What was Burger King thinking?

Last month, BK’s then-owner announced it was consolidating its advertising campaigns effectively ending campaigns tailored specifically for Hispanics. Instead, they said, they would create advertising for all adults, regardless of their ethnicity.

Talk about a Double Whopper of a mistake.

And, in a classic case of “we don’t understand the Latin market, except that they speak Spanish,” the company explained that they would, however, continue to run ads in that language.
Mike Kappitt, Burger King’s chief marketing officer for North America, told the New York Times that the move will provide “a consistent voice.”

Well, here’s what Burger King clearly doesn’t get: reaching Hispanics is about a lot more than just Spanish. And Univision’s record-setting ratings news proves it.

Ironically, the history-making announcement about Univision came just two weeks after Burger King dropped its bombshell.

What came out was that, at the beginning of this month – for the first time ever – the Spanish-language network ranked No. 1 during prime time among 18- to 49-year-old adults, for the entire week. That’s ALL 18- to 49-year-olds, not just Spanish speakers.

Significant? You bet.

Those are the viewers every network wants the most. And according to Nielson, some 2.1 million viewers in that highly coveted age bracket tuned in to Univision during the week of Aug. 30-Sep. 5. The runner-up was CBS, with 1.8 million viewers. That’s a big deal, in terms of sheer numbers.

It’s even more important because Univision’s numbers were up 12 percent over the previous week. Conversely, the big English-language networks saw their numbers in that same demographic drop by 25 percent.

Of course, as the Los Angeles Times pointed out, the English-language networks may say that Univision was competing against the traditional summer rerun season, and that the last week of August and the first week of September are traditionally weak. And they’d be right.

But they’d be missing the larger point – and hoping you would, too.

Univision’s big shows right now include its telenovelas “Hasta que el Dinero Nos Separe” and “Soy Tu Dueña.” And that’s what makes the ratings win even more important: the increase was driven largely by people who wanted to see the dramatic developments in those telenovelas.

Telenovelas, as almost everyone knows, are soap operas, Spanish-style. But it’s not just the Spanish language that makes telenovelas what they are. Translating General Hospital will not make it a telenovela; that would only make it a soap opera in Spanish. Telenovelas are a distinctly Latin cultural phenomenon.

So the viewers didn’t tune in just because Univision’s shows were in Spanish. They tuned in because the shows carry a cultural attitude not found in the general market programming.

Ever since Nielsen started rating Univision side by side with the English-language networks, it has consistently ranked fifth and often fourth of all broadcast networks in the 18-49 age bracket in primetime. In 2005, it beat all the other networks on 55 nights, placing first among 18- to 34-year-olds.And, last July, Univision again scored an impressive landmark: its 18- to 34-year-old viewership in primetime beat all the other networks, for the entire month.

And you know what? The general market networks should get used to it.

While ratings for the English-language networks continue to erode, Spanish-language networks are gaining viewers. Yes networks with an S, as in Telemundo, Azteca and Estrella, all whom are showing growth as well.

At the same time that Nielsen said Univision set its ratings record, it also announced that the number of Hispanic TV households went up 3.1 percent over the previous year. Non-Hispanic households – which would include everybody else with a TV in the country – only crept up .6 percent in the same period.

Mr new CEO at Burger King, I understand you are from Brazil; Você melhor que ninguém deve saber da importância da atitude cultural. Espero que possa fixar esta ‘bagunça’ que herdou.

By Jose Cancela

Jose Cancela is Principal of Hispanic USA Inc, a Hispanic Market Resource firm. He has also the author of “The Power of Business en Español, Seven Fundamental Keys to Unlocking the Potential of the Spanish Language Hispanic Market” Rayo / HarperCollins.

jo**@*********sa.net