July 30, 2008
By STUART ELLIOTT
A popular campaign for M&M’s is taking on a Spanish accent.
The campaign, which carries the theme “There’s an M&M in everyone,” presents human beings who assume the looks and characteristics of the walking, talking candies that have sold M&M’s products since 1995.
The English-language ads were introduced in January 2007 by BBDO Worldwide in New York, part of the Omnicom Group. The Spanish-language ads, due to begin appearing next Monday, carry the theme “Uncover the fun inside yourself. Become an M&M.”
The campaign is being introduced by LatinWorks in Austin, Tex., an agency that specializes in marketing to Spanish-speaking people. LatinWorks and BBDO are corporate siblings; Omnicom owns a minority stake in LatinWorks.
The Spanish-language ads, like the English ads, will offer renderings of celebrities as M&M’s to convey the idea of unleashing one’s inner M&M. That is being underscored with a sentence in the new ads: “Have fun like a star with M&M’s.”
The first Hispanic celebrity to appear in the new ads is Wilmer Valderrama, the young actor known for his role in the long-running Fox sitcom “That ’70s Show.” The second will be Cristina Saralegui, the host of the national Spanish-language talk show on Univision, “El Show de Cristina.”
The campaign, with an undisclosed budget, is emblematic of the increasing focus by mainstream marketers on Spanish-speaking consumers. With Hispanics becoming the fastest-growing part of the American population, brands like M&M’s are starting to aim messages at them in Spanish or step up efforts to do so.
M&M’s is the second product sold by Mars Snackfood U.S. — a division of the giant consumer-products company Mars — to sponsor a Spanish-language campaign in addition to its English-language ads. The first such campaign, introduced in 2006, was for the Snickers candy bar.
“We try to look to see if our general-market program is connecting with all consumers,” says Michele Kessler, vice president for marketing at Mars Snackfood U.S. in Hackettstown, N.J.
When it is not, “we supplement that to provide better reach,” she adds.
In considering Spanish-language ads for its brands, Ms. Kessler says, “it’s different for each campaign.”
The Spanish ads for Snickers are “very different” from the English ads, she adds, while the M&M’s ads in Spanish are adopting the premise of the English-language campaign.
One reason for that may be what Ms. Kessler calls the “significant growth” for the M&M’s product line since the start of the English-language campaign early last year.
“We’ve leveraged it across pretty much everything we’ve done,” Ms. Kessler says, including the introduction of ads for M&M’s Dark Chocolate that feature M&M’s versions of the cast members of the TV sitcom “The Addams Family.”
BBDO has been casting a wide net in transforming actors, athletes and other celebrities into M&M’s for the English-language campaign.
Sometimes they appear in character, like the cast of “The Addams Family” and Burt Reynolds, whose M&M’s likeness is as “Bandit,” the role he played in the 1977 movie “Smokey and the Bandit.”
Other celebrities appear as themselves — that is, their M&M’s are styled after how they look in real life. Among them are the chef Bobby Flay, the race-car driver Kyle Busch and the mother and daughter TV team of Joan and Melissa Rivers.
The M&M’s candy for Mr. Valderrama is modeled after him rather than any role he plays. A magazine ad shows him standing on a red carpet with photographers and fans in the background. He is smiling and waving a hand. (Yes, the animated M&M’s have hands, albeit with four fingers apiece.)
The ad is part of a sponsorship by M&M’s of the Alma Awards, to be presented by the National Council of La Raza on Sept. 12 in a ceremony to be broadcast by ABC.
In this instance, LatinWorks decided to “stay close to the general-market strategy,” says Alex Campo, associate creative director at the agency, because “the truth of the campaign is so universal, whatever your language.”
“It’s based more on a human insight than an ethnic insight,” he adds.
After studying the English-language campaign, says Luciana Gomez, group account director at LatinWorks, “we gave it a Hispanic spin, if you will.”
“We’re making sure we have people who are influential in the community, role models,” she adds. “If we used Kyle Busch, it wouldn’t be as relevant.”
Having Mr. Valderrama as an endorser is intended “to reach the bi-cultural,” Ms. Gomez says, referring to Hispanics who speak English as well as Spanish and are familiar with mainstream culture along with TV shows, movies, music and media in Spanish. Many of those Hispanics are first-generation or second-generation Americans.
The ad featuring Ms. Saralegui, which will appear in the fall, will be “targeting the Spanish-dominant Univision watchers,” Ms. Gomez says, referring to Hispanics who are immersed in Spanish all or most of the time. Univision is the most-watched TV network for Hispanic viewers.
In fact, says Ms. Kessler of Mars Snackfood U.S., the next Hispanic campaign for one of her brands, the Starburst candy line, which begins later this year, “will be targeting acculturated Latinos” because of its appeal to younger consumers.
A promotion last week for another M&M’s product, the new line of M&M’s Ice Cream Treats, used a Hispanic celebrity who is popular with bi-cultural consumers. He is Mario Lopez of “Saved by the Bell” and “Dancing With the Stars,” who is now appearing on Broadway in the musical “A Chorus Line” (and in People magazine as its “hottest bachelor” of 2008.)
The need to address Hispanics who are Spanish-dominant or bi-cultural is indicative of the challenges that face advertisers entering the market.
“Hispanic marketing is complicated,” Mr. Campos says. “There is not just one single consumer and with several countries of origin, there are slightly different ways of speaking.”
“And once we’re here,” he adds, “we assimilate at different paces.”
Ms. Gomez says the differences are noticeable within the agency, too, where “most of us are Hispanics.”
“It makes it interesting for us to work on this on a daily basis,” she adds.
Since “That ’70s Show” ended a successful run in 2006, Mr. Valderrama has perhaps become better known for his social life than his career, generating coverage on TV, in print and online for the parties he attends and the actresses he dates.
That may be changing. In addition to the M&M’s campaign, Mr. Valderrama is appearing in ads for the OP line of surf clothing, which is being revived by Wal-Mart Stores.
And according to The Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Valderrama has been signed as the star of a pilot for an hour-long comedy TV series, “The Emancipation of Ernesto,” which could appear on Fox.
Source: New York Times
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