In recognition of the expanding purchasing power of the Hispanic market, the California-based poultry producer Foster Farms has launched a series of advertising and educational campaigns aimed at this growing demographic.
In August, Foster Farms rolled out three new television commercials specifically designed to appeal to the Hispanic audience. The ads, produced by the Long Beach, California-based marketing firm Grupo Gallegos, give Foster Farms' advertising icons an Hispanic spin.
For more than 15 years, Foster Farm commercials have featured two scruffy chicken puppets -- the "Foster Imposters." The goal of the two "Imposters," as they speed down the highway and scarf junk food, is to cross the state lines into California and pass themselves off as Foster Farms chickens. Cira Villalpando Forbes, marketing manager for Foster Farms, reports that recall rates for the ads, especially among California Hispanics, reaches 97 percent.
Grupo Gallegos, known for its marketing strategies aimed at multicultural audiences, designed the three 30-second commercials, incorporating Hispanic cultural elements. In the ads, the chickens are trying to achieve their life dream, this time by submitting to a massive cosmetic and photoshop makeover, consulting a curandero or a witchdoctor, and undergoing psychoanalysis alongside a man who believes he is a chupacabra or monster.
The commercial titled "Transformation" has gone viral, receiving tens of thousands of hits on YouTube. Past Foster Farm ads have also been structured around a corrido or Mexican folk song that narrate the commercial's action. A 2006 commercial featured the Mexican group Los Tucanes de Tijuana.
Beyond commercials, Foster Farms representatives say the company is focused on nutritional education. The company sponsors spots on Spanish-language television featuring its spokesperson nutritionist Manuel Villacorta. In short, most feel that the company, far from laying an egg in identifying the strength of the growing Hispanic market, has significantly increased its brand recognition. Observers say the pioneering and strategic efforts are definitely a feather in the company's cap.
