Commemorating the famous Battle of Puebla where outnumbered Mexican troops defeated invading French troops, there are more than 150 major celebrations of Cinco de Mayo in the United States.* The existing popularity and expected continued growth of the event, noted by advertisers, marketers, and agencies alike, can help offer brands with a unique chance to market their products, goods, and services to the Mexican-American, and Hispanic, community with campaigns surrounding the “dia festiva.” Like most campaigns, while advertisers can wait as late as just a couple of days before the event to start their promotions, in many cases, the many smaller Cinco get-togethers are often planned well in advance of the day, and a good campaign will work with this schedule.**
NATIONAL ADVERTISING
An example of such preparation would include a campaign run last year by Dos Equis when they decided to move the holiday to May 2nd, effectively creating “Dos de Mayo” in a play on the company’s name. The event, which was promoted nearly a month in advance utilized “The Most Interesting Man in the World” encouraging a word of mouth/viral campaign while also promoting a large “Dos de Mayo” party in Los Angeles through a partnered Maxim/Dos Equis sweepstakes where fans could win a trip to an exclusive party in Los Angeles.*** In addition to the campaign promoting the “Dos de Mayo” celebration, Dos Equis also offered specials on their beers starting May 2nd through May 5th.****
LOCAL ADVERTISING
While Dos Equis may be able to allocate a bit more of their budget towards an event catered to Hispanic celebrations, in many cases, their campaign can act as a platform for other companies to draw from. In particular, while certain viral marketing campaigns are able to hit at the right time and see immediate results, most social marketing and digital campaigns take a good amount of time. In particular, Hispanic Millennials often use social media to maintain connections with friends and family***** and often, this same demo will take their family’s brand recommendations into high consideration prior to making purchases.****** Their connection to, and with their families via social media, provides an ideal way for the family’s recommendations to be taken into account through liked pages, shared posts, and more.
Contests or giveaways can also help further drive greater attention to a company’s brand leading up to the day of the event. Outside of social media promotions, these can run through partnerships with existing media partners to target their audience in print and online. With a simple survey combined with the contest entry brands can further drive a stronger return on their campaign not only through greater brand interaction by consumer audiences, but also through actionable data the company can use when launching other, or similar, campaigns in the future.
Ultimately it doesn’t hurt either if in addition to the final grand prize for the one lucky winner if the brand is also able to provide other discounted offerings such as offering 5 drinks for $5, 55% off in-store purchases, or something else that happens to align the brand with the actual holiday.
Reaching US Hispanics Around Cinco de Mayo Visualized!
SOURCES:
*www.medialifemagazine.com, “Your Client Celebrating Cinco de Mayo”, by Diego Vasquez
**www.i4biz.com, “Beyond Cinco de Mayo”, Jan 29, 2014
***adage.com/article/creativity-pick-of-the-day/dos-equis-moves-cinco-de-mayo-2/240714/
****www.convinceandconvert.com, “Dos Equis Resolves a “Cinco De Lemma” with Integrated Dos de Mayo Campaing”, by Jessica Giogli
*****www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/a-peek-at-hispanic-millennials-229150251.html
******gaia.adage.com/images/bin/pdf/Hispanic%20Millennials.pdf
