Fridays are fun, and sometimes it's fun to complain. I like to indulge myself in the occasional complaint about language and translation flubs, and often about lack of vision when it comes to using language in marketing campaigns.
So, today I got some good fodder when I read this post in the Corante.com Going Global blog. Corante's John Yunker points out that while he was excited to see an online ad campaign for the new Tim Burton film "The Corpse Bride" in Spanish, he was disappointed to find that when he clicked through to the web site, he is met with an English-only experience.
Yunker goes on to say:
This is not a huge surprise given the economics of Web localization. Creating a Spanish-language Web ad costs a few bucks; creating a Spanish-language Web site (particularly one in Flash) may cost upwards of $50,000.
Will Hollywood eventually launch full-scale Spanish-language Web sites for the US market as a matter of practice? Given that the US Hispanic online population is larger than the online populations of most Latin American countries, I think they will.
I think his estimate of cost is a bit steep, but the point he makes is one I bring up a lot. Businesses are willing to spend the bare minimum to say they are targeting the Latino market, and when their campaign isn't successful, they are quick to say "well, that didn't work." The fact is, to effectively reach a market that speaks Spanish as their primary (or only) language, you must go all the way. Yes, a large part of the US Latino market is bilingual, or even monolingual English speakers, but if you are interested in targeting the segment that uses Spanish as the language in which they live their lives, an ad in Spanish that dead-ends in an English web site is pretty much useless.
Another strong point brought up by Yunker is that the US Latino population rivals some Latin American markets in size, warranting a similar if not larger campaign than those that studios roll out for films when they reach international markets. This film will obviously be distributed later on in Mexico, Central America, and even Spain. Why not begin the Spanish-language marketing blitz with a website for US Latino market, and repurpose it later for international markets?
I've said it a million times: there is no way around it. If you wish to use Spanish for your Latino marketing campaign, you have to make sure your Spanish-speaking customers receive all the information that they need in their language without selling them short. A superficial rush job is not enough, and may quickly be dismissed. Earnest attempts to reach consumers in Spanish will be appreciated and rewarded.
Recent Comments