9297: Reaching Latinos Beyond Telemundo.

From Advertising Age…

State Farm Tests NBC’s English-Speaking Networks to Reach Hispanic Consumers

Insurer Goes Beyond Telemundo and Signs Up to Try ‘Hispanics at NBCU’ Media Plan

By Brian Steinberg

You don’t need to just speak Spanish to reach the nation’s millions of Hispanic and Latino consumers.

In a new effort to get the word out about the durability and quality of its service to various generations of Hispanic consumers, State Farm is launching a multimedia effort across various properties owned by Comcast’s NBC Universal. Rather than keeping the campaign housed solely at NBCU’s Telemundo and Mun2 networks, however, the insurance company will also beam promotions via Style, NBC and E!

“The acculturation of this country is changing, especially with the younger demographic,” said Tim Van Hoof, advertising director at State Farm. “It’s not as simple as saying, ‘I’m going to reach Hispanics in print and with broadcast.’ How do we get a more effective way to reach a broader group of Hispanics—those who speak Spanish, those who speak English and those who speak both?”

So State Farm is trying NBC Universal’s suggested answer, “Hispanics at NBCU,” a program begun in April meant to help marketers reach this broad group of consumers across the company’s various media holdings.

More advertisers could face similar questions in days to come. If 12% of the U.S. population speaks Spanish, more than half that group speaks English proficiently, too, NBC Universal says, citing U.S. Census data. As an earlier generation of Spanish-speaking U.S. residents gives way to a new one, marketers now face consumers who are more broadly integrated into U.S. culture and media, which means they consume from a broader array of content choices.

State Farm ads will be tailored to each media property in which they appear. The company’s campaign is centered around the ALMA Awards, an awards show honoring Latinos in entertainment. The program will air on the NBC broadcast network this Friday, during Hispanic Heritage month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. On-air spots will run during the NBC broadcast as well as during mun2’s rebroadcast of the awards show. The campaign will also include online ads in both Spanish and English on Telemundo.com, as well as tune-in reminders on the Style cable network and video vignettes congratulating winners on E!

Before and after the NBC broadcast of the awards, Telemundo’s morning show, “Levantate,” will show profiles of ALMA nominees. Short pieces of content that promote State Farm will profile nominees and winners during Telemnudo programming in September.

The campaign aims to “target Hispanics across different mediums, different languages and different acculturations,” said Jacqueline Hernandez, head of Hispanics at NBC Universal and chief operating officer of Telemundo.

It also aims to bring more ad dollars under the NBC Universal umbrella. State Farm’s Mr. Van Hoof declined to comment on the amount being spent with NBC Universal as part of the new campaign, but said it involved an increase from prior spending with the media conglomerate. In 2010, State Farm spent approximately $15.3 million on Telemundo and about $117,500 with Mun2, according to data from Kantar.

NBC Universal has for the last few years devised various ad programs meant to help marketers reach specific groups of consumers aligned around a specific communal point. In addition to addressing Hispanics, it has also created programs for reaching women, people concerned about the environment and consumers who are health-conscious.