Think Local, Act Bilingual

Miller Brewing Co.’s new recipe for Hispanic marketing is a different kind of bilingual: It’s more general-market and more localized, at the same time.

Miller revamped its Hispanic Strategy Group in February to work side-by-side with general-market teams assigned to specific brands. Then it hired Arc Worldwide to mirror that dual approach, and expanded its three-and-a-half-year relationship with Hispanic shop Market Vision.

It’ll be spring 2007 before consumers see the first work built from the ground up under the new structure. But they get a taste of it this month with Miller Genuine Draft’s (MGD) Fall Essentials, a joint promotion with Sony and GQ Magazine with a sweeps awarding home-entertainment gear and a mini-magazine distributed at retail with coupons and entertainment tips. Next up: a film-themed promotion for winter that rounds out the yearlong “New Essentials” campaign.

Those upcoming flights follow MGD’s Summer Essentials sweeps and mini-magazine giveaway, the first Hispanic-targeted extension of MGD’s 2005 re-launch that positioned the brand as “Beer, Grown Up” and shifted its target to young men in their late 20s and 30s. The Martin Agency, Richmond, VA, handles ads.

MGD’s re-launch has been struggling, and Miller hopes to tap pockets of loyal Hispanic consumers to bolster the brand at the same time that it woos the general market. Miller is following pop culture, where the mainstream is rapidly adopting Hispanic trends. “A cross-cultural mentality is in play,” says Michael Hand, Miller director of programming, media and marketing assets. “If we ignore that, we’ll miss trends.”

That prompted Miller to staff its Hispanic Marketing Group differently. The staff of 12 is about half general-market pros, half Hispanic pros with varied expertise in promotion and media as well as cultural insights.

“We didn’t believe everyone had to be 100% fluent or live there,” Hand says. (The old system had a marketing director and a handful of Hispanic staffers translating general-market ads and creating separate promotions.)

Now, the staff works with brand teams from the outset to develop Hispanic work that dovetails with the brand’s main campaign. “In the past, we might have done film for the general market, then food for Hispanics,” Hand says. “Now we’re aligning more closely.”

Miller is tapping common passion points — music, film, technology — and setting a far more local slate of promotions. A national tie-in with the Oscars, for example, would be replaced by local promos in video rental stores to better match the way Hispanics watch movies.

Miller’s target is acculturated Hispanics fluent in U.S. and their home-country culture. “It’s not Spanglish; it’s about being Hispanic and American,” says Ken Hicks, senior VP-group account director at Arc. “How you speak to that target audience is different from more traditional Hispanic marketing.”

Miller starts with two traditionally strong Hispanic states — California and Texas — and builds its promotions based on niche audiences there (Mexican, Caribbean, Central American), and legal restrictions. “If it plays in those markets, it’ll play anywhere, because they have the toughest restrictions,” Hand says. Plus, “starting local and building out lets us get more personal and relevant.”

MGD has been flagging despite the repositioning: Shipments fell 7.2% to 3.85 million barrels in 2005, and 2006 has seen little, if any, improvement, according to industry newsletter Beer Marketer’s Insights. “The domestic premium regular segment has been getting hammered,” says newsletter rep Eric Shepard, with Budweiser down 7.4% (to 27.4 million barrels) and Coors Original down 13% (to 1.2 million barrels). “Those three brands make up what’s left of that segment.”

(Meanwhile, Miller Lite was up 3.1% to 18.1 million barrels in ‘05, but is holding flat so far for ‘06, he says.)

California is a “huge” market for MGD, so it’s a logical place to shore up its “Grown Up” positioning with a single, seamless campaign. “We need a singular point of contact that appeals to both cultures,” Hand explains. “Whether we’re talking in Spanish or English or a combination, it needs to be locally culturally relevant.”

In March, Miller asked several agencies to pitch ideas for MGD, including its then-new general-market AOR, Chicago-based Arc. (Miller split its promotion work between Arc and Upshot, also Chicago, in March 2005.) Arc partnered with Chicago-based Relay Hispanic, its sister shop under Publicis Groupe, to present. (The two had collaborated before on Coca-Cola work, and Arc “wanted to come to Miller with ideas that transcended,” Hicks says.)

Arc had already developed the “New Essentials” slate of promos, and wanted a hand in the growing Hispanic work. “Hispanic marketing [in general] is going to continue to expand, and we wanted to be players in it,” Hicks says. Arc already had been beefing up its creative and account staffs with promo pros of Hispanic descent.

“As the Hispanic market becomes so intertwined with the general market, we’re embedding Hispanic experts in our teams,” Hicks explains. “I’ll have a person who understands a Hispanic perspective but as he grows and learns the general market, now I’ve got someone who can go between the two.

“It’s a bit of a trend. Hispanic-only agencies have difficulty integrating into the general system. It’s better to embed folks with the background into the teams. We’re doing that on several accounts — Miller, McDonald’s, Coke — because big clients’ systems are so complex, it’s easier to begin by understanding the system and then bring in niche marketing expertise.”

Miller considered general-market and Hispanic promo shops for the MGD project. “We wanted a balance in the agency of strong strategic thinking, very good creative, and an ability to really connect with consumers on a local level,” Hand says. “Our criteria was: Who can execute on big ideas, and talk with consumers emotionally and creatively?”

Arc’s balance of general-market skills and Hispanic insights matched with Miller’s own nascent strategy. “We both take the approach of understanding the market as a whole, then building your team around that understanding,” Hand says. Adds Hicks: “Our window on both worlds made us a good choice for where they want to head.”

Miller also has expanded its ties to San Antonio-based Market Vision, giving the Hispanic promo shop more work on Miller Lite. Market Vision championed Miller’s highly successful “Pasion 10” campaign tied to the 2006 FIFA World Cup for soccer. The campaign highlighted top No. 10 players in history, tapping Hispanic reverence for the No. 10 jersey, usually worn by a team’s most important player. TV, radio, commemorative cans and a sweeps dangling three grand-prize trips to Germany (site of the World Cup finals) drew accolades. “It was a really inside mentality, and that was driven by the agency,” Hand says.

That campaign played especially well in Texas and California, and “we’re pleased to see how well the idea translated on a broader scale,” with a lot of activity in unexpected markets such as Denver and Charlotte, NC, Hand says. “Retailers and distributors are hungry for this kind of activity. There’s a lot of excitement now for our upcoming work. We’re poised to do some good things.”