El Sporting KC Official Twitter
El Sporting KC Official Facebook
El Sporting KC Official YouTube

These numbers may seem humble (even when you consider that Kansas City has a total of only 42,000 Hispanics1), but they are growing fast, and the team is working around the clock to make sure everyone interacting with the team is addressed – even during the off season.

“We live tweet every game and interact with people following us or following the game on their own,” Mr. Mendoza said. “Now, we are expanding and posting videos from Latino players, as well as Latino related news released by the MLS.

Still people post mostly about Bravo, lots of likes and comments,” he added.

Although Mendoza has used social media as a great tool to spread his message and content, he says that keeping your official website up is still as important as ever.

“Our growth strategy has centered around awareness through our website,” Mendoza said. “We also cross promote links on our English Facebook page, since some of our fans are part of both.”

As we mentioned in our first story, Mendoza is also utilizing traditional media and partnerships. As Sporting KC partners with both Kansas City local Spanish radio and newspapers, Mr. Mendoza will cross promote Sporting KC events on their pages to get additional awareness.  He says, “Our (Kansas City) Spanish radio and newspaper have lots of fans.” By cross promoting on these two mediums, Mendoza is helping to make the brand look and sound more legitimate.

When game day approaches he uses all those media ad buys, post reminders and @mentions to sell more tickets directly to their fans. He feels that all the cross promotion really enhances the chances of his audience being reminded about the games and makes them feel part of the team, which then leads to ticket sales.

¿Y ahora qué? (Now what?)

Now, Mendoza is looking towards the future. He’s creating stronger relationships with local Hispanic radio stations, and he’s even working on a strategic text driven campaign, which is still in the works. He says next year they will be even better at reaching out to their audience and using social media to their advantage.

The year will not be without challenges as Mexican star Omar Bravo was dealt to Cruz Azul (Mexico) on December 12th around the same of time of this article being published.

“Although I recognize that a player like Omar Bravo helped tremendously when marketing to Latinos in Kansas City and we may lose some interest in our club from some new fans, I am prepared for the challenge and have already began strategizing for this change.”

Livestrong Park MLS Sporting KC

Upcoming Semifinals and Finals matches for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers at LIVESTRONG Sport Park will likely bring fans of Mexico and other Central American teams

Sporting KC also has a tremendous opportunity to gain new fans this spring as the semifinals and Finals for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers will be at their own LIVESTRONG Sport Park.  Potentially, the Mexican national team may come to town as well as the Honduran and Salvadorian team which will peak interest with Kansas City’s growing central American population.

Mendoza has some strong thoughts for those teams (and brands) falling by the wayside “not engaging their audiences.”

“Technology has made that (engaging with audiences) possible, especially with the constant upgrade of better mobile devices and expanding social media networks,” Mendoza said. “But what used to be used as a teenage hangout, is now a legitimate business platform with key players really going after engaging and positive experience for their audiences.

We cannot fall asleep. We need to be ready and adapt to create better brands and positive sales,” Mendoza concluded.

Connect with Us

Here at Social Media Spanish, we have been leading the conversation with the Hispanic audiences for several years now. And it is very exciting to see many brands finally doing what works for their audiences. We invite you to connect with us, if you are in need of research, strategic planning, communication management or any other social media assistance, consulting or services, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic.   If you enjoy these articles, please subscribe with your email address above or become a fan of DK Web Consulting on Facebook or Twitter.

1 - Source: 2010 US Census Statistics: http://factfinder2.census.gov/main.html

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Prepárate: Marketing to Latinos Major League (Soccer) Style (Part 1 of 2)

November 29th, 2011

Preparate - Hispanic Marketing MLS Style[Intro] Last month, we broke down all MLS teams and how they connect with the Hispanic audience. Some teams’ efforts were minimal, but those of other teams were highly effective. Leading the pack was Sporting KC.  After reading our post, Sinhue Mendoza, Latino Marketing Manager at Sporting Kansas City Soccer Club, reached out to us to share his thoughts. And, a simple call quickly turned into a highly insightful conversation.

Prepárate (Get ready!)

Fútbol is without doubt the world’s number one sport. But in Latin America, no one loves the sport more than Latinos. However, in the US, fútbol has not quite lifted the masses spirits like in the rest of the world.

