Using Nativity, Not Language to Reach Hispanic Consumers

Jake Beniflah, Head of Insights and Foresights at mitú, is a provocateur in the world of Hispanic media spend. He believes that “companies overall have misallocated as much as $1 billion,” in trying to reach the Hispanic consumer. His work on the impact of nativity (NBV, Nativity-Based View) on TV consumption disputes commonly accepted research that says that marketers need to advertise in-language in order to reach Hispanic consumers.

An average 75%, of Spanish-language TV does not reach Millennials, he asserts, basing his conclusion on the $1.5 billion spent in Spanish-language TV estimated from MAGNA’s report on media spend in the U.S.  “Seventy-five percent of $1.5 billion is about $1 billion,” he notes. “We are saying that companies are misallocating (overspending) about a $1 billion dollars in Spanish-language TV in reaching Latino Millennials, today’s coveted demo.”

Beniflah’s study used Nielsen C3 data by nativity (U.S. and foreign born), “which is the only way Nielsen conceptualizes nativity,” to rank the top 10 networks for Latinos, and then looked at spend for the three advertising categories (QSR, Telecom and Auto), using reported Kantar media spend by brand, analyzing their media plan by age and nativity. In this way he was able to answer the age-old question, How can advertisers drive media ROI?

According to Beniflah, “Language has been the dominant variable which has driven Hispanic marketing for more than 30-years. Nativity has lived in the shadows of language,” but it is an important indicator of media preferences.

Nielsen introduced language quintiles in the early 1990s that segment the US Hispanic television viewing audience across five language levels:

• Quintile 1 measures Hispanics who speak “English only” at home
• Quintile 2 measures Hispanics who speak “more English than Spanish” at home
• Quintile 3 measures Hispanics who speak an “equal amount of English and Spanish” at home
• Quintile 4 measures Hispanics who speak “more Spanish than English” at home; and
• Quintile 5 measures Hispanics who speak “Spanish only” at home.

But since the 1990s, new generations of viewers with decidedly different media consumption patterns have shifted usage away from linear TV to digital multi-platform. Younger viewers are more language-fluid and acculturated.

Language spoken in the home was an indicator of media preferences, and this has become generational. Nielsen reports that among first-generation Hispanics, 60.2% spoke “Spanish only” and “more Spanish than English.” Among second-generation, 61.2% spoke “English only” and “more English than Spanish,” while third-generation Hispanics, 90.4% spoke “English only” and “more English than Spanish.” “The significant difference in ‘language use at home’ across three Hispanic generational levels can be explained by factors such as acculturation, language proficiency, and years in country, to name just a few,” Beniflah concludes.

His study, “proposes that there is a better way to buy and plan media for Latinos. Rather than using language as a defining variable in Hispanic marketing, we found that nativity is so much more effective, predictive, and discriminating as a variable that helps clients drive insights and media effectiveness.”

This article first appeared in Cynopsis.

Nielsen’s Media Pulse Study Looks at Women and Multicultural Consumers’ Media Behaviors

Nielsen has just released the results of a Media Pulse study that examines women and multicultural consumers’ mobile media behaviors – how they’re using technology and how it compares to the country at large.

Here are the key highlights for Women:

• Women spend 6% more time using apps and the web on tablets and more time using handheld platforms for app/web usage than their male counterparts.
• They are also more likely to utilize mobile devices for social networking than users overall.
• Because of their mobile usage, they also tend to place more importance on the features and performance of their handheld devices than men.
• Women spend 16% more time with video-focused apps/websites and 17% more time with streaming audio on tablets than all tablet users. In contrast, adult men spend far less time using tablets than the same overall base.

Highlights for Multicultural Consumers include:

• Black, Hispanic and Asian American adults each spend more time per day using apps/the web on their smartphones than the general U.S. population. African Americans in particular are heavier users of smartphones and spend nearly half an hour more per day using them than the total U.S. (and more than any other group).
• The three measured groups have comparable tablet usage and app/web tablet behaviors with all three involved in over half an hour of usage per day.
• Well known for their early adoption of newer tech, Asian Americans represent a growing consumer bloc with their own unique audience behaviors. They spend at least 45 minutes per day using a tablet, outpacing all other groups as well as the total U.S.

