General Mills courts Hispanics

MMR,  Oct 20, 2008  

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MINNEAPOLIS -- General Mills Inc. has launched a yearlong partnership with the Spanish-language Univision Network that executives say will expand the reach of the food maker's Hispanic marketing platform.

As part of the program General Mills' Spanish-language lifestyle magazine, Que Rica Vida will debut on television.

Karla Martinez, cohost of Univision's "Despierta America" ("Wake Up America") program, has become the new spokeswoman for General Mills and is appearing in a series of 30-second vignettes that will air coast-to-coast over the next year.

The vignettes provide viewers with cooking- and nutrition-related tips, each featured by one of Que Rica Vida's 14 participating General Mills brands.

"As a young mother who has created a new life for herself and her family in the United States, Karla is the perfect person to facilitate Que Rica Vida's conversations with consumers, the kind of person anyone would like to have as a friend," Que Rica Vida editor Ursula Mejia-Melgar says. "We are excited to have her represent our initiative, which strives to be 'una amiga para siempre' ('a friend for life') to other Latina moms."

Que Rica Vida and its accompanying web site are the cornerstone of General Mills' two-and-a-half-year-old, multibrand Hispanic marketing initiative of the same name. More than 350,000 copies of the magazine are distributed free through direct mail, stores and community-based venues.

Starting in 2009, a condensed version will also be distributed to more than 600,000 households as a freestanding insert in various newspapers around the country.

"All our research shows that since its inception Que Rica Vida has been extremely successful in helping Latina women," General Mills multicultural marketing director Rudy Rodriguez says.

"We want to build on that success by engaging our readers on other fronts, as well. The Internet especially allows for greater interaction--an ongoing dialogue around a virtual dinner table, which for Hispanics is very familiar and which they call a sobremesa, meaning 'over the table.'"

In addition, Que Rica Vida has launched a culturally relevant health education initiative for Latinos called Mente Sana en Cuerpo Sano (Sound Body, Sound Mind). The program is being cosponsored by the Latino Nutrition Coalition, the Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition, and 14 community-based partners from Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and northern California.

It is expected to provide vital health and nutrition information to more than 10,000 people in its first year.

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