Knowing that US Hispanics would be more prone to attend fútbol games because of their family traditions, teams focused on building sales teams to reach out to the Latino audience. What they did not do was build Hispanic marketing and communication teams to best reach these audiences, who in the long run could become brand ambassadors and diehard fans. And where there are diehard fans, there is high flying dinero.

But sports teams have to be ready

Ready to plan accordingly. Ready to invest in their audiences. Ready to speak directly to their audiences and keep them interested, involved and happy. That’s where Mendoza comes in.

Sporting KC, like many MLS teams, has a Latino Account Executive. But, while most MLS teams have no one there consistently planning, communicating and engaging with the Hispanic audience, that is not the case with Sporting KC. Today, anything having to do with the Latino market comes through Mendoza. And together with his colleague in the sales staff, their successes for the team are insurmountable.

Now, what makes this story really interesting is that instead of focusing on traditional media, Mendoza decided to go a different route. He decided to use social media to reach out to what are now loyal Latino Sporting KC fans. He began using the Sporting KC website in connection with the Latino MLS site in order to reach out to people. Soon after, he took the conversation to Facebook, but he realized that more had to be done.

After crunching the numbers on the amount of Latinos in social media networks, Mendoza expanded all of his campaigns; both branding and retail, into their website, Facebook, Twitter, and most recently, YouTube. The move has paid off quite nicely as Sporting KC leads all MLS teams in fan counts on every major Spanish language social media channel.

“I saw the numbers that said Latinos were on Facebook, and it (our social media presence) grew from that point.  Social media is a big part of our marketing plan,”  comments Mendoza.

(Note: This blog will go further in depth on Sporting KC’s social media strategy in Part 2 of the Sporting KC Story in December)

Bravo: (99 reasons to go social)

Since Mendoza began sharing all things Latino to his audiences on social networks, a new wave of fans have fallen in love with their now hero, Omar Bravo (#99). And they are also enamored with Sporting KC, whose decision to bring the Mexican national to their team was one of the smartest moves since the team’s brand change from the Kansas City Wizards to Sporting KC this past season.

Omar bravo saludando los fans de sporting kc

Omar Bravo personally visiting La Sección 99 after a game this season.

Bravo’s presence, combined with Mendoza’s integrated social campaigns, has created a fan base so large that it now has its own seating section: La Sección 99 or Section 99 for our non-Spanish speaking friends.

And Mendoza says they are only getting started, “He (Bravo) is a legend, an icon where he comes from.  And La Sección 99 is especially important for him and Sporting KC.  Omar takes the time to go up there and take pictures with fans after the game and sign autographs in that section.”

Omar Bravo next to a cutout of himself in a KC area Hispanic restaurant.

Omar Bravo next to a cutout of himself in a KC area Hispanic restaurant.

Sporting KC also placed small cardboard cutouts of Bravo in small panaderías, taquerías, and other Hispanic establishments throughout the city.  They have proven quite popular and even the Kansas City Star wrote an article about their strong influence in the Hispanic community.

With their success mounting, Mendoza is even using social media to enhance their broadcast campaigns, which are getting larger following a successful season. To no surprise to their fans, the team overcame a slow start and made it all the way to the semi-finals, only one game away from going to the MLS Cup.

Although with the help of La Sección 99 and their steadily growing fan base, Sporting KC looks like a real contender for the 2012 season.

So get ready. Because when you manage to connect positively with your audiences (Hispanic and non), you will need to be ready to speak with them directly in a way they will feel welcome and part of the team’s experience and success.

Next Up

What are your thoughts on the work of Sporting KC and Sinhue Mendoza?  Will other teams emulate their success towards the Hispanic audience?  Share your thoughts in the comments below, and stay tuned for the next article coming out in 2 weeks with an in depth look at Sporting KC’s Spanish social media.

Bio of Sinhue Mendoza

Sinhue Mendoza, Latino Marketing Manager of Sporting Kansas CitySinhue Mendoza is currently the Latino Marketing Manager for Sporting Kansas City Soccer Club. He works with the club’s marketing department during the overall planning process by determining strategies for promoting the club within the Latino community and serving as the primary club marketing liaison for Latino-owned businesses and community partners.