As the U.S. increasing becomes more diverse and multi-cultural, advertisers and programmers need to keep on top of the emerging trends with these groups. While women drive content consumption on smartphones and tablets, Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans spend more time per day using apps/the web on their smartphones than the general U.S. population. Understanding the unique user preferences is important to connecting with these audiences.

This article first appeared in Cynopsis.

Nielsen’s Take on the Accuracy of Big Data

While many programmers have found that set top box data is immensely useful, Nielsen offers caution. Their take, as per a recent Nielsen NewsWire blog post, is that set top box data alone does not give the full picture of who is watching. They advise that this data should not be used in a vacuum because it undercounts certain demographics – especially young and diverse viewers.

According to Nielsen, “At a time when Hollywood is moving for more on-screen diversity and inclusion in TV programming, the study found, using real data, that this could have implications when it comes to programming decisions.”

Here are some highlights from that post:

1. The difference in delivery systems, especially Over-The-Air, skews return path data.

 Nielsen notes that some Americans don’t have the income to spend on premium entertainment content; others opt for over-the-air (OTA) programming in light of improving digital technology. Widespread technological advancements have fueled a steady growth of broadband-only (BBO) homes as well. The combination of OTA and BBO homes have swelled in the U.S. from 15 million homes in 2014 to nearly 28 million homes in 2018. Considering 41% of the consumers in those 28 million homes are multicultural (either Hispanic, African-American or Asian) and 10% are a younger demographic (18-24), an uncalibrated RPD sample would significantly under-represent these audiences and skew the total audience measurement.

2. Set Top Box Data Undercounts Hispanics and African Americans

Nielsen reports that compared with official U.S. Census estimates and the Nielsen national panel, RPD-capable homes under-represent Hispanics by 33%, Spanish-language dominant Hispanics by 49% and African Americans by 34%.

3. The Implications On An Actual Program Ranking is Stark

When looking at Fox’s Empire, for example, diverse audiences made up 75% of the program’s viewers in December 2018, driving ratings success when using a representative panel. However, using set top box data, these multicultural audiences were undercounted. “The differences,” noted Nielsen, “are not to be discounted. Looking at a rank among 25-54 year old viewers, Empire ranked 16th using Nielsen’s representative panel, but dropped to 38 in RPD-only homes. Conversely, Empire ranked third among OTA homes.”

Data silos continue to be a vexing problem in media. Taking return path data on its own will not give programmers a full picture of who is watching.

This article first appeared in Cynopsis.

Welcome the New Mainstream with IPG's New Multicultural Study

The plethora of datasets coming from various sources, the fragmentation of audiences and platforms and the ever advancing technology that is changing media usage are all challenging the way marketers are shaping their business plans to reach the right audiences. But there is also increasing pressure on the creative to break through viewer distraction, ad avoidance and blocking. How to do?

IPG has just released the results of a study called The State of Video which is set to release on March 4, 2019. This study maps, what Brian Hughes, Executive Vice President, Audience Intelligence and Strategy, Magna (which is division of IPG), called, “The new mainstream” where multiculturalism needs to be taken into account in creative messaging. Hughes noted that we are on the way to a multicultural majority in America by 2060 with 2044/45 as the tipping point. In addition, the way we will reach these consumers will be digital. “2018 digital ad spend surpassed TV and it will continue,” he added, “driven by mobile.” 

So there will be many opportunities for brands to connect with this multicultural population that is surprisingly similar in some ways and extremely diverse in others. Some findings from the study upset our previous notions of what certain ethnic groups respond to in messaging and even what languages best connect to content. We need a more nuanced way to spend marketing dollars that takes all of these findings into account. 

