According to the 2000 Census report, the U.S. population of people of Hispanic descent is dramatically increasing—it now totals 35.3 million people, or 13 percent of the total population. With numbers like that, it’s no surprise that advertisers are taking notice.
La Agencia de Orcí de Asociados, Los Angeles—the agency also has an office in Chicago—is a 15-year-old firm that creates advertising for the U.S. Hispanic community, and works with such clients as Verizon, Honda and Allstate Insurance. The agency recently commissioned a research study on how best to communicate with women of varying ages and backgrounds, who live in the Southern California region. SHOOT recently spoke with Norma Orcí, co-founder/co-chairman/chief creative officer at the shop, about the survey, and about the increase in advertising aimed at this growing population.
SHOOT: How did La Agencia de Orcí & Asociados get started?
Orcí: My husband, Hector Orcí [co-founder/co-chairman of La Agencia de Orcí], and I were recruited by McCann-Erickson, Los Angeles, to start a Hispanic division here in 1982. At that time, we were working in Mexico, at separate agencies. We were both intrigued by the idea. So we worked for McCann until the end of ’86, when we became an independent shop. [The shop has a third partner, Marlena Garcia, who is president of Orcí Public Relations, and partner/executive VP of La Agencia de Orcí & Asociados.]
SHOOT: Where had you worked before being recruited by McCann-Erickson?
Orcí: Hector and I were both in Mexico City. He was the president of the Mexico City office of Doyle Dane Bernbach (now DDB), while I was a creative director at Noble Asociados.
SHOOT: Recent reports show that spending by advertisers in the U.S. Hispanic community has increased, while general market advertising for those same advertisers has fallen off. What do you think accounts for the increase in spending?
Orcí: One thing that we as an agency do is include measurement in every advertising campaign. We document the efforts and the results, so that clients are very clear as to what they’re getting for their investment. We can point to results per dollar spent, so we feel we’re on a pretty solid base when we tell clients, "You spend a dollar; you’re going to get X dollars back in return."
The Hispanic market is more recession proof than the general market, in that you have more people that work [within a household] and bring money into the household. If one person is laid off in the house, the others pick up the slack.
Also, the budgets for Hispanic advertising aren’t big to begin with. Hispanic advertising typically represents around one percent of an advertiser’s budget; if the advertiser needs to make cuts, Hispanic is not the best place to make them.
SHOOT: Do you think advertising to the U.S. Hispanic market will increase even more in the coming years?
Orcí: Yes, definitely. In the past, a lot of advertisers have—how shall I say—been either ignoring the Hispanic market or hoping we’ll all learn English. The latest U.S. Census shows that our numbers are increasing dramatically. We have been expecting [the U.S. Hispanic population] to overtake the [U.S. population of] African-Americans around the middle of the decade, and we’ve caught up with that group already.
And now, what is interesting is that the world has "discovered" Hispanics, and we’re hot, thanks to the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin. Now it’s kind of cool to be a Latino, which has led many advertisers to be aware of our market.
SHOOT: As head of one of the country’s largest ad agencies specializing in advertising aimed at the Hispanic market, what do you think is the best creative approach to take in advertising to that population?
Orcí: Our agency [creates work] based on what we call the Share of Heart philosophy. We know that Latinos make a lot of decisions based on emotional considerations—in addition to practical considerations. So we determine how a product fits into that consumer’s life and what they need to know about it—how to use it, how they’ll look in it, and so on. We do a lot of research, we look for those deep insights about how the product fits into their life, and we then create advertising that connects with those consumers.
For example, two [major] things are important to Hispanics: people and relationships. And they tend to project relationships onto the brands and services that they use. When we do advertising we are aware that this is the face time we have to deepen the relationship between the consumer and the product. And we are very aware of how we’ve communicated with the consumer about that product in the past.
SHOOT: Can you give me an example of an advertising campaign you’ve done that relates to the target audience and helps build their relationship with the brand?
Orcí: For Verizon, for instance, we know that Latinos use long distance tremendously. They have family and friends in their home countries, and the need to communicate with them is of high importance—[as an agency], you have to know that to talk to them in meaningful ways.
We also know that Latinos come to this country to succeed and progress. We like to reflect this by showing their struggles—and their successes. In one Verizon spot, "Taxi," directed by Jorge Colon of Letca Films, Miami, there was a young Latina working as a taxi driver, and she’s also studying in school on the side. The spot reflected how, in the uptimes and the downtimes, it was important for her to pick up the phone and be close to her family back home.
SHOOT: Is humor ever a part of advertising campaigns created by your agency?
Orcí: Sometimes, when it’s appropriate, but we don’t use humor to the degree it is used in general market advertising. One example where we’ve used humor is in "Beach," a Washington Mutual Bank spot from several years ago. [The ad was directed by the late DJ. Webster, who was with Carbo Films, Santa Monica.] The spot promoted the bank’s free checking service—which has received a tremendously successful response. We tried to convey that there are some things you shouldn’t have to pay for. The spot shows a couple arriving at beach, where you see that everyone laid out on their towels has a parking meter next to them.
SHOOT: What do you consider some of your agency’s creative highlights of the past year?
Orcí: The Honda campaign is a jewel in the crown. We have a lot of fun with it. We’ve been doing their Hispanic advertising for eleven years. Before we started working with them, Honda was number six in sales to Hispanics and, in ’90 they went to number one in sales to Hispanics—a position they have maintained ever since. I’ve concluded that this is because, (a) it’s a wonderful product and, (b) we do great advertising that really connects with the consumer. Another highlight might be Verizon.
SHOOT: Your agency recently conducted a research study, "Dreams & Obstacles, Understanding Latinas." Could you tell me a bit about it?
Orcí: We surveyed Latina women from the Los Angeles area. The women were of many different national origins; they ranged in ages from ten to women in their fifties. With these studies, we came up with a series of promotional and community programs that our clients can sponsor. Although I can’t discuss what we’ve proposed based on this study—because we are still presenting it to clients—I can say this study yielded a rich harvest.
SHOOT: Even though the survey was conducted with women in Southern California, does it have implications for other cities?
Orcí: Yes, probably most for women in the Southwest region, although there are some insights that apply to all Latinas. For instance, we found that they are loving and admiring of their parents—and are most admiring of their moms, for their sacrifice and hard work in raising them. But their parents are not the role models they have—they don’t want to make the same mistakes. Because being Latino is now in fashion, a lot more role models are visible to the community, and to the general market.
SHOOT: So what might the implications of that be for advertising?
Orcí: It may translate into using in advertising spokespeople that our target wants to emulate.
The study also revealed some interesting differences among the age groups. It’s interesting how young kids, about ten or eleven, have a very different situation than that of their older sisters or mothers. Because they’re living in a time when it’s cool to be Latino, it’s had a really strong effect on how they see themselves, and see themselves fitting in this culture.
