NYC Mayor Sees Value in Spanish

According to an article in Hispanic Business magazine, it looks like even Republican mayor of New York City Mike Bloomberg sees the truth: that in order to market himself effectively for re-election, he's going to have to learn to speak the language of the island's nearly three million Latinos, which represent 27% of the total population of New York County.

And Bloomberg looks like he'll need all the help he can get, since his competition this time around is a Latino himself, Democrat Fernando Ferrer. Ferrer (who calls himself "a son of the Bronx") not only has the natural advantage with Latino voters (who vote strongly democratic) of being a Latino himself, but he also has the good sense to position himself as one of them, "del barrio".

"Freddy", as Ferrer refers to himself in the "blog" section (called "Blog para Nueva York") of his campaign website, tells his Spanish-speaking audience that a lot has changed since he left his former public position of Bronx borough president to start campaigning: "..viajo más seguido en subway y autobús. Y ha cambiado la manera en que me relaciono y trato con los demás neoyorquinos." ("I take the subway and the bus more, and I've changed the way I relate to and deal with New Yorkers..."). I'd love to read on in Spanish, but when I click on the "mas" link, I'm redirected to the English version. Click again on "español" and nothing.

Maybe Mike Bloomberg's multi-million dollar campaign will pay for a good translator and more humble positioning for the Mayor than what's been created for Ferrer. According to the Hispanic Business article, Ferrer doesn't have the cash invest in advertising -- yet.

To reach Latinos, both candidates will need Spanish. There are thousands of New York City residents who either don't speak English or feel more comfortable being addressed in Spanish. But that's not all. To market to their Latino constituency, both Bloomberg and Ferrer need to go beyond translating their English-language web site into Spanish: it is imperative that they craft a message that will resonate with  New York Latinos. Good campaign marketing strategy, and the resulting message, will take into account their lifestyles, their education level, language, etc. But cultural sensitivity is more important: you need to sound familiar, and sound like a friend. The concerns of the New York Latino population is different from the concerns of other groups that reside on the island. Understanding that and crafting a message that sincerely addresses these concerns will go miles beyond a simple translation of an English ad, and is worth more than just calling yourself "one of them".

Hispanic Business Magazine  | READ MORE