Findings:

1.       Spanish language programming does not necessarily reach a large percentage of young Hispanics. There are great differences within the Hispanic population if we look at nativity, language used at home and out of the home and the number of years in the country, with the greatest behavioral differences occurring in nativity.

2.       The majority of American Hispanics (65%) are born in the U.S. and this has always been the case according to Dr. Jake Beniflah, Executive Director, Center for Multicultural Science, who conducted the study. Most Latinos are young; 75% of those born in American are age 35 or under while foreign born are 66% Generation X and Boomers. Each group has difference language uses, preferences and habits… and will respond to advertising differently.

3.       In the case of Spanish language TV, there is a difference between native and foreign born. Older viewers prefer Spanish language content on linear. U.S. born viewers view less in-language TV than foreign born.

4.       When it comes to creative, a general rule applies. “The consumer has to see themselves in the ad,” stated, Leslie Wood, Chief Research Officer, Nielsen Catalina. It has to make the consumer feel good about themselves and be their best self. “When that happens in an ad it resonates with consumer,” she said. Further, a deft message is required. It is acculturation rather than assimilation.

5.       When it comes to measurement, Nielsen has existing data sets, according to Hughes, that “enables us to get a more nuanced set of multicultural audience, but we are not using it today.” Yet, Wood noted that, “Race matters in getting measurement right,” and added that when a product has any connection to culture and it is part of the messaging, the response is tremendous. 

The study showed that all of these nuances need to be addressed not only in the creative but also in the media mix and platforms used. When a marketer applies nativity to their campaign spend, there is an increase in ROI, according to Beniflah.  “We are stuck in same ways of doing things in general,” concluded Hughes, who added that this is the time to improve measurement and take an acculturation approach to multi-cultural marketing.

Takeaways From the Hispanic TV Summit: Insights on Hispanic Television Consumers

As the media ecosystem has been fragmenting, so has the multicultural market, with cultural groups fragmenting into subgroups. Yet, the multicultural market is now so large that an argument can be made that it should be considered on a mass scale.

The 16th annual Hispanic TV Summit focused on how to best deliver messages to Hispanic television consumers, a vast yet highly specific, fragmented audience. To reach audiences in a respectful, relevant way, the data must blend to form meaningful segments, programmatic to effectively target in the right media properties, and creative to offer greater insight.

Demographic Trends – Mass and Niche
Sandra Alfaro, managing director at Wing, Grey NY, noted that advertisers recognize how important it is to reach Hispanic television consumers. “Diversity is shaping our society,” she stated. The demographic trends indicate that 21 of the top 25 U.S. counties are currently more than 50 percent multicultural and, in the next decade, the multiracial population will grow by nearly 20 percent.

Multiculturalism is driving the mainstream. More than one in five Americans currently speak a language other than English. Cultural change will only accelerate as currently one in six marriages are interracial. “Diversity is not an opportunity,” she warned, “It is a business imperative. If you are not marketing to diversity, you are not marketing.”

But the other trend in multiculturalism is the formation of subgroups, driven by social media. “Millennials say that technology makes them unique,” noted Alfaro. Assimilation is no longer a mandate as we are more and more seeking uniqueness.

Read the full article on the Videa blog.

Hispanic Consumers’ High Engagement and Purchasing Power. Interview with Univision’s Steve Mandala

When it comes to understanding the Hispanic consumer, Steve Mandala, is an expert. His work at both the local level as general sales manager at Telemundo’s KVEA-52 affiliate in Los Angeles to his current position at Univision as President of Advertising Sales and Marketing, Univision Communications, gives him a great perspective on how this coveted group reacts to media messaging. 

Recently, Univision completed a new engagement study using both Nielsen and comScore data that demonstrated how Univision connects with its viewers with both greater engagement and longer length of tune. To find out more, I asked him the following questions:

Charlene Weisler: What do you think is the reason for UCI’s longer length of tune vs. competitors?

Steve Mandala: There are two key factors:  Our content and our distribution platforms. The breadth of our portfolio in reaching Hispanics across TV, radio and digital – something that no media company has—is what sets us apart from our Spanish-language competitors. Additionally, Univision has more hours of regularly scheduled LIVE programming than any of the English-language networks, setting us apart from our English-language competitors.