His work experience ranges from team Media Relations, Public Relations, Athlete Representation Marketing, multicultural marketing and political campaign management. Mendoza completed a dual Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science from Syracuse University’s distinguished S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and studied politics from the renowned staff at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He currently resides in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

 

 

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Hispanic Marketing with ‘America’s Team’, the Dallas Cowboys

October 2nd, 2011

An interview with Victor Villalba, of the Dallas Cowboys

Victor Villalba, broadcasting for the Cowboys-Titans game in October 2010

Victor Villalba, broadcasting for the Cowboys-Titans game in October 2010

The timing was perfect this week for a conversation about NFL Hispanic marketing. With the NFL kicking off full festivities for Hispanic Heritage Month including community events, Hispanic Heritage Leadership awards, and even mariachis performing outside of stadiums, the relevance of Hispanics to the NFL was on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to catch up with Victor Villalba, Manager of Spanish Language Broadcasting for the Dallas Cowboys. I approached Villalba, as it was obvious of his qualifications to discuss the team’s marketing and community outreach efforts towards Latinos having worked for the NFL team over 10 years, during two stints.

Villalba most recently returned to the Cowboys in 2002 to work with the Spanish radio broadcast. Soon after, Villalba was given the opportunity to do the Spanish language play by play which he does for every game, including this past Monday night’s game against the Washington Redskins.

I wanted to know what we all could learn from the most well known NFL team about marketing to Hispanics, community integration and the importance of knowing your customers. I have laid out my findings in the subsequent categories. Please review and add your comments and questions to the end, and also consider reading a similar article about the NBA’s Hispanic Marketing efforts.

How does the NFL lend itself to the Hispanic community?

In a recent article in the Phoenix Business Journal, Villalba was quoted as having said that, “The NFL product lends itself to popularity among Hispanics in the U.S. because most games are on Sunday, which meshes with traditional Latino family get-togethers and social gatherings.”
When asked to expand on this topic, Villalba added that, “Hispanic fans are very passionate about sports; we can see this passion in other sports they play as well such as soccer and boxing. NFL Sunday brings together the Hispanic experience to American football.”

The Cowboys understand this well, and they embrace Hispanic fans of all levels of American acculturation and Spanish language skills.
“We want to translate that passion that Hispanics, as a colorful group, like to embrace all other cultures regardless if they speak Spanish or not,” notes Villalba.
Interestingly, Villalba noted that his broadcasts are done in proper Spanish, castellano. “This means, we don’t use Spanglish terms during the play by play, such as Touchdown. I say Anotación,” adds Villalba.

The role of Hispanic Marketing with the Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys fans before Monday night’s game between Dallas and Washington

Dallas Cowboys fans before Monday night’s game between Dallas and Washington. (Photo Credit - AP Photo/LM Otero)

When asked about the Dallas Cowboys marketing plan toward US Hispanics over the past few years, Villalba had much to say.

“Hispanic marketing with the Dallas Cowboys goes back to the ‘70’s when president Tex Schramm decided that it would be a good idea to broadcast games in Spanish,” comments Villalba, confirming the Cowboys reputation as having one of the longest running Spanish language broadcast histories of any professional American sports team.

Over the years, the Cowboys Spanish language broadcast has grown to the current position where regular season games are broadcast in 20 markets to reach Hispanic Cowboys fans living outside of Dallas, including those in certain parts of Mexico.

Additionally, the Cowboys can be found on Spanish TV. “There was a decision during the Jerry Jones era (current Cowboys owner), which began in 1989, in which to bolster radio with TV,” comments Villalba about the various TV Spanish programming which can be viewed for the Cowboys. Cowboy’s preseason games currently can be found in 15 markets regionally.

Villalba says that Mexico is also a very important part of their strategy. He concluded by saying that what is most important, is that the Cowboys give their fans an option to view and listen in English or Spanish.

Hispanic Heritage Month at Monday night’s game between Dallas and Washington

A Mariachi dancer performing outside Cowboys Stadium, part of the festivities to mark Hispanic Heritage Month at Monday night’s game between Dallas and Washington. (Photo Credit - AP Photo/LM Otero)

Hispanic Heritage Month with the Dallas Cowboys

This past Monday night football game against the Redskins kicked off NFL Hispanic Heritage Month. We discussed further what activities the Cowboys do during the month which runs from September 15 to October 15.

