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Fran Morales-Neufeld Professor Drew Stevens MKT 5000 Marketing 29 November 2011

The Importance of Brand Value to the U.S. Hispanic Market

Gary Armstrong and Philip Kotler, authors of “Marketing: An Introduction,” remind us

that branding should be the key element in the company’s relationship with consumers — or

rather it’s a kind of promise a company makes to a consumer (228).

Branding is a company’s face to the world. Whether it’s a name or how that name is

virtually expressed through a logo, branding is the quickest way for one’s company to express

what it is and what it has to offer (Varallo, Michael. Increase Brand Value Through Positive

Marketing.).

In keeping with Telemundo’s original mission — or positioning statement — to enrich

the lives of Hispanics in the United States and audiences worldwide through content that

informs, empowers, inspires, and entertains, the Spanish-language network has continued to

reinvent itself to keep up with the times and with the growing and changing Hispanic

demographic (Telemundo Original Content Drives Growth. Adweek.com).

Telemundo’s commitment — or value proposition — to producing high-quality

multimedia content for U.S. Hispanics is delivering powerful results for marketers and leading

brands like JP Morgan Chase (Telemundo Original Content Drives Growth. Adweek.com). With

multiple platforms — or product mix — to reach the nation’s fastest-growing demographic

segment, Telemundo has a robust source of entertainment, news and sports that reaches 93

percent of U.S. Hispanic viewers in 210 markets through 16 owned and operated stations, 45

broadcast affiliates and 800 cable affiliates (Telemundo Original Content Drives Growth.

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Adweek.com). The network also offers its services in 35 languages, reaching audiences in 104

countries around the world (Telemundo Original Content Drives Growth. Adweek.com).

Brand Value to Company

Telemundo is recognized and differentiated as a Spanish-language network that develops

original content that is colorful but also provocative, smart, traditional, fresh, and dynamic —

qualities that speak to the U.S. Hispanic market. It is one of two Spanish-language networks in

the country, holding number two rank alongside Univision. U.S. Hispanic viewers who prefer to

watch Telemundo prefer it because it provides more variety in Television programming and

caters to the rainbow of different ethnic Hispanics as compared to Univision, which

predominately caters to Mexicans. Those who insist on watching the network programming have

crossed over into the threshold of brand loyalty. In November, Telemundo delivered more than

1.2 million total viewers (persons 2+) and 656,000 adults 18-49 during weekly primetime, which

was the best November primetime performance in the network's history among total viewers,

according to Nielsen (“Telemundo scores best November viewership,” Rbr.com).

Brand value is extremely important as it draws viewers and advertisers — key elements

that help to increase profitability in the company. In order to build on its equity, Telemundo has

begun to adapt to the explosion of social media channels and technologies, to speak to a new

generation of consumers. They’ve even gone bilingual.

Brand Value to Consumers

Telemundo is more than just a cable network. To viewers it is linked with memories of

family gatherings and cultural identity. According to the Hispanic Advertisement Agency,

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Hispanics are more prone to watch TV with their families — that includes their Spanish-

speaking abuelos (grandparents) and their predominately English-speaking nietos (grandkids)

(Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup). But while there has

always been a strategy to develop telenovelas and programming for multigenerational families, it

has been static and in the past has not identified with acculturated Millenials who embrace

English and Spanish markets equally.

The network has embraced a new strategy to speak to the growing number of second- and

third-generation Hispanic-American viewers with money to spend and the advertisers who want

them using English-language subtitles and Spanglish (Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English

Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup). To reflect the sensibilities of the cultural hybrids the network has

created a crop of new telenovelas and debuted Cuban-born television personality and former

Univision star Cristina Saralegui’s new variety show, which airs Sundays. (Chozick, Amy.

Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup). Without losing sight on its core

Spanish-dominant viewers, the network is rebranding itself to cater to the acculturated and more

bilingual audience, said Telemundo’s president, Emilio Romano, after joining the network in

October (Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup).

More than 82 percent of Hispanics are bilingual, meaning they speak English more than

Spanish or Spanish and English equally, according to a report released this year by Scarborough

Research, a consumer research firm (Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly

Spanish Lineup). The study also found that this demographic had more disposable income than

the more Spanish-speaking recent immigrants, with 12 percent of acculturated Hispanic families

yearly earnings of $75,000 to $100,000 (Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly

Spanish Lineup).

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Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable provider and owner of NBC Universal in part

bring this macro level effort. Telemundo is part of the mega umbrella. The cable and broadband

provider sees the investment. The 2010 Census revealed that more than half the total population

growth in the U.S. from 2000 to 2010 was because of the increase in the Hispanic population

(Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup). In 2010, Hispanics

accounted for 50.5 million people residing in the U.S. — a significant increase from 35.3 million

a decade ago (Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup).

Advertisers have seen the change in the cultural landscape and have thus flocked to

Spanish television in growing numbers. In the upcoming 2011-12 season, advanced advertising

sales at Telemundo have spiked 25 percent from the previous year to more than $400 million,

and the price that advertisers pay per 1,000 viewers have doubled, according NBCUniversal

(Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup).

In addition to “Pa’lante con Cristina,” the network recently began airing “Una Maid en

Manhattan,” a telenovela based on the 2002 Jennifer Lopez movie and will be available with

English subtitles (Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup).