Charlene Weisler: Is any specific program or programming genre driving this?  

Steve Mandala: We see extremely high tune-in and engagement for women in Daytime, even higher than in Prime. Sports is a key driver in delivering male viewers and we have more soccer than any other media company in the U.S.

Overall, our audiences are seeking big, live, events and entertainment content that culturally resonates.  Univision has a special connection and unparalleled trust with the Hispanic community. Our programming decisions are fueled not only by this connection, but also because that is what our audience expects from us. With all of our shows or events we foster pride in our culture, support of viewers’ daily lives and offer optimism towards the future that sets us apart from everyone else.

Charlene Weisler: How was data used to get your data results?  

Steve Mandala: We used Nielsen data for both television and radio and comScore for digital metrics. We looked at average month Total Day with average number of minutes consumed among Hispanics for all measured networks, radio stations, and digital properties within each media company’s portfolio.

Charlene Weisler: How does it break out by age and gender?

Steve Mandala: The same compelling story is evident for Adults 18-34, 18-49 and 18+. This indicates that our audiences’ loyalty transcends all age segments.

Charlene Weisler: What do you think is the reason for the high level of ad effectiveness for UCI?

Steve Mandala: We justify our ad effectiveness success in two dimensions; Viewing Behavior and Consumer Behavior.

With Viewing Behavior, the vast majority of our TV viewers consume our content live, which leads to top levels of ad engagement. Our viewers continue watching their programs even during commercials, with a commercial retention of over 90 percent.  Also, we know Hispanics are receptive to advertising than non-Hispanics– Hispanics are 19% more likely to agree that “Advertising helps me to keep up-to-date about products and services that I need or would like to have.” (MRI)

With Consumer Behavior, ads that run on Spanish-language consistently outperform English-language ads on recall and likeability among Hispanics.  In 2017 alone, we saw that Spanish-language ads significantly outperformed English-language ads on all metrics. Spanish-language ads likeability indexed 240 vs English-language ads. We believe the key to Spanish-language ads’ over performance is language.  Even with global campaigns (ads that are exactly the same in Spanish-language vs English-language and the only difference is language) we see Spanish-language ads consistently performing better on all metrics vs English-language ads. Additionally, recent studies show that audiences exposed to contextually targeted ads have a higher tendency to respond favorably, especially within the concepts of language and culture targeting.

Charlene Weisler: How does ad effectiveness impact the consumer journey and purchasing?

Steve Mandala: Creative continues to be the largest differentiator for campaign performance and positive ROIs. A good creative helps cut through the clutter, drives clarity, delivers a message to consumers and leads to higher purchase intent and incremental sales. A good Spanish-language creative speaks to the consumer in culture and in-language, establishes a dialogue, develops narrative storylines, leverages culturally-relevant humor and uses relatable characters in a familiar setting. Our source for this information comes from Nielsen’s “The Secrets to Spanish Language TV ROI” study.

Charlene Weisler: How does the Hispanic audience compare to Total U.S. audiences in terms of loyalty and purchasing?

Steve Mandala: From a study conducted in partnership Acosta, we discovered that Hispanic shoppers continue to make more store trips than the Total U.S. shoppers. We also saw that Hispanic shoppers and Total U.S. shoppers on average are spending basically the same, however, the Hispanic shopper with kids is out pacing both groups in monthly spend. This increased trip frequency and spend provide retailers and brand marketers with more opportunities to engage with Hispanic shoppers.

In terms of loyalty, when asking Hispanic buyers what factors were most important in deciding which brand to buy, usually brand was the most important reason for brand selection, indicating that many are brand loyal buyers across a diverse range of categories.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Deepening the Connection To Hispanic Consumers

Hispanic spending is projected to grow 85% over the next 10 years and reach $1.7 trillion by 2020, which makes this market segment one of the most important consumer targets for advertisers.  But how can marketers meaningfully connect with Hispanic consumers?  MAGNA and Univision have just released the results of a seminal research study titled "Marketing to the Hispanic Mindset" that measures the impact of contextual targeting (topic, language and culture) in digital video ad experiences.

