Excellence in Marketing to the Hispanic Community
The 2022 Multicultural Excellence Awards celebrated some of the excellent marketing being devoted to the Hispanic community. Below are some summaries of those blue-ribbon efforts, with the full case studies accessible through the embedded hyperlinks.
Google Shows How the Pixel Can Overcome the Discrimination Faced by Hispanics
In developing its Pixel 6 smartphone, Google set out to introduce some new capabilities — not merely as cool features, but as powerful tools of inclusion. The brand wanted to position Pixel as the phone that helps Hispanics to be seen and heard and to belong, no matter the language they use or the color of their skin.
In the first part of the campaign Google undertook to support the device's launch, the brand showed how language barriers could be a thing of the past, thanks to the live-translate feature of the new Google Pixel.
To convey this message, the brand released "Bodega Love," a short film that told the story of a young Latina meeting a foreign exchange student while working at her father's bodega. The film demonstrated how the Google Pixel could help create connections that transcend language and cultural norms, resulting in a love story made possible only by the translation feature of Google's latest phone.
Next, Google focused on another powerful feature of the phone. New camera technology in the Pixel, called "real tone," allowed people to be photographed as they really looked, highlighting the nuances of diverse skin tones.
To showcase this feature, the brand released "The Boxer," which told the story of a young woman guided by her grandfather, who inspired her to understand that her true strength comes from her heritage and diversity and that her greatness is actually "escrita en su piel" (written on her skin).
DishLATINO Imagines a Meeting of Two Legendary Latino Entertainers
The digital world surfed by smartphones continues to grow in relative size within the media universe, but legacy technologies such as television remain a vital contributor to culture, including Hispanic culture.
DishLATINO celebrated Hispanic contributions to this medium with a campaign undertook to unite two all-time icons of the Spanish-speaking entertainment world by combining the past and present.
The campaign centered around Eugenio Derbez and El Chavo. Eugenio Derbez — arguably today's biggest and most beloved Latino actor — has been DishLATINO's longtime brand spokesperson. He has been an important ambassador who has helped elevate the brand to its current market leadership position.
The second icon, the late El Chavo, is one of the most powerful cultural figures in the collective memory of Latinos of all ages. He was the star of the most successful sitcom ever in Latin America, El Chavo del Ocho, which had over 90 million viewers a day across Latin America at its height.
Using state-of-the-art deepfake video technology, DishLATINO created a magical spot that imagined a meeting of Eugenio and El Chavo, celebrated how much TV has evolved, and recognized how much Latinos have accomplished and contributed to this country. The imaginary meeting symbolized the journey of Latinos everywhere — the collective past and future. El Chavo stood for the enduring Latino heritage and nostalgia, while Eugenio Derbez represented the aspirations and accomplishments of Latinos today.
Corona Broadcasts Soccer in Native Mexican Languages
While TV provides many of the threads that make up the tapestry of Hispanic culture, it is not the only medium contributing to that rich weave of traditions, arts, and pastimes.
For instance, in Mexico, native communities' only reliable way to follow their national team's soccer games is through radio. While many people think that in Mexico only Spanish is spoken, there are 68 native languages. But soccer matches are not broadcast in any of them. Corona, as the official sponsor of the national team, wanted to include everyone, because the national team should be for everyone.
To connect with native communities in Mexico, Corona first used local radio stations to cast native voice talent from throughout the country. With the help of professional sportscasters, Corona selected the winners from six different native languages: Maya, Nahuatl, Mixteco, Chatino, Zapoteco, and Mixe.
The selected voice talent became the Corona Native Sportscasters, and their voices were broadcast through 75 local radio stations on which natives could listen, for the first time, to their national team's soccer games in their own languages. Ultimately, the Corona Native Sportscasters reached 15 million listeners.
Sedano's Honors Hispanic Customers with a Taste of Home
Television and radio both hold vast reservoirs of Hispanic tradition, but so too do the culinary arts, a fact that influenced how Supermarket chain Sedano's thanked its Hispanic clientele for decades of loyalty.
To celebrate its 60th anniversary and pay homage to the Hispanic customers who have made the brand's success possible, Sedano's produced a special edition of its Neustra Sazón magazine, complete with food and drink recipes meant to honor Hispanic heritage.
"Nuestra Sazón," which translates to "our flavor" in English, is the name of a fully customized magazine produced three times a year for Sedano's Supermarkets. Utilizing captivating photography and content, the magazine aims to engage current and potential customers and inspire them to make a trip to their nearest Sedano's store.
This special issue emphasized the brand's connection to the community. Through targeted messaging, it sought to provide a taste of home to the immigrants and Hispanic Americans who made up the target audience, while also encouraging new generations to keep family culinary traditions alive.
The Hispanic community isn't the only group that the Multicultural Excellence Awards address; they recognize marketing efforts that demonstrate excellence in celebrating and appealing to a wide variety of minorities, including African Americans, Asian Americans, LGBTQ persons, and disabled people, to name but a few. To browse the full library of Multicultural Excellence case studies, click here.
The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.
Morgan Strawn is a senior manager of editorial and content development at ANA.