Women’s Dia

The latest women’s magazines offer a familiar assortment of recipes, celebrity dish and relationship tips, but with a twist. Targeting Latina readers, the publications explore such topics as how to make empanadas, why Julio Iglesias won’t marry and what it’s like to be a childless Latina in her 30s.

In the volatile world of magazines, where publishers constantly seek new niches to tap, Latinas have arrived as the latest target group. Over the last two years, dozens of Latino magazines have sprung forth or increased their publishing schedules, kindled by figures showing Latinos to be the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, and with rising disposable incomes.

There are now about 200 Latino magazines, industry analysts say. But it’s those backed by major publishers that have stirred the most interest among advertisers and readers, spurring newcomers to the market.

Three months ago, Time Warner Inc. took its quarterly People en Espanol monthly; last summer, Essence Communications’ bilingual Latina went from bimonthly to monthly; and last month, Conde Nast and Ideas Publishing Group introduced Glamour en Espanol, a Spanish-language edition of the popular women’s magazine.

“When you start seeing the Time Warners of the world getting a payout from this market, others will definitely jump in,” said Nancy Pendas-Smith, president of Conill Advertising, a Latino ad agency in New York. “After years of very little opportunities, it’s wonderful to be able to pick and choose magazines to advertise in.”

The magazines--written in English, Spanish or both--cover a variety of subjects, from sports to cars to business. But so far publishers have been most interested in women. Along with Latina, People en Espanol and Glamour en Espanol, titles such as Moderna, Latina Style, Estylo and Latina Bride have come forth from publishing houses and entrepreneurs, offering beauty, fashion and celebrity coverage aimed at middle-to-upper-class readers.

“The Latina consumer group is not only growing, but we know that Latinas are major decision-makers in a household, influencing everything from what kind of toothpaste is bought to what type of car is purchased,” said Anna Maria Arias, publisher of Washington-based Latina Style, which launched in 1995 and appears five times a year.

This trend is particularly evident in the Los Angeles area, the largest U.S. Latino market. About 6.5 million adult Latinas now live in the United States, with 1.1 million of those in the Los Angeles area. The Latino count as a whole has reached 30 million, about 11% of the total U.S. population, according to census data.

But what most strikes advertisers are projections that by 2050, one in four Americans will be Latino, and that Latinos already have purchasing power of $348 billion a year, an increase of 66% since 1990.

“The Hispanic population is like a tidal wave coming at us,” said Michael Bevan, Toyota Motor Corp.’s U.S. advertising manager.

Many advertisers, including Toyota, are expanding their budgets for Latino publications, but others remain lukewarm to the market. Publishers say the biggest misconceptions advertisers have are that Latinos don’t read and that they don’t have much money to spend.

Because of such views, the Latino magazine market is still a tough go, with grass-roots publications struggling to grow and some magazines, such as Los Angeles-based Si, folding after a few issues.

“Selling ads is still more of an education job than a sales job,” said Christy Haubegger, publisher of Latina. “Someone selling for Mademoiselle magazine doesn’t have to convince advertisers that the readership uses shampoo. But we’re still fighting misperceptions.”

Latina is noted for its first-rate look and friendly editorial content, which informs readers about such things as diseases most common among Latinas, the makeup best suited for them, and successful Latinos in Hollywood.

Haubegger, a 29-year-old Mexican American from Houston, decided to launch Latina while attending Stanford Law School. She saw a need for a magazine geared toward educated Latinas in their 20s and 30s who grew up in the United States but who live between two cultures and languages.

She knocked on doors of venture capitalists and took the idea to Edward Lewis, founder of Essence magazine, who agreed to form a joint venture between his Essence Communications and Haubegger’s company, Alegre Enterprises.

The first issue of Latina hit the newsstands in June 1996. By the end of that year, the magazine had gone from quarterly to bimonthly. Last summer’s decision to go monthly--an important milestone--came amid steady increases in advertising and circulation.

This year, Latina guarantees advertisers it will sell 175,000 copies. That ad rate base will go up to 250,000 at the end of the year, Haubegger said. (Almost a third of Latina’s subscribers live in California.)

Although Haubegger says selling advertising is never easy, the magazine has about 40 ads per issue, including Toyota, Gap, Gillette, Timex, Clinique, Revlon, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. Before their involvement in Latina, some of these firms had never advertised in the Latino market.

Most of Glamour en Espanol’s nearly half a million circulation will be distributed in Latin America, but 65,000 copies are designated for the United States. Some editorial coverage will be tailored to the Latino market, but the magazine will also feature translated articles from the English edition, which has a circulation of 2.1 million.