Among other key insights, the study revealed that language and culture targeting in digital video ads can double the purchase intent of Hispanic consumers and increase their emotional connection with brands.

Surveying 6,000 Hispanic consumers, the study is the first of its kind to include mobile face-tracking in Hispanic research.  "We wanted to understand the role of language and context in digital advertising, including mobile and emotional facial coding to gain deep insights," said Roberto Ruiz, Executive Vice President, Insights and Analytics at Univision.


I sat down with Ruiz and Kara Manatt, Senior Vice President, Intelligence Solutions Strategy at MAGNA to delve more deeply into how the right targeting can connect brands with the Hispanic consumer.

Charlene Weisler:  Tell me how targeting can impact ad receptivity among Hispanics.

Kara Manatt:  We tested three types of targeting.  The first, Topic targeting -- when the topic of the ad is related to the topic of the content it appears in front of -- replicated what we tested among a general audience.  An example would be content on the health benefits of owning a cat that has a pre-roll ad for a cat food brand.  Obviously, there is a strong connection between the product being advertised and the editorial context in which it appears.

The second type that we explored in the study was Language targeting, which is when the language of the ad is matched to the language of the content.  For example, Spanish-language pre-roll ads that run into Spanish-language video content.


Cultural targeting was the third area; that is when an ad speaks to Hispanics through culture.  This can be a bit trickier to nail down since there are a lot of different ways to do that, such as through music, food and specific Latino events.  In Cultural targeting you align an ad that connects on a cultural level with content that does the same thing.

Weisler:  What were the major takeaways from the study?

Manatt:  The key findings for us were the big differences in persuasion metrics, particularly the really important and hard-to-move metrics like brand favorability and purchase intent.  Using language and cultural targeting to double purchase intent was the No. 1 key takeaway; we saw double the impact from merely changing the environment and not the ad.  The other takeaway was that it helps build a relationship between the brand and the consumer.  Hispanics are particularly sensitive to cultural messaging from an advertiser.  They are receptive to the brand going the extra mile by speaking to them in their own language and making that cultural connection.  This is not lost on the consumer.  Again, notably you are not changing the ad.  You are only changing the environment.


Roberto Ruiz:  We also gathered a lot of data on mobile targeting.  When we used the emotion tracking part of the study and we looked at the percentage lift in emotion due to cultural targeting versus no targeting, we saw that with cultural targeting there was more emotion expressed by the people watching the ad.  So, the fact that cultural targeting had a huge impact in emotion on ads received via computers and mobile -- in mobile we saw 60% more emotion being expressed by the Spanish dominant and bi-lingual Hispanics -- told us that cultural targeting is creating a visceral connection and driving emotion.  We know that in branding, emotional connection is really what drives equity.

Weisler:  Were there any surprises in the results?

Manatt:  It's not often we find that what is good for the brand is something that is also good for the consumer.  It is good for brand metrics, but it also leads to a better overall media experience for the consumer.

Ruiz:  It surprised me that Language targeting and Topic targeting performed the best on smartphones.  There is so little data on how to create effective mobile ads that I thought this finding was very interesting.

Weisler:  What are your recommendations to advertisers?

Ruiz:  We say that these are building blocks -- each step leads to a deeper and more profound relationship to the consumer.  Don't limit yourself to Topic targeting and Language targeting.  Take it all the way to Topic, In-Language and Culture to have very powerful digital ads.  You will see the brand KPIs go up.  This research surveyed 6,000 consumers -- a large study with a representative sample that includes non-self-reported data (data that was collected by an app) and that builds on these three targeting steps.  You can see the lift from each one.  But if brands want to do cultural targeting they have to do their homework.  They have to understand the consumer insights that connect the brand to the category, to the consumer and create a solid, culturally targeted creative ad.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Spanning All Mediums. Interview with Ruth Gaviria of Entercom

Ruth Gaviria, CMO of Entercom, intended to pursue a career in medicine after earning a degree in genetics. But, as she explained, “I became incredibly curious and interested in people and how they think, behave and socialize, which eventually led me to a career in marketing.” 

