Latino TV Ads Hit the Road

Since 1973, about the only exposure that Unocal Corp. got in the Latino community was advertisements it ran during Spanish language radio broadcasts of Dodger games.

But last month, Unocal for the first time embraced Latino TV. In a bid to broaden its share of the Latino market, Unocal is now running a $500,000 Latino television ad campaign from San Diego to San Francisco. In the Los Angeles market, they’re running on KVEA (Channel 52) and KMEX (Channel 34), primarily during local newscasts, soap operas and soccer games.

The commercials, which show quick glimpses of Latino culture and were filmed in Los Angeles, were created by the Hispanic division of the Chicago ad agency Leo Burnett. The advertisements share the theme line “Your friend on the road” ( Tu amigo en el camino ) .

“For years we thought our Anglo campaign was sufficient in reaching our targeted market,” said Ted Seden, Unocal’s manager of advertising. “But in retrospect, I wish we would have turned to Hispanic TV earlier.”