“The whole embodiment is the same as Glamour in the United States,” said Madelin Bosakewich, publisher of Glamour en Espanol at Miami-based Ideas Publishing, which also publishes Newsweek en Espanol and Discover Magazine en Espanol. “We’re targeting professional Hispanic women who want to read about job-related issues and other things they come across in their lives.”

Although the idea had been kicked around for years, it was the death of Tejano singer Selena that propelled Time Inc., a division of Time Warner, to launch People en Espanol. After her slaying in 1995, the magazine did a split cover, sending a cover featuring Selena to Texas, California and Florida and one featuring the cast of the “Friends” sitcom to the rest of the country.

Every copy of the Selena cover sold immediately, while the “Friends” issue remained on newsstands. A few weeks later, People published a special tribute to Selena, which sold a million copies. At the time, it was was the best-selling tribute issue the magazine had ever published.

People en Espanol debuted as a quarterly in November 1996. As a monthly, it now promises advertisers it will sell 200,000 copies, an increase of 25,000 over last year. (By comparison, the English-version People has an average circulation of 3.6 million.)

“We had such great success with the first five test issues,” People en Espanol Publisher Lisa Quiroz said. “The company realized this could be a magazine of scale.”

The Spanish-language magazine relies on the classic People format of celebrity coverage mixed with features on regular but noteworthy folks. Although Latino stars Jimmy Smits and Gloria Estefan are often prominently featured, celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio or Oprah Winfrey are regulars as well.

For instance, the latest cover story discusses why stars such as Iglesias, Smits, Winfrey and Goldie Hawn have not married their longtime loves.

Like Haubegger, Quiroz says luring advertisers has not been easy. But after a year and a half, People en Espanol has a healthy ad base of car makers, beauty and cosmetic companies and packaged-good manufacturers. The June issue has 60 ad pages, its largest ever. People, meanwhile, has 76 ad pages in its current issue featuring a cover story about Paul and Linda McCartney.

“The biggest challenge is convincing advertisers about the value of print,” Quiroz said. “All the money for Hispanic marketing has basically gone into TV and radio. I have to convince them that, like in the general market, good marketers look at a broad array of media vehicles.”

Of the $1.4 billion spent on advertising to the U.S. Latino market last year, about $39 million went to magazines, compared with $780 million to TV, according to a study by Hispanic Business. But publishers are undaunted, because magazine ad spending increased 11% from 1996, and the entire sum spent on Latino advertising rose 17%.

More advertisers are coming on board as Latinos buy more of their products. At Toyota, for instance, sales to Latinos tripled in the last two years, prompting the car maker to increase its advertising to Latinos by the same rate. Toyota now advertises in 17 Latino publications.

“In the last couple years, there’s been an explosion” of Latino magazines, the car maker’s Bevan said. “We’re taking some risks with some of them. But overall it’s a pretty credible media.”

What’s helped such magazines as Latina and People en Espanol is the marketing muscle of their large backers. Latina, for instance, ran an extensive direct-mail campaign to boost subscriptions.

Meanwhile, smaller publications struggle just to get on the newsstands. They must build readership by attending Latino conferences or reaching out to Latino groups.

“The big publishing houses have really deep pockets to cover costs of billboards and promotions,” said Cory Ostos, circulation manager for Texas-based Moderna magazine. “We’re trying to survive with a good editorial product.”

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Para Las Mujeres

As the number of Spanish-speaking U.S. households grows, magazine publishers are targeting Latinas, who tend to make purchasing decisions in their households. A look at the largest magazines aimed at Latinas:

People en Espanol

Launched: November 1996

Published: Monthly

Circulation: 200,000

Publisher: Time Inc., a division of Time Warner

Headquarters: New York

Target: Spanish-speaking women

*

Estylo

Launched: May 1997

Published: Bimonthly

Circulation: 75,000

Publisher: Mandalay Publications

Headquarters: Los Angeles

Target: Upscale Latinas in their 20s and 30s who read in English

*

Latina

Launched: June 1996

Published: Monthly

Circulation: 175,000

Publisher: Essence Communications and Alegre Enterprises

Headquarters: New York

Target: Educated Latinas in their 20s and 30s raised or born in the United States.

*

Glamour en Espanol

Launched: March

Published: Monthly

Circulation: 65,000

Publisher: Conde Nast Publications and Ideas Published Group

Headquarters: Miami

Target: Upscale Latinas in their 20s and 30s who read Spanish.