It seems that for the Monday night victory against archrival Washington, the community relations department was indeed busy. “They had mariachis, bailes folkloricos (folk dances), Los Lonely Boys, and Grupo Intocable whom are huge around here. In addition we had former Cowboys Marco Rivera and Tony Casillas for the coin toss. Even standing room was packed, it was a full house!”

Villalba went on to discuss the Rookie Club, which is a program run by the Cowboys in which rookies on the team perform outreach in the community. The rookies make appearances at community events, hospitals and other locations throughout the season. “Rookies get a chance to learn about the importance of the community,” comments Villalba. “During Hispanic Heritage month there is a focus on interacting with the Hispanic community.”

Adelante Program

The Cowboys support other Hispanic community programs during Hispanic Heritage month as well. One of which is the Adelante program in which the Cowboys team up with Miller Lite for the good of the community. “The Adelante program is geared towards guiding students to continue on to college, and pursue higher learning,” mentions Villalba.

Through the program, Miller Lite donates 25 cents from each case of Miller Lite purchased at participating retailers to the organization. Former Cowboy and two-time Super Bowl champion Tony Casillas serves as a motivational speaker making appearances statewide to inspire parents to make wise choices for their children. All of these actions contribute to the Adelante program, which is dedicated to developing the next generation of Latino leaders.

Spanish Website or Social Media in the Future for America’s Team?

Not unlike most other NFL teams, the Cowboys do not have Spanish language social media forums or a website to cater to Latinos preferring Spanish.

Villalba explained that this is simply a function of not having the specific need for such forums so far. “For us to create these channels there would have to be clear cut demand from our fans as well as support from our internal and external partners. At this point, there is not the business need for these channels,” summarized Villalba.

The NFL itself does have a Spanish language website which is run in partnership with Univision Interactive Media. It will be interesting to see if in the near future the Cowboys do determine there is a valid business reason to establish Spanish language digital forums.

I think that the Cowboys could definitely expand their engagement with their Hispanic fan base through social media activities, as by their extensive broadcasting area we know there are fans that prefer Spanish.  Also, Hispanics are on Social Media: we know of the extensive use of Facebook by US Hispanics as well as that there are over 8.1 million US Hispanics on Twitter. Social media marketing to these fans could allow the Cowboys to bring an even more enthusiastic Latino fan to their stadium as they would be connected on an additional level. The Cowboys are no stranger to social media either as the Cowboys own English Facebook page has over 3.6 million fans to date.

Fan Favorites among Hispanics?

There have been many great Hispanic players that have come through Cowboys home stadiums in the past 50 years, including Tony Romo, Marco Rivera and Tony Casillas. I asked Villalba if there are fan favorites among Hispanic fans and the answer was not unexpected.

“Hispanic fans gravitate to excellence,” commented Villalba. “When the Steelers were on top in the 70’s they were very popular among Latinos as they were very good. When you win, you’re going to get fans, including Hispanics.”

Hispanic Fans different from non-Hispanic Cowboy fans?

The most interesting part of our conversation I found was our discussion of differences between Hispanic Cowboys fans, in comparison with the general market fan. Villalba stated that besides cheering in different languages, Cowboys fans are fairly like-minded.

“Being a fan of the NFL or the Cowboys is a very universal thing,” began Villalba. “If you found a fan in Portugal wearing a Cowboys hat, and arranged to have an interview in Portuguese, you’d find he has the same memories, complaints, and thoughts about the Cowboys as the rest of our fans.”

Another interesting point that Villalba mentioned is that when the Cowboys look at their Hispanic fans it is very hard to tell by appearance alone, their level of acculturation. Basically, it seems that acculturated Hispanics in Dallas have similar cheering habits as those season ticket-holders that drive up from Mexico every week for the game.

“Especially when you’re talking about division rivals playing each other. It’s exciting! It doesn’t matter your language (or acculturation level), everyone is on the same page.”

Thoughts?

What are your thoughts on the efforts the Dallas Cowboys have taken in the area of Hispanic marketing and community interaction? Are there other teams doing interesting outreach with the Hispanic community as well? Share with us examples and any questions in the comment section below.

