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CafeMom targets Hispanic moms with new bilingual site

Posted by Elena del Valle on April 9, 2012

MamasLatinas

Click to enlarge

Photos: MamásLatinas

Hoping to expand the reach of CafeMom, founded in late 2006 by Andrew Shue and Michael Sanchez with the support of lead investors Highland Capital Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson, earlier this year the company launched MamásLatinas targeting the Hispanic mom market.

Company executives are convinced that MamásLatinas fills a major gap in the mainstream digital and social environment. Before launching the new venue CafeMom staff conducted a major national study. According to a spokesperson, the study revealed that 92 percent of Hispanic moms across the acculturation spectrum believed there was no website that clearly met their needs. Anticipating that by 2014 one in four moms online will be of Hispanic heritage they moved forward.

Lucía Ballas-Traynor, co-founder and executive vice president, MamásLatinas

Lucía Ballas-Traynor, co-founder and executive vice president, MamásLatinas

“With the right Hispanic leadership and Hispanic lens, in the trails of the Census 2010 disclosing of Hispanic population exponential growth, launching a Latina-centric brand seemed like a win-win solution, both from a business and consumer standpoint,” said Lucía Ballas-Traynor, co-founder and executive vice president, MamásLatinas, by email.

“MamásLatinas goal is to super serve Hispanic moms across the total spectrum –languages spoken, nativity and country of origin, age, or geographic location. Our site is the first online bilingual destination for Latina moms with two core offerings, an online community and a content platform called ¿Qué Más?. The online community consists of broad-appealing groups, where conversations cover a wide array of topics (Bienvenidas, LaPlaza); and groups that specifically target moms by country of origin (Mamás Mexicanas, etc.), or by the age of their kids; or even by passion touch points (Beauty, Puro Español).”

MamásLatinas relies on 10 full-time staff writers and editors as well as freelance writers, bloggers and columnists who write 35 original English and Spanish articles a day for ¿Qué Más?, according to Ballas-Traynor who indicated that the channel provides a venue for Latina moms to find opinion pieces about topics of interest to them and what people are talking about including news and culture, fashion/beauty, food, and parenting from their cultural perspective and sensibility, in English or Spanish, or both. Twenty-one writers including two mean are listed on the site as of this writing.

To spread the word the company plans to promote the site on Google and Facebook. Additional marketing efforts being implemented include offline media partnerships, public relations and paid marketing strategies.

“We are poised to become one of the leading online destinations dedicated to Latinas by the end of the year and the leader among Latina moms. We are aggressively marketing the site and encouraging our members to tell their friends. Our number one goal for this year is to push brand awareness and new members. We know there is tremendous opportunity for growth, but we don’t yet have a firm projection for the first year,” said Ballas-Traynor.

CafeMom employs 140 people and MamásLatinas shares many of the CafeMom resources especially those in areas of Product (technology, developers and design), Research, Marketing, PR and Sales and Sales Operations.

The new New York based site has the following founding sponsors: Chevrolet, General Mills, K-Mart and Sears. CafeMom boasts a reach of 20 million at CafeMom.com, MamásLatinas, CafeMom Studios, and the CafeMom Plus Network.

CNN en Espanol adds Oppenheimer Presenta to Sunday programming

Posted by Elena del Valle on March 28, 2012

Andrés Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer Presenta
Andrés Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer Presenta on CNN en Español

Photo: CNN en Español

Starting on the first Sunday in April CNN en Español will air Oppenheimer Presenta, a weekly show hosted by Andrés Oppenheimer, in the network’s United States and Latin America feeds. Every Sunday at 9 p.m. Oppenheimer Presenta will examine “the major trends on current topics and how they affect people, families, and countries.”

The host will present a weekly topic and feature interviews with personalities including analysis and comments by special guests. In the first show, Oppenheimer addresses the legalization of drugs and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is the featured guest. The programs will also reflect the topics addressed by Oppenheimer in his weekly The Miami Herald column syndicated to 60 newspapers.

Oppenheimer was a 1987 Pulitzer Prize co-winner, along with the journalism team of The Miami Herald. In 1993, he received the Premio Ortega y Gasset of the newspaper El País in Madrid, and was selected one of the 500 most important journalists of the United States by the Forbes Media Guide. In 2001, he received the Premio Rey de España given by the EFE agency and the King of Spain. The following year, Poder magazine selected him as one of the 100 most powerful figures in Latin America.

