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HISPANIC MARKET OVERVIEW 2019 Powered by HispanicAd.com
A little over a year ago, Pepsi work started. “This is a company that abandoned multicultural but
demonstrates that the pendulum is coming back,” Messianu notes. “They understand that they cannot
do a one-size-fits-all marketing program. You have to think ‘consumer first,’ and have to find the
relevance.”
The result: a brand-new Hispanic campaign that’s already getting rave reviews. While Steve Carrell and
Cardi B. are featured in total market spots, Hispanic market commercials feature John Leguizamo and
are bilingual. The spot illustrates the evolution of someone like him as a “challenger” and puts Pepsi in
an aligned position with a message of empowerment.
It’s also a highly relevant spot for Latino audiences, Messianu says. “The consumer will respond, and you
will reap the benefits,” he says. This dovetails into a conversation about the February 2018 issuance by
the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4 A’s) of a “Fair Play” charter to its members, asking
media agencies, and media departments within agencies, to recommit to fair and equitable treatment of
minority media owners.
While ALMA doesn’t buy media, Messianu certainly has an opinion to share on “Fair Play.” He says, “To
me it is not only about fair play but about fair share of growth. You have to support and champion MC
media.”
AVOIDING COSTLY ERRORS
While there are positive tales to tell about marketing to multicultural consumers, there is also the effort
that demonstrates how things can go horribly wrong.
“I have a very clear example and we even talked about this yesterday,” Messianu says. In the Pepsi
world, they call it the “Jenner effect.” It’s in reference to a widely panned spring 2017 effort featuring
Kendall Jenner that was pulled one day after its debut. Pepsi admitted it “missed the mark.” What
happened?
The social media and reality TV darling joined a
march and handed a can of Pepsi to a police officer,
which led critics to call it, among other things, tone-
deaf and disrespectful of the #BlackLivesMatter
movement.
“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of
unity, peace, and understanding,” it said. “Clearly we
missed the mark and we apologize. We did not
intend to make light of any serious issue. We are
pulling the content and halting any further rollout.
We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this
position.”
This was before Pepsi’s relationship with ALMA.