Grupo Samba Launches ‘La Ola Latina’.

Grupo Samba, a Dallas-based marketing firm specializing in the US Hispanic and Latin American markets, announced the launch of what they believe is an unprecedented approach to establishing the value of marketing to the US Hispanic market.

According to Juan Faura, president of Grupo Samba, LA OLA LATINA (The Latino Wave) will be a coordinated effort to get US Hispanic consumers to purchase specific brands for four weeks during the months of August and September. “The idea is to show US marketers what marketing to US Hispanic consumers could mean to their bottom line,” Faura said. “We all know the numbers, and we all talk about the opportunity, but we feel it is time to bring that opportunity to life for US marketers.”

According to Faura, Grupo Samba will develop creative to support the effort and will broker agreements with Spanish language media to promote the initiative. “We already have some commitments from radio and print media, but we are looking for more vehicles to participate. We will look to television next,” explained Edgar Cardoze, Director of Media at Dieste & Partners, a Dallas-based Hispanic advertising agency. The project will entail asking consumers in each selected Hispanic market to buy two of eight specific brands for four weeks starting in August and ending with the 16th of September weekend, Mexico’s Independence Day. “Boycotts have been utilized for decades to show solidarity. We just felt that a ‘Buycott’ was a positive spin on the same idea,” Faura said.

The effort will start in one market, where consumers will be asked to buy two specific brands of daily-use household items for that specific week. “We want people to buy what they would have bought anyway, we will just ask them to buy a specific brand,” Faura explained. The next week a different market will be asked to purchase two different brands. The “OLA,” or wave, will then roll over two additional markets with Los Angeles closing out the effort. A panel composed of senior executives from Grupo Samba, Dieste & Partners and participating media channels will select the brands. Once the brands are selected, the announcement will take place two weeks prior to the start of the initiative. Until then, communications will emphasize the objectives of the effort and the importance of participating to Hispanic consumers. None of the brands selected will be asked to pay for the communication effort.

“We just need to explain to the consumer why we are asking them to buy certain brands for the specific period,” Faura said. “We feel confident that once they understand it, they will support it.”

According to Faura, an integral part of the effort will entail the selected brands donating a percentage of the incremental revenue achieved through the LA OLA LATINA effort to the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Hispanic efforts. “That way it’s really a win all around. Marketers get the additional revenue and show support for the Hispanic community, Hispanic media gets to flex their communications muscle, the Hispanic market shows its strength, and the fight against neuromuscular diseases in the Hispanic community gets an infusion of much needed contributions.

”Like I said, it’s a win all around,“ comments Joe Espitia, associate media director at Dieste & Partners. According to Faura, the effort will not be limited to Spanish-language media channels. ”Anybody who is interested in communicating with the Hispanic market and who wants to show their reach can participate.“ While television will be a part of the effort, special considerations will be given to alternative broadcast and print media.

”We already know the value of using television in the Hispanic media mix. Now we want to provide other media like radio, print, interactive and outdoor an opportunity to show what they’ve got,“ explained Cardoze. If successful, the initiative could further fuel additional interest in marketing to the Hispanic market sparked by census 2000 results which showed higher than expected growth in the Hispanic market.

”The census numbers were a big wake up call to corporate America. We just want to make sure they don’t hit the snooze button and miss the boat,“ said Faura.