After several attempts, she was offered a job at Procter & Gamble, moved to Miller Brewing Company and on to Colgate-Palmolive in various brand management and marketing positions. From there she forged a career that spans all media from print to television and radio.

“I have always tended to take the unbeaten path and find ways to do things that have never yet been done, and through that mindset, I have traversed the media landscape from print, to television and now radio,” she explained. 

Charlene Weisler: What is your marketing philosophy?

Ruth Gaviria: I firmly believe that you are the brand company you keep. Media provides a blank canvas of opportunity to co-create with brands and for me to be an architect of new things.

Charlene Weisler: What is your experience in television?

Ruth Gaviria: I was recruited by Univision to establish a corporate marketing practice and rebrand the company during a critical time for television. The Univision brand identity had not been touched in two decades and the expanded portfolio of broadcast and cable networks were not knitted to the master brand in any way.  The work we did there still stands today and has provided an organizing principle of looking at content and distribution through a critical brand lens. 

Charlene Weisler: What is the state of Hispanic media today and where do you see it going?

Ruth Gaviria: Hispanic media is no longer about Spanish language.  That model was disrupted by English language content like the Walking Dead, Jane the Virgin and Modern Family, all of which have been ratings gold among U.S. Hispanics.  The reality is that the new Hispanic America is an inextricable part of American culture, and not a standalone cohort.  If Hispanic media, specifically Spanish language media, is going to reassemble a continuously fragmenting audience, it's going to have to take a page out of radio--the number 1 reach medium in America which continues to grow despite digital and streaming services--and offer in-culture, relevant content that reflects the evolving portrait of its audience, every day and everywhere.

Charlene Weisler: What do you see as the major trends in media?

Ruth Gaviria: In my mind, there are two major themes going into 2017 and beyond: mobility and unprecedented creativity.  The convergence of mobility and radio that we see in NextRadio, an Entercom partner, is game-changing.  The recent aggregation and mergers between content, distribution and mobility platforms like AT&T’s intent to acquire Time Warner and Verizon’s content play through Yahoo and AOL, has expanded the content and media ecosystem and is catalyzing the second major trend: hyper creativity. Brand creative will get better and better, as will content. We will become bolder and constantly disrupt ourselves.  We are seeing it worldwide in fashion, design and fantastical storytelling in all media. 

Charlene Weisler: What is Entercom?

Ruth Gaviria: Entercom is the 4th largest radio company in the US with a footprint of 126 radio stations in 28 markets.  Radio is the No. 1 reach medium in America, live and local, the least disrupted medium, with no cord cutting and scales in a second to millions of listeners across the country.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

Supporting and Cultivating Women’s Leadership. Interview with Trisha Pray

Trisha Pray, EVP Network & Cable Sales, Univision Communications Inc., is enthusiastic about her company and about Hispanic consumers. “When I first started my career in the late 1980s at Leo Burnett, it was a great training ground which offered my first introduction to Univision. Hispanic consumers were an untapped market at that time.” 

Since moving to Univision sales in 1989, she has expanded the range of marketing opportunities to advertisers across Univision’s broadcast networks, Univision Network and UniMás, as well as over a suite of growing cable and digital properties and strategic partnerships, including Galavisión, Univision Deportes Network, El Rey Network, FUSION, Univision Creator Network, Flama, The Root, and The Onion.
The Hispanic market is not monolithic. Strategic research is needed to keep pace with this desirable and evolving consumer segment. Trisha is a big supporter of research where custom proprietary studies help build and inform Univision’s knowledge base. She is also a proponent of personal development and is a founding member of Univision’s Women’s Leadership Council that helps to prepare future leaders.
I sat down with Trisha and asked her the following questions:

Charlene Weisler: You have worked in the Hispanic marketplace since the 1980s. How has it evolved over the years?

