Worldlink en Español Launches.

WorldLink announced the formation of a sales and marketing team designed to increase the DRTV industry’s awareness of the growing potential of the Hispanic marketplace in the United States and to facilitate entry into that marketplace.

WorldLink Español, the only independent DRTV sales representation group focused on the U.S. Hispanic market, will engage in an extensive campaign to demonstrate to agencies and marketers the value of the Spanish-language market and to provide avenues to overcome perceived obstacles that have kept the industry from devoting greater resources to that sector.

“The pattern right now is to get the maximum mileage from a DR spot or an infomercial in the English language in the United States, then to begin international distribution,” said Knight. “We’re suggesting that marketers expand their reach within this country by reaching out to a whole new audience.”

“There is a growing percentage of the United States population that speaks Spanish either as a primary language, or as the only language,” said Dan Casey, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing for WorldLink. “Most major brands are addressing this marketplace by producing Spanish-language creative and utilizing Spanish-language media. If the direct response agencies and marketers are not prepared to speak to that group, then they’re missing a large segment of the marketplace. This is another great way to increase sales and grow business.”

As part of the process, the WorldLink Espanol team has identified key impediments toward increased marketing to Hispanics domestically, and has prepared alternatives for presentation to agencies. WorldLink Espanol representatives are prepared, for example, to discuss credit card arrangements, pre-billing, automatic check withdrawal and other billing solutions. In addition, the company can connect agencies with telemarketing firms and other support services that are skilled in working with the Hispanic market.

“Agencies and marketers know that the Hispanic market represents significant revenue, but they’ve been held back by perceived obstacles,” said Knight. “The portrayal of the Hispanic community as a ‘cash-only’ society and concerns regarding cultural differences in telemarketing have been among the difficulties our agency clients have presented to us. Through our success in the Hispanic arena both domestically and internationally, we feel we have the resources to resolve those concerns.”

WorldLink recently completed an agreement to represent the 11 Telemundo stations in the United States. WorldLink also represents FOX Sports World Espanol, the only Spanish-language cable sports network in the U.S, and KJLA in Los Angeles. In addition, the company represents 23 high-profile Latin American cable networks, including Hallmark Entertainment Network, E! Latin America, Cisneros Television Group, Columbia Tri-Star, MGM Latin America, Casa Club, MusicCountry Brazil and FOX.