Se habla español – Part 4
In previous posts, we’ve seen how Hispanics prefer to be addressed in Spanish by advertisers.
But hang on a minute.
If you’re targeting assimilated or highly-acculturated English-dominant Hispanics, shouldn’t you go with English instead?
I mean, that would just be common sense, wouldn’t it?
Turns out there’s a counterintuitive twist.
Studies carried out in 1994, 2000, and 2006 by the Roslow Research Group indicate that advertising to Hispanics in Spanish, regardless of their dominant language or level of bilingualism, is significantly more effective in three critically important areas than advertising to them in English.
In fact, the most recent study — titled 2006 Spanish vs. English Advertising Effectiveness among Hispanics* — found that commercials in Spanish are:
• 55% more effective at increasing ad awareness levels,
• 50% more effective at message communication, and
• 4.36 times more persuasive than ads received in English.
Now here’s the counterintuitive part.
The study found that the greater effectiveness of Spanish-language ads over English-language ones was not simply based on language comprehension, as logic might incline one to assume.
Even among Hispanics who speak equal amounts of English and Spanish at home (and even among those who speak more English than Spanish), commercials delivered en español turned out to be 55% más efectivos at increasing ad recall levels than those in English.
That’s right: 55% more effective. (see following chart).
And not only did the study find that language ability had no apparent effect on ad recall, it also found that the advantage of Spanish-over-English was just as strong among Bilingual/English-dominants (59%) as among total participants (55%).
So here’s the deal:
• the spots in Spanish struck a far more responsive chord with Spanish-dominants than the English-language ones, and
• 86% more Spanish-dominants recalled the spots’ main messages when delivered in Spanish (75.2% vs. 40.5%).
Nothing surprising there, right? But do you know what folks might be seriously surprised to learn?
That the Spanish-language spots were significantly more effective among the Bilingual/English-dominants, too.
Sí, señor.
26% more Bilingual/English-dominant Hispanics recalled the spots’ main messages when they were received in Spanish than when they were received in English (see following chart).
And to cap things off, among Hispanics who viewed Spanish-language programs plus commercials, persuasion scores shot up an average of 48% pre-to-post exposure to the ads, while among those viewing in English, those scores rose a mere 11%.
Bottom line?
Among Spanish-dominant Hispanics, commercials in Spanish turned out to be 7.57 times more persuasive — as might have been expected.
But — and here’s another surprise — even among Bilingual/English-dominants, the Spanish-language spots were still 2.87 times more persuasive.
So in terms of likelihood to purchase, the Spanish-language ads were, on average, 4.36 times more influential than their English-language counterparts across the board (see following chart).
Which is why Hispanic marketers like to say that Spanish isn’t just the language Latinos speak — it’s the language that speaks to them. And why if you want to connect with them on an emotional level, you need to speak to them in Spanish.
Fortunately, at HM&P sabemos cómo hacerlo (we know how to do that).
Next time we’ll talk about something called “transcreation.”
And how to adapt your campaign from English into Spanish without getting lost in translation.
Stay tuned.
*Source: ”Spanish vs. English: Advertising Effectiveness among Hispanics,” Roslow Research Group, 2006. Referenced wuth permission.