Bio of Victor Villalba

Victor Villalba with the Larry O’ Brien NBA Championship trophy presented to the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks

Victor Villalba with the Larry O’ Brien NBA Championship trophy presented to the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks

Victor Villalba is now serving his second stint in Spanish language broadcast production with the Dallas Cowboys. He was lured back to Texas in 2002 as the club explored ways to bring production and affiliate relations in-house as part of the growing Broadcasting Department for English language properties.

By 2003 Villalba’s role was expanded to executive producer of television and radio properties for the team, affiliate relations with stations in the US and Mexico, as well as an active participant of strategies to reach the growing appetite for Spanish language properties tied to the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.

In 2005 Villalba added Spanish language play-by-play and Hispanic marketing consulting for the Dallas Mavericks, and having been part of the first trip to the NBA Finals in 2006, was part of the 2010-2011 Mavericks team that won it all. Adding to his broadcast activities, Time Warner Cable in association with Fox Sports Southwest broadcasted a select number of Texas Rangers games in 2010, and for 2011, there are another number of games to call, along with color-commentator and former major-leaguer Jose Guzman.

A resident of Coppell, Texas since 2003, the Villalba’s include wife Olga, and daughters Katia Michelle and Kristina Marie.

References:

Personal interview with Victor Villalba on 9/26/2011.

http://www.nfl.com/photos/09000d5d8228cf1a#id:09000d5d822964a6

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/miller-lite-and-dallas-cowboys-team-up-to-develop-next-generation-of-hispanic-leaders-129116073.html

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/09/23/univision-interactive-media-and-nfl-team-up-to-launch-www-nfl-comespanol/64895/

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2011/09/15/nfl-cardinals-top-the-competition-in.html?page=2

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story/_/id/7004118/tony-romo-family-him-every-step-way

http://nflcommunications.com/2011/09/13/nfl-hispanic-heritage-foundation-and-bud-light-launch-nfl-hispanic-heritage-leadership-awards/


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Posted in Case Studies, Hispanic Marketing, Hispanic Sports Marketing

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Running a Non Profit’s Hispanic Marketing Campaign – Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

October 4th, 2010

Hector Herrera is a man with a plan. As the Director of Marketing and Communications at the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (FSHCC), his goal is to expand awareness of their mission to promote the economic advancement of Florida’s Hispanic community. The FSHCC was founded in 2000, boasts an audience of 80,000 Florida businesses, employs 5 fulltime South Floridians, and has corporate partnerships that include Citibank, Ford, Pfizer, and Sprint to name a few.

In September, DK had a chance to speak with Mr. Herrera about the FSHCC’s current social media presence and their strategy to expand. Our overall objective was to get in the head of a social media campaign manager for a large non profit to better understand how they manage their campaign. Mr. Herrera explained that traditionally the FSHCC’s outreach efforts included networking events, education programs, and an e-Newsletter, but that lately it has been primarily focused on their social media campaign.

The FSHCC has several social media accounts, all with a solid following. They have found the most success with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. However, they are also starting to see LinkedIn as an effective tool. For maintaining these accounts they have used the social media management tool Hootsuite to help them organize a calendar of regular postings.

The FSHCC has experienced success using Facebook as their primary means of communication with members. Their Facebook page currently has 201 fans. To facilitate growth, the FSHCC has built a custom landing page to increase the conversion rate of potential new fans and members. Links to their growing video collection can be found here as well.

Mr. Herrera has found Twitter to be an excellent tool to communicate and post business opportunities and announcements for their followers. Mr. Herrera posts messages from their partners such as a large university recently asking them to announce an RFP to their members. They also use Twitterfeed to deliver filtered relevant content to their followers. The FSHCC Twitter page has 204 active followers today. Most of their growth has come from proactively seeking out and following the Twitter ID’s of active and potential FSHCC members. Mr. Herrera proudly mentioned that this was done manually to ensure the high quality that is sometimes lacking when using Twitter software.

The growing YouTube video collection has been impressive. In the last week and a half a number of new videos have been posted with topics ranging from a clip titled, “FSHCC Member in Action” to a video named, “Florida’s Leading Editorial Boards Weigh In.” Usage of their growing content is at 2,676 total views.

The FSHCC has recently started outreach efforts on LinkedIn. Currently their LinkedIn group has a small but rapidly growing member base (nearly 30 members registered in the first month) but they are confident that it will soon provide a forum for relevant discussion due to its more professional audience.

