Spanish Language Newspaper War Begins in LA!

What some are calling a “Spanish language newspaper war,” officially begins this week with the launch of another Spanish language daily in Los Angeles, where family-run La Opinión has reigned for more than seven decades. La Opinión, the nation’s largest Spanish language daily newspaper, timed the kick-off of its bold new advertising campaign to coincide with the new newspaper hitting Los Angeles newsstands.

Standing outside the Federal Building that houses the INS in downtown Los Angeles, Monica Lozano, Publisher and CEO of La Opinión, pointed to a giant blow-up of one of the new print ads in the newspaper’s new advertising campaign. “Here you see a photo of a U.S.Border Patrol Officer and a series of contrasting words that might be used to describe him, depending on one’s personal point of view: ‘life saver,’ ‘justice,’ ‘abuses,’ and ‘traitor.’ Clearly, it is a simple picture with complex overtones.”

“Whether it is in our election coverage, educational supplements or community outreach programs, La Opinión consistently raises complex questions and probes for serious answers,” said Lozano. “Our new advertising tagline, ‘Read La Opinion – see beyond, go beyond,’ symbolizes our tradition of going beyond the headlines, beyond the surface, and beyond the expected. Anyone can write the news in Spanish. What has always differentiated La Opinión is the depth of our news coverage, our roots in the community and our journalistic integrity. Today, we take that to an even higher level with this advertising campaign, while simultaneously taking these complex issues back to the people with our exclusive news coverage and by launching an ongoing series of in-depth community forums on a wide range of issues.”

Lozano described the multi-pronged approach the newspaper will be taking to cover such controversial topics as immigration: an eight-part special series of articles on border crossings beginning today, followed by an immigration community forum co-sponsored by the Central American Resource and Education Center (CARECEN), and the new Border Patrol print ads.

The new consumer campaign was developed to reflect the feeling of empowerment La Opinión readers feel after reading the paper. The campaign is reflective of the value proposition that La Opinión offers with its award-winning editorial offering. The ads target Southern California Latinos, both men and women, who value product quality, family tradition, integrity, community commitment and innovation.

The business-to-business campaign utilizes real-life testimonials from high-level and high-powered executives to convey the benefits of advertising in La Opinión. The ads mirror the feel of the consumer campaign and carry the same tagline. The testimonials describe how these executives have been successful in reaching the powerful Hispanic marketplace and demonstrate how they have “gone beyond” traditional advertising. The campaign targets media professionals and those companies interested in reaching the Southern California Latinos through advertising.

“This advertising campaign reflects the depth and quality of this newspaper which we have worked so hard to create over the past 77 years,” said Lozano. “From our new series on immigration, to our coverage of Haitian President Aristide stepping down, the Academy Awards, and the grocery store strike, unlike the other newspaper in town, our news coverage continues straight through the weekend and right into Monday morning. At La Opinión, we believe that neither the community nor the news stops on Friday.

“Today, we tell the Tribune Company to ‘bring it on.’ We have no intention of ceding our preferred status with our readers or advertisers to anyone. We will continue to serve our readers with the exceptional quality and integrity they have come to expect, and we will continue to be the premier Spanish language daily newspaper in this market.”

Joining Lozano at the announcement event were actor, producer and community activist Edward James Olmos, and key longtime community supporters representing such diverse organizations as the Los Angeles Metropolitan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, CARECEN, the United Farm Workers Foundation, Altamed Health Services, Families in Schools, the Hollenbeck Youth Center, the National Association of Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), Self Help Graphics, and The Salvadoran Committee El Piche.