As more brand managers come to the realization that the Hispanic consumer plays an important role in the current and future health of their brands, the struggle to find enough money within the advertising budget to succeed across targets has intensified.
Over the past decade or more, most of the larger brands have carved out sufficient ad budgets to engage Hispanics with dedicated creative, and the debate is around whether to create separate campaigns or to work Hispanic-targeted messages into a more Total Market approach. But for smaller brands with more limited ad budgets, the temptation is to create a single campaign, and to simply translate the English-language ads into Spanish for targeted Hispanic media venues.
Before going this lower cost route, advertisers need to consider the tradeoffs that are involved. Not only will Hispanic-targeted ads that are just translated versions of General Market ads not work as well, they can actually backfire on the brand.
We know from our research that, with the exception of the least acculturated Hispanics, the majority of Hispanics who see your targeted ads also are exposed to your General Market targeted media. Engaging with the same ad in two different languages doesn’t further develop a message by building on the existing campaign, it simply increases viewing frequency for the ad. In contrast, by developing a new ad instead of translating an existing one, advertisers can create an execution that contains relevant tones and speaks directly to the Hispanic consumer. An ad crafted specifically for the Hispanic audience will be more engaging and will contribute to the intensity of the brand’s campaign. A consumer who has engaged with multiple touch points—the ads targeting General Market consumers and the ads specifically targeting Hispanics – is more persuaded than a consumer who just sees the same ad (albeit in two languages) multiple times.
But more importantly, running translated General Market targeted ads may actually be worse than running no Spanish language ads at all. Consumers know that brands are trying to establish a personal connection with them through advertising, but also knowing that these brands didn’t take the time or effort to craft something designed to actually speak with them makes them feel like a lesser priority. As a Hispanic consumer, there is no compelling reason to build affinity with a brand that generalizes you and thinks that advertising crafted for a different audience will have the same effect on you if it’s simply in your language.
By translating advertisements that were shaped for General Market consumers instead of creating a different execution specifically designed for the Hispanic audience, advertisers are missing out on a big opportunity and potentially even driving Hispanics away from their brands. At best, translating ads into Spanish simply adds viewing frequency by using expensive media vehicles and does not build brand affinity or campaign intensity, while at worst executing this tactic may be alienating Hispanic consumers and negatively impacting brand affinity among this important target segment.