Mr. Herrera knows that while a solid social media following is good, more must be done to make it a truly effective outreach tool. One of the keys to their growth strategy is maintaining a 100% response rate to social media inquiries and comments. This helps ensure a dialogue between the FSHCC and its partners, members, and potential members. A posting schedule ensures predictability in their outreach avoiding ad-hoc posting habits seen by many other organizations.

The other major growth strategy is a push for syndicated video content. They will use videos syndicated by other sites to drive traffic to each of their social media profiles. Furthermore, they will begin adding bilingual content. Currently, all communication is done in English however that will change in the next few months as more Spanish content will be published. For example, in October – November a breast cancer awareness program will be launched targeting Hispanic women. This campaign will include Spanish language outreach initiatives.

The FSHCC social media campaign will be one to watch in 2011 as Mr. Herrera anxiously pushes their fans and followers over the 1,000 mark. See all of the FSHCC social media campaign here:

http://www.facebook.com/FSHCC
http://twitter.com/fshcc
http://www.youtube.com/FSHCC
http://www.linkedin.com/FSHCC
http://www.fshcc.com/

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Posted in Case Studies, Hispanic Marketing, Social Media Engagement

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Engaging Spanish Speaking Consumers through Social Media – the March of Dimes Way

June 7th, 2010

After years of fielding thousands of phone calls and emails from Spanish speaking mothers and parents to be, the March of Dimes realized the necessity to expand their outreach efforts. And while reports are now streaming in bearing statistics about how much more active Hispanics are on social media, it seems that the March of Dimes knew all along.

100% Comment response is the goal at NacerSano

The March of Dimes launched its Spanish-language site, nacersano.org, in 2004 as a response to the deficiency of trusted and accurate health information among Spanish-speaking women and their families. In 2007, realizing they needed to have an even bigger presence within the Spanish-speaking community; they kicked off a social media initiative with their Spanish-language blog, located at blog.nacersano.org. This blog enabled the March of Dimes to engage with their consumers in a more organic and informal setting.

Social Media is not new to the March of Dimes. Beverly Robertson, a National Director at the March of Dimes, who heads up social media efforts, has gained approximately 8,000 twitter followers to date (@marchofdimes). Their Facebook page has over 70,000 fans.  But what is quite noticeably innovative & impressive is the manner in which they are able to converse openly with their Spanish speaking fans.  To enable this, Miss Robertson’s Hispanic Outreach team, spearheaded by Lilliam Acosta-Sanchez, has established Spanish language Facebook Fan page and Twitter accounts, all linked through their Spanish-language brand “nacersano.”  The overall goals of the team are to use social media for health information outreach and to raise awareness of the March of Dimes and its mission among Spanish-speaking Latinos.

During our conversation in May, Mrs. Acosta-Sanchez noted that an average month will bring approximately 400 questions from consumers that need a response via social media.  They are proud that their team is able to respond to 100% of the questions that come in through their blog, Facebook Fan page and Twitter accounts. An impressive feat, considering the low or non-existent engagement levels of many large firms and organizations.

We at DK wanted to dig deeper, so we looked at the numbers to verify the March of Dime’s claims.  We found that they were indeed very active conversing with their fans and consumers.  The nacersano.org Facebook page is able to maintain a 335 Engagement Score, indicating a very high level of interaction with fans on their page.  This ranking (take a look at our ranking system) calculates how often a fan comments or ‘likes’ a posting, and evaluates all Facebook pages on a pound-for-pound scale.  The nacersano Twitter page obtains an equally high Engagement Score of 60, calculated by dividing mentions by nacersano by the times nacersano has been mentioned.

The team behind nacersano also discussed growth of their Spanish social media presence with us.  They explained that their growth to date is primarily viral and that their objective is less about growing and more about building relationships with their current fans/followers.  Based on their ability to engage their consumers thus far, we also believe their growth will come naturally.

nacersano’s web presence:
•www.nacersano.org – The March of Dimes Spanish-language Web site
•http://blog.nacersano.org – Spanish-language blog on pregnancy-related topics.
•www.twitter.com/nacersano – Pregnancy-related tips.
•www.twitter.com/nacersanobaby – Baby-related tips.
•www.facebook.com/nacersano – Fan page.

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Posted in Case Studies, Hispanic Marketing, Social Media Engagement

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