CNN en Español, the first 24-hour television network of CNN independently produced in a language other than English, was launched March 17, 1997. The network provides continuous regional and world news coverage with context and in-depth analysis, and shows on the economy, finances, health, technology and entertainment. CNN en Español has a subscriber base up to 27 million households and hotel rooms in Latin America and 7 million households in the United States.

Multicultural Communication: How to Connect With New Audiences Without Learning a New Language

Posted by Elena del Valle on March 26, 2012

As any South Florida communicator knows, we work in a diverse market. But whether or not you are bilingual, you can still connect with multicultural customers. Join Juan Carlos Fanjul from CBS 12 as he moderates a discussion on multicultural communication. Panelists will share advice, resources – and maybe even cautionary tales – to help us expand our message to a more diverse audience. Come prepared with questions, and say “hola” to new opportunities to connect.

Panelists:

Gretta Vitta – Ms. Vitta is the host of “ Spanglish con Gretta Vitta”, on “Hola Vision TV” an affiliate station with CBS 12 as well as a radio host for WPBR 1340am. Her articles and columns can be found in many prestigious magazines including “Hispanic in America Magazine,” “Latin Connection Magazine,” and “Sunset Drive Magazine,” which features her column “Destination South Florida with Gretta Vitta.”

Elena del Valle –Ms. del Valle is principal of LNA World Communications, a marketing and communications company, as well as the director and editor of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations. She is the founding president of the Hispanic Marketing & Communication Association and a former member of PRSA. She served as chair of PRSA’s Multicultural Section and as a judge of its Silver Anvil Awards, and was a member of PRSA’s prestigious Counselors Academy and the organization’s National Advocacy Committee.

Andre Varona – Mr. Varona is the Chief Executive Officer of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches, where he oversees the organization’s mission of developing and growing the area’s Hispanic market. The Hispanic population in Palm Beach County is now 17% of the total population, and Andre will share insights on how businesses can reach out if they haven’t before.

Wednesday, March 28
11:45 AM to 1:00 PM

Tickets

$20.00 Members of PRSA

$25.00 Guest Tickets

The Embassy Suites
1601 Belvedere Road
West Palm Beach, FL 33406

Register at http://prsapalmbeach.org/meetinginfo.php

Magazine focuses on social media issues

Posted by Elena del Valle on March 21, 2012

The Social Media Monthly magazine March 2012
The Social Media Monthly magazine March 2012

Photos: The Social Media Monthly

While media in general have been shrinking nationwide (see Report outlines media evolution, growth of new and online media), and many have been shedding veteran employees there are a handful of new publications. For example, last year Cool Blue Company, LLC in Washington, D.C. launched The Social Media Monthly magazine targeting general consumers and the 99.9 percent of the population “that don’t consider themselves social media experts.”

The print magazine has 64 pages in addition to the cover and a fifty fifty split between editorial and advertising content. A single full-time staff person, editor-in-chief Bob Fine, produces the monthly magazine with a retail circulation of 23,000 in 19 countries. An annual subscription costs $34.99 and a single issue, available for purchase on the magazine website, costs $6.99.

The Social Media Monthly magazine January 2012

The Social Media Monthly magazine January 2012

As of this writing the online edition lists individual articles by Rory Cooper, Adriel Hampton, Silvia Baroni, Faye Anderson, Mike Brown, Rose De Fremery, Ted Nguyen, Masha Hedayati, Amy Vernon, Dave Sachse, and Sterling Zumbrunn. Topics in that issues, according to the website, include data collection, political Tweets, moms blogging and brands, the United Nations, mobile apps, the Republicans and social media, Obama 2012, and little known social networks.

NLB, SiriusXM launch channels targeting Latinos

Posted by Elena del Valle on February 8, 2012

Nelson Albareda, president and CEO, NLB
Nelson Albareda, president and CEO, NLB

Photo: Event US Live

Last month, National Latino Broadcasting, LLC (NLB) launched En Vivo, a music channel targeting United States Hispanics 18 to 49 years of age with a mix of hits and live performances; and Cristina, a talk show centered channel relying on the well known television gabber, part of a two-channel deal with Sirius XM Radio.

