Ethnic Advertising ‘Opens Up a Brand New Market’
Orange County’s Asian and Latino communities form an increasing percentage of the market for a wide range of products, and a variety of publications and broadcast outlets are helping local businesses to target those consumers.
Jack Silver and Juan Carlos Nieto of Western Media International, a company that buys space in publications and broadcast outlets on behalf of advertisers, say Spanish and Asian-language media offer advertisers a way to “open up a brand new market.
“It’s a way to reach someone who for one reason or another is not using your product,” Silver says. “And where a traditional market might be cluttered, with no room to move, these markets give space to expand.”
Placing ads in the Spanish and Asian-language media presents some special challenges, the two executives note. Businesses need to assure that an advertisement in a foreign language is actually getting the intended message across.
“There have been some horrendous problems in Hispanic areas where the ads weren’t saying the right thing,” Nieto recalls. But he added that the ethnic media outlets attempt to provide strong support on creative material to counter such problems.
Although ethnic advertising remains “a drop in the bucket” compared to general media, Silver says, “the 1990s will see market segmentation becoming more and more important, and we’ll see a higher profile for Asians and Hispanics.”
As the county’s ethnic minority population grows--and as tourists flock in, especially from Asia--Silver says these outlets can provide a unique opportunity to “get a leg up on competitors.”
Researched by DALLAS M. JACKSON ORANGE COUNTY POPULATION BREAKDOWN 1980 Total Population and ethnic percentage: 1.93 million Hispanics: 15% Asians: 4% American Indian/Black: 3% White 78% 1985 Total Population and ethnic percentage: 2.28 million Hispanics: 16% Asians: 7% American Indian/Black: 2% White 75% 2000* Total Population and ethnic percentage: 2.50 million Hispanics: 21% Asians: 13% American Indian/Black: 1% White 65% FOREIGN--LANGUAGE MEDIA IN ORANGE COUNTY, 1989 TELEVISION STATIONS
Name Channel Language KMEX 34 Spanish KDOC 56 Japanese KVEA 52 Spanish KWHY 22 Spanish KSCI 18 12*
*Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Farsi, Armenian, Arabic, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Hindi, Tagalog, Hebrew, Italian RADIO STATIONS
Name Channel Language KWIZ-AM 1480 Spanish KTNQ-AM 1020 Spanish KLVE-FM 107.5 Spanish KWKW-AM 1330 Spanish KSKQ-AM 1540 Spanish KSKQ-FM 97.9 Spanish KAZN-AM 1300 6* KMAX-FM 107.1 15**
*Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Viet, Philipino **Yugoslav, Greek, Thai, Japanese, Spanish, Romanian, Farsi, Arabic, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Hindi, Tagalog, French, Islamic, Amharic NEWSPAPERS (Circulation in thousands)
Name Language Circ. LA OPINION Spanish 13.7 (Daily & Sun.) NOTICIAS DEL MUNDO Spanish 5.0 (Mon.-Fri.) CHINESE DAILY NEWS Chinese 8.5 (Daily & Sun.) KOREA TIMES Korean 7.2 (Tues.-Sun.) NGUOI VIET DAILY Vietnamese 9.0 (Tues.-Sun.) RAFU SHIMPO Japanesew 0.5 (Mon.-Sat.) KASHU MAINICHI Japanese 1.2 (Mon.-Fri.) INTERNAT. DAILY NEWS Chinese 8.0 (Daily & Sun.) KOREAN CEN. DAILY Korean 13.0 (Mon.-Sat.) MINIONDAS Spanish 26.0 (Tues. & Fri.) PHILIPPINE AM. NEWS Tagolog 5.0 (Biweekly) VIET PRESS WEEKLY Vietnamese 5.0 (Fri.)
