Cross-Media Advertising in Latin America

Ordinarily, one thinks of the advertising process as one in which an advertiser asks an advertiser agency to create ads and place them in various media vehicles in order to communicate with consumers and businesses.  But it is true that a media company can also be an advertiser, because it needs advertising to increase awareness, usage and effectiveness.  Most often, a media company will seek to advertise in other types of media, since its direct competitors would most likely refuse.  On this page, we have collected examples of cross-media advertising.

  1. Mexico City Photo 1 and Mexico City Photo 2  (photo credit: R. Soong)
    One of the largest advertising sectors for the newspaper industry  in Mexico City is the television industry.  On a daily basis, the two major television networks (Televisa and TV Azteca) and the two cable/MMDS systems (Cablevisión and Multivisión) take out full page ads in all the dozens of major newspapers to advertise their program schedules.  The first photo here shows Televisa and Cablevisión on the left and right hand side of a page in the English-language tabloid The News.  The second photo shows TV Azteca and Multivisión on the next page of the same newspaper.  This is a situation in which the duopolies are compelled to advertise wherever their competitors do.
      
  2. New York City Photo 1 and New York City Photo 2 (photo credit: R. Soong)
    Currently, one of the most rapidly growing advertising categories is the Internet sector.  When a dot-com goes through an IPO to raise tens of millions of dollars, most of that goes into various forms of advertising for the purpose of establishing the brand name.  The first photo shows a poster for Yupi.com ("el más fácil"), "mandado del cielo" underground into a New York City subway train.  But are any of the passengers in the second photo paying any attention to the ad?
      
  3. Buenos Aires, Argentina (photo credit: R. Soong)
    This ad for Radio de la Ciudad is posted right by the toll booth on the auto highway.  What better placement can there possibly be?  As the motorists slow down to pay the toll, they receive the visual cue to tune to this radio station to check the traffic conditions up ahead.
      
  4. Bogotá, Colombia (photo credit: R. Soong)
    Revista Semana has a booth in the large shopping mall, Unicentro, where people can get samples or obtain subscriptions.  There is a good match between the magazine and the type of up-scale shoppers here.
     
  5. Bogotá, Colombia (photo credit: R. Soong)
    This is a mobile billboard for the Decora magazine from the Revista Semana group.  Let's hope no one runs into it.
     
  6. Buenos Aires, Argentina (photo credit: R. Soong)
    This is an exterior ad for the radio program "El Duende de la Tarde" hosted by Guillermo Petruccelli on Feeling FM 100.7 in Buenos Aires.  This ad appears on a sidewall of a building located on the main boulevard, Avenida 9 de Julio.  When an ad appears on the side of the building, it is obviously cheaper than one facing the street itself (see the rooftop billboard for the large Toyota ad).  This one is even more problematic because it appears on the back of the nearside vehicular traffic.
      
  7. New York City, USA (photo credit: R. Soong)
    This is an ad for kozmo.com on the side of a public telephone booth.  This is an unobvious ad ("Phish and hook"?  What does it mean?) which would be difficult to decipher if you are not familiar with this company.
     
  8. Mexico (photo credit: R. Soong)
    This is a televised soccer game between two Mexican teams: Atlas and Toros Neza.  The boards on the sidelines are covered with ads for www.terra.com.mx .  At this time, given the relatively low penetration of internet access among the population, this venue is not the typical choice for a dot-com.  We are more apt to expect to see board ads for automobiles, softdrinks, beer and consumer electronics. 
      
  9. Buenos Aires, Argentina (photo credit: R. Soong)
    Not all advertising spaces are sold out all of the time.  On radio and television, this is not noticeable as the time is filled out seamlessly by non-advertising material.  In print media, the publisher can usually insert filler material and not show white space.  On internet websites, unsold banner space may be taken up by the very irritating "Your banner ad can appear here."  Outdoor billboard owners have a more difficult time since they would not want to dismantle the structure.  In this photo, the unused space is filled out by a simple self-advertisement in the form of a telephone number on a white background to call to become an advertiser.
     
  10. New York City, USA (photo credit: R. Soong)  
    Latingirl     magazine (the "Hispanic teen magazine") advertises in the New York City subway system.  This is a large transportation system with hundreds of stations, some of which are modernized and clean, while others are old and decrepit.  This photo was taken at the 49th Street stop for the C train.  The poster is a paper sheet that is pasted onto the display board; in this case, it was not done properly since the left-hand lower corner is creased.
     
  11. New York City, USA (photo credit: R. Soong)  
    This is the National Puerto Rican Day Parade float for     Noticias del Mundo, a Spanish language daily newspaper.  This is one of the largest gathering of Puerto Ricans anywhere in the world, with everybody wildly cheering for each float going by.
      
  12. New York City, USA (photo credit: R. Soong)  
    Here is the National Puerto Rican Day Parade float for radio station La Mega, the most popular Spanish-language station in New York City.  Being a radio station, they have the advantage over a newspaper by being able to play music loudly on the way (with salsa star Gilberto Santa Rosa on the float) while people dance away.
      
  13. New York City, USA (photo credit: R. Soong)
    StarMedia.com ("Tu Comunidad en Internet") spends a portion of its enormous advertising budget on this subway car poster ad overlooking a sleepy passenger.
     
  14. New York City, USA (photo credit: R. Soong)
    ElPuenteLatino.com, a Spanish-language local guide, takes up a large wallboard in Spanish Harlem.
     
  15. New York City, USA (photo credit: R. Zand)
    Yahoo! Travel outdoor ad appears as a typical motel sign
     
  16. New York City, USA (photo credit: R. Soong)
    Salsa/merengue music radio station La Mega FM 97.9.  Do they even need to advertise?  How can any Spanish speaker live in this city and not know this station?
     
  17. New York City, USA (photo credit: R. Soong)
    A Starmedia.com billboard located right at the Queens side of the entrance to the Midtown tunnel.  This is taking advantage of the fact that there is usually a back-up of vehicles right before the toll booths, so that the drivers and passengers have nothing to do but look around.

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(posted by Roland Soong on 1/26/00)

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