A company like a4, with its rich dataset that includes the highly diverse New York DMA, is a must-have for advertisers as Glenda Villanueva-Marchetta, a4’s Head of Multicultural , explains in this exclusive interview.
Altice and a4 Advertising
According to Villanueva-Marchetta, a4 is, “the national, audience driven multi-screen ad division for Altice USA.” Altice, as the parent company, “has a very strong presence in Europe and the Caribbean in the Dominican Republic and in 2016, 2017 purchased Suddenlink on the West coast and Cablevision on the East coast making us the fourth largest operation in the U.S. for video services and broadband with operations in over 20 states.”
Over the years, Altice purchased several data companies. That, in addition to the granular data provided by its footprint, enables a4 to offer advertisers hyper-targeting opportunities. “Our super power is our proprietary ISP authenticated IP targeting technology, which is unique to us,” she explained. This enables a4 to, “Marry our IP addressability with multicultural audiences,” she added. There is arguably no better dataset to reach a range of ethnicities as a4’s with the Cablevision footprint. “I didn’t realize that the most diverse area in the world was Queens,” she explained.
Changes in the Media Marketplace
In assessing the state of the current marketplace, with all of these seismic society changes and challenges, Villanueva-Marchetta is introspective. “There have been so many changes. From a personal standpoint, working from home has changed everything with added screen time and,” she explained, “telling a Latino to social distance, it just goes against our social being. In terms of business, some of our clients have changed drastically from Covid to the social movement. So just when you thought you would get back to normal, there has been an impact to our customers’ needs. This has made us refocus. Connection to multicultural consumers is more important than ever and the social movement has given us a voice.”
This change is not only growing, it is forming new alliances. “Something that I find is exciting is that all of the different groups are actually aligning and allying with each other,” she stated. “Our customers, brands and ad agencies are looking to connect to multicultural consumers in an authentic way. I also think they are acknowledging that they need more flexibility than ever.”
Priorities for 2021
In looking ahead to next year, Villanueva-Marchetta sees a new type of media marketplace. “Maybe upfront buys will change in the future,” she noted, “You have to be able to pivot. Pivoting without penalties is critical and pivoting your budgets and creative, we realize that we have to be more nimble than in the past.” The future also brings more of what we are seeing during the pandemic such as “device proliferation. We are watching more screens than ever, so we need a strategy that is all platforms. And there is greater competition for consumer attention and binge watching,” she explained and added that it was important to reach consumers in the language that they are speaking.
She continued that, “Industry regulations are changing. We have to refocus our third party cookie campaigns. That’s going to be a priority for 2021. Digital campaigns now need to place an emphasis on using first party data. There are a bunch of things coming together at once at the end of this year and moving forward into 2021.” For Villanueva-Marchetta , “Data driven advertising, because it is addressable, is efficient. So when you are looking to do more with less, this is the best way. It is an audience driven play. Addressability will definitely play a bigger role going forward.”
The Hispanic Market Explained
If there is one ethnic group that advertisers cannot afford to ignore, it is Hispanics. According to Villanueva-Marchetta, there are 28.8 million Hispanics in the U.S., which represent about 20% of the population. It is one of the fastest growing segments and represents $2trillion in buying power. “To put it into context, the U.S. Hispanic population is larger than Canada. If it were a separate Latin American country, we would be the second largest and wealthiest in the world,” she noted. In the next five years, the non-Hispanic white population of the U.S. is set to decline while the Hispanic population is poised to grow. “Negative 1.3 million versus positive 6.6 million,” she added, “This growth isn’t stopping. The growth has and will come from birth rates, not from immigration. One in every three in the Alpha generation is Hispanic.”
Seventy percent of the Hispanic population is bi-lingual and even among the younger generations, the language is not lost. “There is a misconception that if you are born in this country that you are not using Spanish anymore. That’s not the case. We hold our culture very dear to us. Speaking Spanish at home, especially to your elders is a sign of respect,” she noted. “It’s easy to mingle when you are bi-lingual.”
Hispanics account for 63% of all U.S. home ownership, fueling purchasing behavior in all of the consumer product and services that go with that lifestyle. Further, “we represent 81% of the labor force growth,” she stated, as well as influencing the overall culture such as the SuperBowl in the large Hispanic market Miami that boasted three Latina performers.
Why Target Hispanic Consumer?
When I asked Villanueva-Marchetta this question, she explained, “As a brand, as an advertiser, it is crazy to continue to advertise to a segment of the population that is declining and not advertise to a segment of the population that is growing. We are not only growing in size, we are growing in wealth and in influence. Thirty-two million of us will be eligible to vote. Look at the numbers. Look at the buying power. Look at the money that is there. If you are a company looking at your five year plan, and you are not considering multicultural, how will you grow your business?” Then she paused and added, “I don’t see how.”
This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com
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