Hispanic Public Relations Blog

By Andy Checo, Edelman Multicultural

Mexican author, Octavio Paz once wrote “I am not at the crossroad: To choose is to go wrong.”  That is exactly the mindset of bicultural Latinos. We have no need to choose. We are from here and from there. We listen to Lifehouse and to Chino y Nacho. We are fans of football and of fútbol. Bicultural Latinos are a testament to a new Latino culture, shifting from one side to the other, from English to Spanish.

In public relations, reaching a target consumer is only effective if there are media channels available to connect with the consumer. Although social media has change this by enabling brands to build communities with a define target audience, it is still important to relied on traditional media outlets to engage consumers. Media outlets are evolving; no longer is a TV channel just a TV channel or a print publication just print publication. This new evolution of media should give us an opportunity to better engage with bicultural Hispanic. But are media outlets taking advantage of this opportunity?

Broadcast networks are a great example on how bicultural Latinos are starting to become the focus for industry growth.  While the English language networks are losing ground to Univision, those same networks are also the ones making the most effort in attracting bicultural Hispanics. For example, ABC has tapped into Salma Hayek, who executive produced Ugly Betty, an adaptation of the Colombian telenovela Betty La Fea, for another project inspired by Argentinean series Los Roldan. In addition, the networks keep tapping into Hispanic talent like Sofia Vergara in Modern Family, Adam Rodriguez in CSI Miami and Eva Longoria in Desperate Housewives to further attract Hispanic viewers.

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