General Mills: How Are they Marketing to Hispanics Online?
General Mills this week outlined its strategy going forward – specifically highlighting Hispanics as a key component of their three-prong strategy which will focus on: multicultural consumers, boomers, and millenials.
In particular, Ian Friendly, chief operating officer and exec VP-U.S. retail was quoted by AdAge as stating that “We’re anticipating a rise in multicultural consumers, particularly Hispanics, plus a growing number of aging baby boomers and the emergence of millennials as the next generation with significant influence in the marketplace.” (my emphasis).
General Mills has already increased its Hispanic-targeted media spending 70% in 2009 and is projecting another increase in 2010. Not surprisingly, one important aspect of General Mills’ strategy is reaching out to Hispanic mothers through its “Que Vida Rica” campaign and magazine. Hispanics already account for “22% of all children under the age of 18 in the United States–up from 9% in 1980″ according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
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General Mills Marketing to Hispanics Online – Since 2004.
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A review of our HispanicWebMonitor™ data (which begins in 2001) shows that General Mills has been actively marketing to Hispanics online since at least 2004.
Significantly, we know that General Mills has been marketing to Hispanics online in Spanish.
General Mills earliest Spanish-language campaign was for a Cheerios microsite hosted on AmericanBaby.com. (As an aside, AmericanBaby.com is owned by Meredith Corp. which is the largest publisher of Hispanic parenting titles including: Ser Padres, Ser Padres Bebe, and Ser Padres Espera. In addition, Meredith publishes Siempre Mujer which targets Spanish-dominant Hispanic women.)
The Cheerios/AmericanBaby.com campaign ran in the fall of 2004 with ads running on Terra.com (U.S.) and Univision.com. You can see a sample of this campaign’s creative by clicking on the thumbnail (above).
Several other General Mills campaigns (BettyCrocker.com, Pillsbury.com, WholeGrainNation.com, and Yo-Plus.com) have also appeared before 2008 but those were English-language campaigns and – more than likely – ad network buys and not campaigns specifically targeting Hispanics.
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General Mills Ramps Up Spanish-language Online Focus with QueRicaVida.com in 2008.
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Beginning in June, of 2008, General Mills re-launched Spanish language campaigns for Honey Nut Cheerios as well as its “Que Rica Vida” campaign (QueRicaVida.com). These ads ran from May-June of 2008 on Univision.com. Landing pages were on QueRicaVida.com this time rather than on a microsite hosted by an external portal. You can see copies of some of the ads by clicking on the thumbnails below:
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. Beginning in 2009, General Mills rolled out additional Spanish-language campaigns for a number of its brands (click on ‘sample’ links below to see sample creatives for each campaign):
- Bisquick “Ganar un Desayuno con Karla Martinez” contest on Univision.com and Yahoo! en Español (sample).
- Cheerios on TodoBebe.com and Univision.com (sample).
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch on Univision.com (sample).
- Fiber One Cereal on Univision.com (sample).
- Pillsbury “Toaster Strudel” on Univision.com (sample).
- QueRicaVida.com “Sobremesa Blog” (sample).
- Yoplait on Latina.com and Univision.com (sample).
- Nature Valley “Oats ‘n Honey” on CosmoenEspanol.com, EsMas.com (US), and Univision.com (sample).
- QueRicaVida.com “La Receta de mi Cocina” Concurso on Univision.com (sample).
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