Spanish-Language Health Magazines Robust, Growing

When Laura Lentz launched a newsletter for new and expectant mothers, health professionals loved it, but for one detail: They wanted it in Spanish. Thus was born Su Bebe, an annual magazine distributed free through health professionals.

Three years later, Su Bebe is thriving thanks to keen advertiser interest in the Spanish-language health consumer.

The magazine has spawned a sister publication on parenting and family health--Su Familia--that spans the state with regional editions. Revenue for Lentz’s Torrance company is already 60% higher this year than for all of 1998--growth afforded by venture capital from a Nashville health-care communications company making its first foray into the Latino market. Advertisers include Cheerios, Huggies and Blue Cross of California.

The support Lentz has found is telling. Spanish-language health publications like hers are rolling off the presses at record rates, offering a growing menu of resources to consumers who long made do with the occasional translated pamphlet. Ad revenue is growing, thanks to increased awareness of Latino buying power and stepped-up efforts by managed care to woo Latino patients.

New York-based La Salud Hispana, published by a Colombian-born physician, saw its revenue grow by 40% in the last two years and plans a Los Angeles launch in August. Among its advertisers: Pampers, Pfizer and Schering-Plough. While these newer efforts are written in Spanish with a focus on Latino health issues, general market magazines have crossed over to serve the market with Spanish-language versions--most of them translations from English. Among them are Ser Padres, or Parents magazine, and Revista Lamaze para Padres, or Lamaze Parents magazine.

The growth is not limited to print: Health-care associations and pharmaceutical companies are getting their message out through Spanish-language television at record rates, according to Chicago-based Orbis Broadcast Group, a producer of health and medical programming. Company officials estimate that Spanish-language demand has quadrupled in the last year alone.

Health-care professionals are applauding the trend.

“Everybody is recognizing . . . that the [immigrant] Latino community is really way behind as far as understanding health care and their health needs, [and] they have little knowledge of the health-care delivery system,” said Jose Gonzalez, president and chief executive of Santa Fe Springs-based LatinoCare, a medical group of 1,500 bilingual physicians that caters to Latinos in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

“These magazines take great efforts to communicate issues related to specific diseases [that affect Latinos] and to identify community resources,” Gonzalez said.

Latino consumers have hungered for health-care information. A readership study of Spanish-language publications three years ago--many of them newspapers--showed 64% of respondents wanted more health coverage. Consequently, the number of Latino publications offering regular health sections has shot up from two dozen to 187 today, according to Carlsbad-based Western Publication Research.

Until recently, advertiser support was lacking. But advertisers are finding the new publications enable them to reach consumers receptive to pitches on nutrition and health. And because Lentz’s magazines--and La Salud Hispana to some extent--are distributed by health-care providers, the ads are seen as credible by consumers.

The new publications are focusing attention on everything from prenatal care to the treatment of asthma, depression, Alzheimer’s and impotence. They also offer culturally sensitive coverage of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and cervical and prostate cancers--ailments that disproportionately plague immigrant Latinos, often because of a reluctance to seek early preventive care.

And they are branching out to reach the blooming demographic of U.S.-born Latinos. Su Familia recently launched a “teen mama” supplement using a fluid English-Spanish mix that mirrors the way many bicultural teens talk. This year La Salud Hispana went bilingual after readers requested it, publisher Rodrigo Cardenas said.

Lentz’s publications offer a local focus. Lentz’s company, Multicultural Communications, distributes Su Bebe and Su Familia through hospitals, health clinics, Head Start and state-run nutritional programs for poor mothers.

Su Bebe reaches the Inland Empire and Los Angeles and Orange counties. Su Familia was launched in January and when it previews its Northern California edition this spring, it will span the state, offering national advertisers a broad audience while providing local resource guides to readers.

In addition to key health information, Su Bebe includes compelling testimonials and lighter fare such as baby horoscopes. Su Familia follows a similar format, with a feature on life in the U.S. that covers issues such as food stamps and homeownership and is sponsored by leading civil rights groups.

Lentz has insisted on maintaining the editorial independence of her magazines, a stance she said has paid off. “We were [recently] in a meeting with a warehouse-type grocery store. They said, ‘If we do an ad with you will you write an article about us?’ The answer is, ‘No, absolutely not,’ ” Lentz said. She also rebuffed a request from a Kaiser Permanente executive in San Diego to provide an article by one of its doctors. “He liked my answer,” she said. “He said, ‘I want to know that my ad is in a quality publication.’ ”

Lentz said advertorials are rare and clearly labeled. She and her editorial staff also review all ads to ensure they are consistent with their educational mission. For example, Lentz said, she would not run an ad that advocates formula over breast-feeding if she felt it was misleading.

“For us it was just a perfect fit, because it’s high quality, regional in nature, and it has so much wonderful medical information in it for parents,” said Autumn Boos, director of ethnic marketing for General Mills, which advertises Cheerios, its biggest Latino market seller, in Su Familia.

Boos said she was drawn to the magazines’ content and grass-roots appeal, but neither the company nor its ad agency reviews issues before publication. The distribution through community clinics and hospitals also lends the publications credibility with some advertisers.

“That was without a doubt a consideration,” said Paul McClure of Glass/McClure, a Sacramento-based full-service advertising agency, which has placed ads with Lentz for one of its clients, Long Beach-based Molina Medical Centers. “It’s endorsed by them. . . . If it were a lesser vehicle, they wouldn’t carry it.”