“Más Sabe el Diablo” (“The Devil Knows Best”), which concluded in early 2010, also took

place in New York and was available with English captions. In next year’s lineup of telenovelas,

there will be “Caidas del Cielo” — a “Charlie’s Angels” inspired drama — and “Físico o

Química” — about the complicated relationships at an urban high school (Chozick, Amy.

Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup). In addition, Telemundo’s bilingual

crossover Web site targets English-dominant Hispanics.

As proof of performance, in July, Telemundo.com ranked as one of the top three most

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“engaged” video experiences among all television networks and ranked highest for “viewer”

engagement among other Spanish-language websites, as measured by the number of videos per

visitor and minutes per viewer, according to comScore (Telemundo.com ranks top three most

engaged video experiences among all TV Networks in July. Telemundo.com.). The site reports an

average of 21.5 videos per viewer and 67.6 minutes per viewer. The network’s website delivered

twice as many videos per viewer and minutes per viewer than Univision.com (Telemundo.com

ranks top three most engaged video experiences among all TV Networks in July.

Telemundo.com.). It also recently delivered its best quarter ever, reporting a record in video

streaming with nearly 31 million streams delivered for the quarter, +128 percent in year-over-

year growth (Telemundo.com ranks top three most engaged video experiences among all TV

Networks in July. Telemundo.com.). In addition, Telemundo.com delivered record unique

visitors for the quarter, attracting nearly 3.5 million uniques (Telemundo.com ranks top three

most engaged video experiences among all TV Networks in July. Telemundo.com.).

A recent study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that U.S.

Hispanic Millenials and Gen X’ers are the most active demographic with regard to broadband

Internet use for watching videos online (Telemundo.com ranks top three most engaged video

experiences among all TV Networks in July. Telemundo.com.). The study found that 81 percent

of Hispanic adults watched videos online in May 2011, compared to 76 percent of African

American adults and 69 percent of white adults (Telemundo.com ranks top three most engaged

video experiences among all TV Networks in July. Telemundo.com.). In this approach,

Telemundo is targeting people with demographic and psychographic characteristics similar to

those that are known to respond to their messages. These multiplatform approaches to target this

audience are word of mouth techniques, which help to spark a viral reaction, which starts with

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one friends and spreads so on to. The use of promotional mixes in the form of promotions, sales,

events, new products, television, print and social media, along with sponsored stories ad units,

can start this viral reaction and cause a shift in viewer behavior based on friends and family

social graph influence (Williams, Dave. How 'Word of Mouth' Marketing Will Pump Up Holiday

Sales.). Telemundo has also incorporated product placements in its telenovelas (Telemundo

Original Content Drives Growth. Adweek.com.).

While the idea of branded entertainment is not new, the promotional campaigns are

becoming increasingly clever with elements that take the products from the telenovela to the web

and mobile devices. It’s a subtle, organic, conscientious effort for the product and its advertisers

to be part of the viewer’s world (Telemundo Original Content Drives Growth. Adweek.com.).

For instance, Telemundo has integrated marketing communications efforts to incorporate

their advertisers in all their multiple platforms. JP Morgan Chase is an example. Viewers can

also visit a Chase microsite for the show, follow the series on Facebook, watch it on their mobile

phones and get text messages prompting them to tune in to the show or to go online. (Vega,

Tanzina. Product Placement Rises in Networks’ Telenovelas.) In addition, they can download

music from the Chase commercials and enter a contest to win a behind-the- scenes tour of the

Telemundo studios (Vega, Tanzina. Product Placement Rises in Networks’ Telenovelas.).

Telemundo’s refreshed branding has been fruitful in building its relationship with its

viewers and expanding its services to a new generation. In adapting to a changing market, the

network has proven its ability to keep its promise — to enrich the lives of U.S. Hispanics and

audiences worldwide through content that informs, empowers, inspires, and entertains.

Works Cited

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Armstrong, Gary, and Kotler, Philip. Marketing: An Introduction. Upper Saddle River,

New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.

Chozick, Amy. Telemundo Blends English Into a Mostly Spanish Lineup. New York Times.

25. October 2011. Web. 26 November 2011.

http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv-cable_ratings/telemundo-scores-best-november-

viewership.html. Telemundo Scores Best November Viewership. Web. 1 December 2011.

Telemundo launches YouTube Telemundo and mun2 Channels. Marketwatch.com. 5

October 2011. Web. 28 November 2011.

Telemundo.com ranks top three most engaged video experiences among all TV Networks

in July. Telemundo.com. 24 August 2011. Web. 27 November. 2011.

Williams, Dave. How 'Word of Mouth' Marketing Will Pump Up Holiday Sales.

Advertisingage.com. 28 November 2011. Web. 28 November. 2011.

Telemundo Original Content Drives Growth. Adweek.com. 27 April 2011. Web. 28

November 2011.

Vega, Tanzina. Product Placement Rises in Networks’ Telenovelas. NewYorkTimes.com.

28 August 2011. Web. 29 November 2011.

Varallo, Michael. Increase Brand Value Through Positive Marketing.

business2community.com. 16 November 2011. Web. 28 November 2011.