In America, se habla Español.

We have seen results from the Census, the impact during the elections, and couple of weeks ago during prime time, on NBC’s show “The Voice”, the world was introduced to Cathia.

She performed in front of four judges, Adam Levine, Shakira, Usher and Blake Shelton. It’s not a coincidence that one of America’s top shows now has one Latino judge (out of four) and that one of the contestants decided to audition in Spanish.

Please watch the whole 5 minute video http://www.nbc.com/the-voice/video/cathia-no-me-doy-por-vencido/n34176/#.UVM11PEt2K8.twitter> and pay attention to the interaction between the judges during the audition and the conversation during the decision.

Put this through the marketing and advertising lense:  Cathia is the consumer target to go after as a brand. She is a 19 year old, born in the US, raised in the Bronx and part of the New America – aspirational like every Latino and the future de nuestro país (of our country). The judges represent four different brands fighting to win her over.  They are all great artists and we can even debate one might be even better than the other. But, at the end, Cathia summarized it well in her own words-  she loved and admires every judge (brand) in front of her, but she decided to go with the one that understands her and speaks to her.

America is changing and it is no longer only about acculturation levels or whether she consumes media in English or Spanish, or whether “spill over” from an English –language media buy will be seen by her. It is more complex than that.

If we as brands are not culturally relevant, no matter what language we speak, we won’t make her feel connected to us.  By playing the “Usher card” and being the first to talk to her, we might assume we can reach her, but as we learned here, a Shakira can come in and take her in one second because she is more relevant to her.  Whether in English or Spanish, under the same circumstances, she felt more confidence in the “brand” that understands who she is.

Cathia, te viste fabulosa, irresistible, you deserve to win. La victoria es tuya.

BY Andrés Ordóñez – VP Creative & Managing Director / Bravo