Branding

July 21, 2005
Source:
Shakira and the dilemmas of going global
To sing in Spanish or in English? That was the tricky choice facing Shakira and her record company, Sony BMG, as they pondered how to follow the Colombian pop star's 2001 global chart-topping, 13m-selling album, “Laundry Service”. That album, Shakira's first (mostly) in English, was a dramatic entry into the lucrative English-language pop market for a singer who had sold some 12m of her four previous albums, all in Spanish.

Having penned her first song at the age of eight and released her first album aged 13, earning an estimated $30m even before “Laundry Service”, Shakira found herself described as Latin America's biggest star and, by some wags, Colombia's greatest legal export.
“Laundry Service” put Shakira's commercial achievements on a par with—perhaps even ahead of—those of other leading pop stars who have lately crossed-over from Spanish to English, such as Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias and Gloria Estefan. But how to build on that triumph?

“The industry would have liked me to put out another English album six months after 'Laundry Service',” says Shakira, now 28. “But I can't make music like hamburgers.” Sony had little choice but to wait for her to deliver in her own time—and in the language, or as it turned out, languages, of her choice.

This year—several years late, from the industry's point of view—Shakira is releasing not one but two new albums. And, even more contrary to industry conventional wisdom, the first, just out, is in Spanish—“Fijación Oral volumen 1”—with an English-language album, “Oral Fixation volume 2”, held back until November.
This strategy, Shakira concedes, is a gamble, albeit one for which she is happy to accept responsibility.

“I like risk and challenges...

If it goes wrong, I'm to blame.” In an industry in which established artists are steadily grabbing power from the big corporations (whose main defence is to try to “manufacture” a stream of easy-to-manage identikit boy and girl bands, or turn many a non-entity into a “Pop Idol”) Shakira is said to exercise tighter than average control over all aspects of her career. In interviews she may attribute her decisions to “irrational impulses” and “feminine intuition”, but industry insiders say she has an impressive grasp of business logic.

As her career approached a crucial stage in the mid-1990s, for example, she teamed up with Emilio Estefan (husband of Gloria), the Miami-based king- (and queen-) maker of Latin pop. She has always written her own material: when she decided to enter the English-language market, she learnt English well enough to write songs in it, and thereby ensured that she retained control over her music. She also changed her image ahead of the launch of “Laundry Service”, with a striking new blonde look—though, typically, she denies this had any business motive, saying instead that it was simply the result of her natural brown hair having become “like a jail.

.. I didn't want to be buried with it.

”
So what is the business logic behind this year's belated two-album release strategy? After all, there was a high price to pay for taking so long to launch a new album. The momentum created by “Laundry Service” has been largely lost, says one Sony executive, so when it came to market her new work the firm had “to assume it was starting from scratch again”.

On the other hand, he concedes, “you can't rush an act like Shakira”—whose work has even been praised for its “innocent sensuality” in an essay by the novelist Gabriel García Márquez (a fellow Colombian).
Releasing the Spanish album first had two main goals. One was to re-establish her roots in the Latin marketplace.

“When Hispanics heard I was writing in English, they probably thought I was leaving for ever,” she says. Certainly, back home her fellow Colombians grumble about Shakira having “abandoned” her middle-class origins for the Latin elite based around Miami and the Bahamas—she has homes in both—and “speaking Spanish with an Argentine accent” since she started to date Antonio de la Rua, the son of a former Argentine president. Two English albums in a row might have been too many, not just in Colombia.

July 06, 2005
By Mariana Lemann
A new study unveiled today by marketing consultantcy Yankelovich Inc. reveals key findings among Hispanic consumers such as frustrations with marketing and advertising practices, language preferences and a decline in brand loyalty.
According to the MONITOR Multicultural Marketing Study, which tracks shifting patterns among Latino and African-American consumers, 53 percent of Hispanics say that they are extremely concerned about the practices and motives of marketers and advertisers.

In addition, 50 percent of Latinos say that very little, if any, of the marketing and advertising that they see has any relevance to them.
However, that doesn't signal a lack of importance paid to advertising. In another finding in the study, 72 percent of Latinos say they would like to see more television programming or other commercials aimed specifically for them.

The study also reveals that 88 percent of Hispanics wish more financial institutions would offer products tailored to their needs.
While Hispanics are still considered a brand-loyal group, they have been adopting a more flexible approach to new offerings. According to the study, 73 percent of Hispanics say they like to try different brands once in a while, but 58 percent agree that it is “risky to buy a brand you are not familiar with.