En Vivo, airing on SiriusXM channel 147, is expected to feature Tu Mañana Live, a bilingual morning talk show; The Mash Up, an English and Spanish language contemporary music program; Concierto En Vivo, offering concerts from around the world; and Club En Vivo with live broadcasts from some of the nation’s best clubs.

“We are convinced that En Vivo will become a favorite for Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike looking for a channel where Latin music is more than a preference; it is a lifestyle. The sheer diversity of genres within this music makes the programming possibilities truly exciting and our partnership with The Latin Recording Academy makes this endeavor unique and unprecedented,” said Nelson Albareda, president and chief executive officer, NLB.

Thanks to an exclusive deal with The Latin Recording Academy, according to promotional materials, En Vivo will become the official satellite radio part of the Latin Grammys. En Vivo plans to air daily content related to the Latin Grammy Awards and archival material.

Cristina Saralegui
Cristina Saralegui will have a one-hour show on the Cristina Channel

The En Vivo slogan is Donde Nace la Música (Where Music Is Born). The channel will broadcast from a new state-of-the-art facility in Miami and has secured partnerships with studios in New York and Los Angeles. These performance studios will allow live concerts to be broadcast as daily and weekly specials. Additional programming highlights include new music and a live recorded performance per hour.

The Cristina Channel with Cristina Saralegui will include a one-hour show with the talk show host targeting women 24 to 54 years old. NLB also plans to offer 24 hour daily programming on news, entertainment, music, and political issues on that channel.

National Latino Broadcasting, LLC (NLB), owned exclusively by Eventus, according to a spokesperson for Eventus is a media company targeting Latino communities in the United States through “entertaining and informative programming while creating innovative marketing solutions for marketers” targeting Latino consumers. The new channels will be promoted via a public relations campaign in English and Spanish.

SiriusXM, a satellite radio company, broadcasts 135 satellite radio channels of music, and sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic, weather, and data services to 21 million subscribers.

Change in frequency, distribution points leads to higher TVNotas USA sales

Posted by Elena del Valle on February 1, 2012

TVNotas February 2012

TVNotas USA cover February 2012

Photo: Maya Publishing Group

In 2010, TVNotas USA, a weekly Spanish language editorial gossip magazine launched in 1999 in the United States and sold mainly at newsstands, had a circulation of 150,000. Due to the economic downturn the magazine reduced publication to twice a month (26 issues per year) in November 2010 (see Maya institutes publication changes effective immediately). By 2011, circulation had increased to 220,000 boosting the magazine’s points of distribution nationally.

Sales rose 18 percent between 2010 and 211, marketing staff believe, due in part to the lesser frequency of publication which provided more exposure time, and the added points of distribution. TVNotas USA targets Spanish dominant women 18 to 44 years of age and publishes 1.2 million magazines per year with an estimated reach of 7.9 million thanks to a pass along rate of 6.4. More than 50 percent of the readership is of Mexican origin.

Jusmir Gonzalez, editor, TVNotas USA

Jusmir Gonzalez, editor, TVNotas USA

The magazine’s 96 interior pages and four cover pages are divided into 70 percent editorial content and 30 percent ads. Editorial, produced in the United States and Mexico, is 57 percent entertainment; 11 percent each celebrity interviews, fashion and beauty, and lifestyle; and 5 percent each food and recipes and other content. Jusmir Gonzalez is the new editor of the magazine.

The magazine also has an online presence, tvnotasusa.com, with frequent updates published by Grupo Editorial Notmusa of Mexico, the parent company of Maya Publishing Group. The website had an audience of one million its first year of operations.

Maker Studios, YouTube target bilingual audiences

Posted by Elena del Valle on January 23, 2012

The cast of Melodia de Amor on Tutele

The cast of Melodia de Amor on Tutele

Photos: Tutele/Maker Studios

In November 2011, Maker Studios, owned by “top YouTube stars,” backed by venture capital firms and funded by YouTube as an Original Partner, began targeting Latinos in the United States, Mexico, South America and Spain with The Tutele Network, Tutele and Tutele Dos, on YouTube. The two channels, youtube.com/tutele and youtube.com/tuteledos, offer three original bilingual English and Spanish web programs each per week. Tutele.tv, a similarly named website, is not affiliated with the Network. Plans are in place to develop a website for The Tutele Network.