Trisha Pray: The biggest change is in awareness. Today, Hispanic consumers are too important not to address. Marketers cannot achieve their growth goals without this integral consumer segment. Since I joined Univision, there have been three U.S. censuses, with the results making this fact abundantly clear. When the 1990 census was made public, our phones started to ring off the hook. Marketers knew they had to establish a relationship with U.S. Hispanics. Now, we see even more momentum. The level of sophistication has increased, and we stay ahead of that through our proprietary research. Research is very important to add clarity to the marketplace. 

Charlene: How do you delineate between Spanish only, Spanish dominant and English speaking Hispanic households?

Trisha: Initially, in the 80s, our focus was on Spanish-dominant households. As the lives of those consumers evolved, we evolved as well. Respecting the sensibility of the Hispanic consumer segment, we now offer a breadth of content ranging from Spanish to English-dominant. Our portfolio of products continues to reach and engage all Hispanics. For example, in recent years, we have added El Rey and Fusion, which are English dominant. While remaining sensitive to the cultural and emotional engagement of each viewer, we will continue to revolutionize our mission in the years to come. 

Charlene: Do you have a digital strategy?

Trisha: This is an area that has evolved the most for us. Initially, it was done to support the TV portfolio, but we pivoted, with our focus now on content regardless of the platform. As a result, Univision creates content that is enjoyed on TV, while also consumed from an on-the-go perspective, constantly experimenting along the way. We have great traditional offerings on TV which now go beyond to give our consumers more to enhance their experience. An example is the online, behind-the-scenes content available in tandem with our novellas on TV.  A new offering we have is TheFlama.com, which is fun and irreverent, all in English, for younger audiences. It has specific, culturally-focused content that has helped advertisers like Coca-Cola reach teens. We also have the Univision Creator Network, culled from a range of consumer categories such as food and fashion. Their insights help advertisers see what an influencer looks like. We have pursued talent from YouTube channels, given them greater exposure, with some even appearing on our morning show. Univision’s broad portfolio and scale resonates because we understand consumers’ behaviors throughout the day, in addition to providing advertisers with the necessary tools to connect the dots. 

Charlene: Tell me about your work with the Women’s Leadership Council.

Trisha: At Univision, our mission is to recruit, develop and retain talented professionals. The Women’s Leadership Council is a critical core of that mission. We help with development inside and outside the organization. The Council consists of a senior steering committee, 13 local chapters in many of our key markets, connecting through national and local events. We also have a speaker series which is streamed live internally throughout the company, featuring female leaders such as Anna Maria Chavez, CEO of the Girl Scouts and Carla Harris, Vice Chairman of Wealth Management, and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley. We want both men and women to participate together while learning to build their own brand.
We also have the Women’s Leadership Academy, in partnership with Smith College, which provides internal training, professional, and personal development. The knowledge gained here can be used in and beyond Univision, helping participants to think differently, along with developing self-confidence and direction. 

Charlene: With everything, how do you achieve work / life balance?

Trisha: This is an area with which I still struggle, but understand that work / life balance is critical for any lifestyle. We are better employees and human beings when we successfully maintain healthy, balanced lives. Sometime things do get out of whack. There are busier work seasons, like during the Upfront, where I expect an increased workload, but I am also responsible for ensuring that I reset everything once it is over.  There certainly is a necessity to talk about this subject a lot, especially with younger people. It is important early on in your career to create boundaries and clear-set goals.  In general, I believe millennials are better than my generation at achieving a practical life balance.

Charlene: Do you have any advice for a college student considering a career in media?

Trisha: Media is a very exciting field. I love it! And the people who work in media are great. It is a very dynamic environment, with the speed of change being fascinating and fun. The only requirements are passion and curiosity about what is happening in the marketplace. It can take you in many different directions. The last 3 years have been the most dynamic in my career, encompassing more change than in the last decade. And the future will not look as it looks now. Be open.  

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com