”
When it comes to language, marketers and ad executives will have to manage to communicate with the consumer in both English and Spanish. According to the study, nearly 40 percent of Latinos prefer Spanish, 41 percent prefer English, and 20 percent like both. Whatever the preference, the study found that 65 percent of Hispanics feel that their native language is an important aspect of their culture and tradition that is important to preserve.

Mr. Six Becomes Cultural Icon but Park Attendance Slides… Did someone said, “ ”?
T.

L. Stanley and Kate MacArthur of reported about predicament between response and results of their ad campaign this past July 26, 2004.

Six Flags’ dancing-geezer ad icon, Mr.

Six, has been a fixture on news and talk shows, has his own blogs and fast-selling merchandise line and the campaign effort featuring him has ranked among the top 10 most recalled ads by . Yet attendance at Six Flags has dropped 4% this year through June, according to recently released financial reports. This poor early summer attendance could signal problems in the regional chain’s business that its newfound star can’t solve.

It is shocking at first, kinda disturbing. As time passes, you get trapped by the incongruence of the whole thing. Yet, it does NOT persuade you in any way to turn the tube off and begin planning your next trip to Six Flags.

Yes, there’s tons of response, but what about the results expected through advertising?
More interesting facts on how Hispanics are making their way into the U.S.

society:

The service and financial sectors are expected to show the largest growth in Hispanic-owned companies, according to HispanTelligence® analysis. Currently, the service sector leads all other industry segments in overall concentration and number of Hispanic-owned firms. And from 2000 to 2010, a total of 846,048 new firms are expected to enter the sector, raising its overall concentration from 48 percent to 50 percent.

That increase is projected to account for more than half of the total increase in Hispanic-owned firms in the coming years.

Here's some interesting insights on Hispanic women, specifically moms..

. factors considered when choosing brands, market size, market growth:
recommended by family physicians, have a powerful impact on Hispanic mothers when selecting brands for the family, according to "The U.S.

Hispanic Mom report, the top three factors considered when choosing a brand for the family include those recommended by their doctor, those that spoke to them as moms, but not necessarily as Hispanic moms, and those that gave back to the As reported by on June 2, 2004:

Palmera Vinos de Pasión is aiming to celebrate the passions, interests and faces of the Hispanic community. “Our wines have been specifically developed for the Latino consumer both in taste preference and branding,” says Will Arriaga, Community Relations Director for the US-based company. “Our goal is to be the first choice in wine for Latinos.

..”

This is a tough one.

.. I truly hope to be very wrong about this.

Why? Well I like wine and I most certainly like the Hispanic culture. Hey, the concept just makes sense doesn't it?

I also believe that you can't be all things to all people and choosing a specific market niche, and aiming to own it is a sound business strategy. Still, my gut feeling tells me there is just a little too much stereotyping going on here. Will wine-appreciating Hispanics, choose their "vino" because of its marketing, its taste, its chicness, its prestige, and/or its exclusivity?

Results from the new survey "El Mercado 2004", co-sponsored by the and were presented at the Food Marketing Institute's Advertising Marketing Executive Conference in Orlando, Florida. Joella Roy, ADVO's Senior Marketing Research Manager says that "the results of this survey should help marketers in several retail segments better understand [the Hispanic consumer population] and, in turn, more effectively serve them and market to their needs."

Results of the survey show that only about 20 percent of Hispanic consumers can be considered more brand loyal than the average grocery consumer.

These results...

may come as a surprise to many marketers who still hold the perception that Hispanic consumers as a group are more brand loyal than the average consumer.

"There still seems to be a perception that Hispanic consumers are more brand loyal than other consumers, but this survey shows that only those Hispanics who are most unacculturated -- meaning they are foreign-born, have spent only a small percentage of their life in the U.S.

and are less educated -- display above average brand loyalty. This brand loyalty seems directly correlated with familiarity of brands they were aware of before they moved to the U.S.

,” says Roy. “The fact that this audience segment only accounts for about one-fifth of the total Hispanic marketplace means marketers can’t simply rely on branding and brand identity to attract the other 80 percent of Hispanic consumers who are not inordinately brand loyal. Price, quality and packaging must be of increasing concern when trying to reach the Hispanic consumer.

”

Ms. Roy hits the bulls-eye with the fact that foreign-born Hispanics will be more loyal to those brands with which they were acquainted with prior to "crossing the Rio Grande" as well as by saying that QUALITY must be an increasing concern when trying to reach the Hispanic consumer, and I add, ANY consumer.