Jay Bugarin, head, Bilingual Programming Tutele/Tutele Dos

Jay Bugarin, head, Bilingual Programming Tutele/Tutele Dos

“Tutele is our main hub, currently our programming consists of our action/comedy show Si, es I, Pepe, the novela Melodia de Amor and our own News, Variety and Entertainment show Hello Domingote,” said Jay Bugarin, head, Bilingual Programming Tutele/Tutele Dos. “Tutele Dos has extras such as behind the scenes videos, interviews with our talent, and ‘confessionals’ from the characters of the shows. This will give our viewers a front row seat to the interesting world of our creative talent and to the many adventures of our unique team.”

“Our content gets monetized through adsense, sales, brand integrations, product placement, etc. We work closely with YouTube in relation to potential brand integration that may be fitting for our network,” he replied when asked how The Tutele Network, generates revenue.

Sam Macaroni as the evil "El Jefe" on the action/comedy show Si! Es I, Pepe

Sam Macaroni as the evil “El Jefe” on the action comedy show Si! Es I, Pepe

Tutele, the net’s main portal, and Tutele Dos, its ancillary content portal, have programming in Spanish, English and Spanglish. Tutele has 12 online channels and two hub channels. The network’s focus is cultural programming for young and adult Latino audiences. Executives plan to broadcast behind-the-scenes videos, interviews with network talent and guest stars, and “confessionals” from characters of the shows on the network on Tutele Dos. Also, The Tutele Network partnered with already established and successful online channels aimed at the Latino community.

According to promotional materials, Maker Studios is an online media company featuring content from KassemG, The Game Station, NicePeter’s Epic Rap Battles of History, the ShayTards, LisaNova and Ray William Johnson. Maker Studios boasts of having over 500 million views online per month. The company, which produces and distributes content for 250 online channels with 31 million subscribers and 1.8 billion views, produces or manages and distributes 16 of the top 20 channels on YouTube.

Vme to air controversial Kennedys miniseries with Spanish voiceovers

Posted by Elena del Valle on January 20, 2012

Los Kennedys, a miniseries with Spanish language voiceovers

Los Kennedys, a miniseries with Spanish language voiceovers

Photos: Vme

Beginning at 10 p.m. January 30 Vme will air Los Kennedy, an eight-part Emmy award-winning miniseries, for the first time with Spanish-language voiceovers. The Kennedys series, starring Greg Kinnear, Katie Holmes, Barry Pepper and Tom Wilkinson, first aired in the United States in English last year on the ReelzChannel. The final 60-minute segment will air March 19, 2012.

Marian de la Fuente, Vme host and news anchor, will introduce the episodes, highlighting events of historic interest to the Spanish language preferring audience and speculating on how she believes the events depicted in the series may impact viewers lives today. Catherine Siachoque, a Colombian actress, lent her voice for the Spanish-language voice of Jackie Kennedy. Julio Bracho was the Spanish language voice of John F. Kennedy and Gabriela Vergara the voice of Marilyn Monroe.

Jackie Kennedy character in Los Kennedys

“Jackie Kennedy” in Los Kennedys

Los Kennedy explores the events that shaped the infamous Kennedy dynasty from the 1930s to 1968, including the patriarchal attitudes and tactics of Joe Kennedy, John’s first run for Congress, the death of Joe Jr., Robert’s loyalty to John’s political career and John’s marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier, ending with the assassinations of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

The miniseries was produced by Muse Entertainment (Human Trafficking, Pillars of the Earth) and written by the producers and writers of 24, Steve Kronish and Joel Surnow. The Kennedys series met heavy resistance from the inception of the project and early scripts were criticized by former colleagues of President John F. Kennedy and some guardians of his legacy.

This year, according to Vme promotional materials, Los Kennedy has been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Movies of the Week/Mini-Series by the American Society of Cinematographers, the 2012 Producers Guild Award. Jon Cassar, the director, was nominated for the Directors Guild Award.

Vme, a 24-hour Spanish language network partnered with public television stations, is available free over-the-air, and on basic digital cable nationally via satellite; in the basic and Hispanic packages of Dish Network and DirecTV and on Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse.

