Cable’s Best Multicultural Marketing Campaigns

By John P. Ourand Cox’s Latino package Paquete, which launched last September, was the biggest winner in this year’s Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Case Study Competition, co-sponsored by CTAM, NAMIC, ESPN Deportes and CableWORLD. Cox’s Paquete garnered two first-place awards. Nickelodeon won the other first-place award with its Dora the Explorer mall tour. The awards will be presented Sept. 12 at the NAMIC Conference. All entries will be posted on CTAM’s website. Case Study Campaigns, First-Place Winners Cox
Paquete Latino Launch and Acquisition Campaign Frustrated by poor penetration in Hispanic markets, Cox revamped its video offering for Latinos. The result was the digital package Paquete, which launched last September with 36 Spanish-language networks. Most important, Cox dropped the requirement that consumers had to buy expanded basic to get Spanish channels, making the offering much cheaper. Results have been staggering. Cox increased Hispanic consumers by 210% in Oklahoma City, 202% in Middle America and 92% in Omaha, according to the company. These numbers are even better than Cox’s gaudy projections of a 50% jump. Cox
New England Paquete
Latino Launch Thanks to the successful launch of Paquete, Cox’s New England system saw an opportunity to push its other services, specifically phone, which research showed is the service Hispanic consumers value the most. Cox timed its marketing messages around Christian and Hispanic holidays and the results were impressive. Since August 2004, Cox New England has grown its Hispanic base by 82%. And those new adds love Cox’s bundle. Nearly 93% of Paquete customers also subscribe to digital phone; 68% take high-speed Internet; and 45% take all three. Nickelodeon
La Casa de Dora
Mall Tour To position its popular Hispanic cartoon character Dora the Explorer as a Latino icon, Nickelodeon launched a free mall tour over the summer that was successful by all measures. Nick brought a life-size replica of Dora’s house to shopping malls in predominately Hispanic communities. The results: More than 42,000 people visited the tour (63% were Hispanic), and more than 11,000 people entered a sweepstakes giving away a stay at the Nickelodeon Family Suites in Orlando. Nick is planning a second tour for next summer. In addition to the three Case Study winners, the Excellence in Multicultural Marketing judges gave out 15 first-place awards for specific marketing tactics. These are individual pieces from marketing campaigns that fared well, rather than the entire campaign. Comcast and S�TV each took five first-place prizes. You can find these campaigns on the Web at www.ctam.com. Comcast
`Now What?’
Direct Mail
Targeting ethnic audiences with direct mail pieces, Comcast Atlanta saw a 2.03% take rate on its direct mail and an 18% subscriber lift in its targeted markets. NBC Universal
Quiero Mas
Direct Mail
NBC Universal helped cable systems gain almost 20,000 subscribers during this campaign alerting Hispanic consumers that Olympics coverage was available in Spanish on Telemundo. Comcast
Chinese Website
Internet/New Media
Comcast in San Francisco increased Chinese video subscribers by 13.9% after partnering with Chinese Web portal Sina.com, which translated the system’s website into Chinese. ImaginAsian TV
iaLink
Internet/New Media
ImaginAsian TV saw a 1,000% increase in Web traffic once it began showcasing Asian-American events and people on its webzine, iaLink. The network also sponsored such APA events. Comcast
HSI Asian Testimonial
Print, Wild Card
Comcast’s Northern California system saw a 374% increase in call volume during a 30-day testimonial campaign (pictured above) targeting the area’s 1.6 million Asians. S�TV
`Connect With Generation S�’
Print
S�TV attracted interest from advertisers (Coke and Cadbury Schweppes) and potential partners (Universal Records and Universal Home Video) after creating an effective print and online campaign. Road Runner
`Move Here’ Campaign
Radio
Time Warner Cable targeted Hispanic consumers with its Spanish-only and bilingual Road Runner campaign that promoted a nationwide sense of community among its Latino base. S�TV
Latino Laugh Festival
Radio
S�TV got its message out to the 18-to-34 Latino demo through a comedy event it co-produced with Cox Las Vegas. A partnership with Latino radio station KLUC helped it reach that demo. Time Warner Cable
Parental Control
Television
Time Warner Cable’s New York City system showed Hispanic subscribers how to use parental controls with a series of English- and Spanish-language tutorial spots. BET
BET Awards Promo
Television
The BET Awards ’04 became the most-watched program in the net’s history (5.1 rating; 4.1 million homes) thanks in part to this funny spot featuring BET’s "Smith Family Robinson." Comcast
Quita el Plata
Out of Home
Sixty days into this marketing campaign, Comcast Atlanta convinced 600 Hispanic homes to ditch their dishes and subscribe to its Hispanic digital package. S�TV
NYC Cinema Buy
Out of Home
Soon after its launch on Time Warner Cable’s New York City digital tier, S�TV ran theater ads to let people know where to find it. The network saw a 10% increase in website traffic. S�TV
Street Teams/Taco Truck
Grassroots & Guerrilla
At the National Show in San Francisco, S�TV offered late-night partiers snacks from its taco truck and sent "street teams" outfitted in S�TV colors and logos to events. S�TV
`Mixtape’
Wild Card
S�TV gained Los Angeles viewers through an underground "mixtape" featuring unsigned L.A. artists. Popular DJ Lady Tribe mixed the tape, which included S�TV interstitials.