 |
| | | | | REPRINTS
|
The Mother of All Latin American Holidays
Mother's Day, a deeply rooted family tradition for Hispanics, opens marketing opportunities
May 01, 2006
By Cara Marcano
Call it a kickback to good old- fashioned Latin American Catholicism, or maybe it's a bit of Oedipus complex — after all the first Mother's Day was started by the ancient Greeks. Whatever the reason, Mother's Day is a big holiday throughout Latin America, so much so that in countries such as Mexico — where Día de las Madres is celebrated on May 10 — the holiday is one of the busiest days of the year for the retail and restaurant industries.
In the United States, where Mother's Day falls on the second Sunday of May, the holiday is not as big as in Latin America, but it is increasingly attracting the attention of U.S. Hispanic marketers. Why? Simply, there are a lot of Hispanic moms. According to October 2005 data from the National Center for Health Statistics, Hispanic women gave birth to 23 percent of all the children born in the U.S.
The critical mass of this segment is not lost in companies such as financial services giant Citibank, which has run an annual advertising campaign since 2003 offering free remittances during this time of year. The free remittance offer and marketing work designed to promote it this year runs from April 1 through June 6, says Rebeca Vargas, director of Hispanic markets for Citibank. Ads for the program contain a message designed to target Hispanics' renewed focus on family around Mother's Day. The print ads read: "You're building a better life. Send money home a better way."
For national retailer Hallmark, Mother's Day is the most important holiday of the year, says Anoland deLeon-Cosse, marketing manager for Sinceramente Hallmark, the company's U.S. Hispanic division. "Mother's Day is the largest card-sending holiday for the Hispanic community," says deLeon-Cosse, whose division produces 306 Spanish-language Mother's Day cards for distribution to the U.S. Hispanic market via retailers such as Walgreens, CVS and Wal-Mart as well as Hallmark Gold Crown stores. This year Hallmark is introducing a new Mother's Day collection, De Todo Corazón (with all my heart), of six new cards. Some cards feature the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and other Hispanic symbols of motherhood, such as a madrina, or godmother, who is a particularly important female figure in most Hispanic families. "Musical cards are especially popular," with Hispanics, says deLeon-Cosse.
Mother's Day tends to be a holiday less crowded with Hispanic marketing efforts than, say, Hispanic Heritage month and less trite than Cinco de Mayo, which is still the May focus of many marketers seeking to reach Hispanics. The day also happens to fall within a few weeks of another uniquely spring Latin American holiday, El Día del Niño, The Day of the Child, allowing marketers to capitalize on familial fervor.
Hispanic moms are younger than the average — the age of giving birth for the first time is 23, versus 26 for white, non-Hispanic women, according to the 2005 National Vital Statistics Report. Latinas in the U.S. also have more children.
The holiday also has captivated marketers in the cosmetics sector. This spring privately held Jafra is holding eight grass-roots recruiting events in California, Illinois, Texas, New York and Arizona. The events become quite emotional as recently arrived immigrants fill hotel ballrooms from Queens to Los Angeles to talk about how they have built a career selling makeup, fragrances and skin care products for Jafra, and to try to recruit their invited guests — other women from their communities— to begin selling Jafra. The brand is widely recognized in Mexico. The events have proven successful, drawing an additional 1,000 saleswomen to Jafra's force of independent consultants since the program started last year. The events are promoted on Telemundo and via direct mailings that are handed out by current Jafra consultants to women in their communities.
Last spring Kohl's of Menomonee Falls, Wisc., launched a Mother's Day retail promotion in Los Angeles that was one of the most successful advertising and marketing campaigns the retailer has ever done, according to Desiree Lewek, account director for Kohl's at Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Casanova Pendril, which developed the campaign's ads.
|
| | | | | REPRINTS
Copyright 2007 Marketing y Medios |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
QuickLinks:
1-click access to topics in this article.
|
|
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
|
|