Hulu targets U.S. Spanish speakers

Posted by Elena del Valle on January 4, 2012

Hulu Latino

Photo: Hulu Latino

Hulu, an online portal offering ad supported video content from NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, and Nickelodeon among others, decided recently to target Spanish speakers in the United States with a new channel, Hulu Latino (hulu.com/latino). Content for the new portal, only available domestically, is provided and selected by eleven companies: Azteca America, Butaca, Caracol Televisión, Comarex, Estrella TV, Imagina US, Laguna Productions, Maya Entertainment, RCTV, Todobebe Inc, and Venevision.

Hulu staff hope to capture the under served market segments of the video watching Hispanic market. They believe that, based on Nielsen data, 78 percent of that segment is bilingual. A spokesperson explained by email that promotion of the new channel will be the responsibility of its content partners. She declined to identify Hulu audience numbers, the exact target audience for the new portal or the exact number of Spanish language videos on offer.

She responded by email saying “The portal launched with hundreds of hours of Spanish-language film and TV shows on Hulu and Hulu Plus;” and “Hulu does not break out specific viewership information, but what we can say is that we are very excited about the new audiences we expect to serve with this content.”

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times (Hulu launches Latino service with Spanish-language programming) December 13, 2011 there are five Hulu Latino sponsors, Corona, Modelo, Toyota, Pantene, and Volkswagen of America.

NBCUniversal (Comcast/General Electric), News Corporation, The Walt Disney Company and Providence Equity Partners (owner of Newport Television) own Hulu. Founded in March 2007, Hulu has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Tokyo and Beijing.

Classical, seasonal music for Hispanics on radio for holidays

Posted by Elena del Valle on December 14, 2011

Thalia at SiriusXM Studio November 1, 2011 in New York City
Thalia at SiriusXM Studio November 1, 2011 in New York City

Photos: SiriusXM, WGBH Radio, Vesper Public Relations

This holiday season classical music and Latino holiday music fans may enjoy the radio selections of Frank Dominguez on Feliz Navidad from Concierto. The host and producer recorded eight hours of bilingual classical music targeting a public radio audience and educated audiences of Latino origin who he believes are the fastest growing arts audience, and the most under served.

Feliz Navidad from Concierto will air on WGBH Radio Classical New England at 99.5 on the radio dial and online on Friday December 23 between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. According to promotional materials, during the pre-recorded program Dominguez shares traditional Spanish language holiday villancicios and sacred works by Joaquin Rodrigo, as well as traditional international carols and Christmas songs performed by Placido Domingo and pianist Gabriela Montero.

Feliz Ano Nuevo with Concierto! is scheduled to air the following Friday at the same time. During that program, Dominguez explores the New Year’s tradition with a Spanish language orientation, sharing with the audience traditional Mexican waltzes played by Cuarteto Latinoamerican, and Viennese Waltzes conducted by Argentina natives Daniel Barendoim and Carlos Kleiber.

Frank Dominguez, host, Concierto
Frank Dominguez, host, Concierto

Based at WDAV in North Carolina, Dominguez, host of Concierto, has also directed and hosted live concert broadcasts by the Charlotte Symphony, Opera Carolina, Charlotte Chamber Music, the Spoleto Festival USA and the Brevard Music Center. In addition, he has worked extensively in local theater as an actor and director, including productions for Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte, CAST, Theatre Charlotte and Opera Carolina.

Los Tigres del Norte
Los Tigres del Norte

Between December 2, 2011 and January 6, 2012 SiriusXM Navidad will be available on channel 501 to subscribers of the satellite music service. Music from Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Thalia, José Feliciano, Aventura, Marco Antonio Solís y Christina Aguilera is planned.

Charlie Zaa, guest DJ, SiriusXM

Charlie Zaa, guest DJ, SiriusXM

Guest DJs include Romeo Santos, Charlie Zaa, Thalía and Los Tigres Del Norte. Some of the songs scheduled to air are El Año Viejo, Llegó La Navidad, La Parranda, Rodolfo El Reno De La Nariz Roja, La Temporada es Buena, Feliz Navidad, Aires de Navidad, Navidad Sin Ti, No Hay Cama Pa’ Tanta Gente y El Burrito Sabanero. Navidad is available on Edge and Limited Engagements 3 by SiriusXM Internet Radio channel 813.