SOUTHWEST FOCUS
Hispanics account for 20% to 30% of Jack in the Box's business, says Greg Joumas, divisional VP-advertising and marketing communications. The chain operates primarily in the Southwest region, including Los Angeles and Texas, where Jack in the Box has 75% of its outlets.
While Jack's campaigns for the general market tend to be a bit edgier, a key element to reach the prime male 18-to-34 audience, "that humor doesn't translate well for our Hispanic consumers," he says. "For our Hispanic campaigns, Jack is portrayed as more of a patriarchal-patrician-CEO type."
ICON'S LIFE EXPANDED
Recent Spanish-language commercials portray different facets of the Jack character: in the office, on vacation, with his family. Another series, shot on location in Italy, showed Jack on vacation in a country known for great food.
"That particular [family] theme is universal, and the Hispanic market can relate to it as well as the general market," Mr. Joumas says. "Jack, in his own way, speaks to our consumers from both directions and from both of the worlds they live in everyday. We have to work to be sure there's not a disconnect from the messages they're getting from the general market and from Spanish-language media."
Mr. Joumas says Jack in the Box doesn't try to portray itself as anything but a burger chain.
"We know they come to us for burgers, fries, shakes," he says. "We have tacos on the menu, but we're not trying to position them as authentic Mexican tacos."
RECOGNIZE TWO-FOLD REACH
Hispanic consumers "appreciate a company that tailors its advertising to them," says Rochelle Newman-Carrasco, president, Enlace Communications, Los Angeles, Jack in the Box's Hispanic agency. "Hispanic consumers don't consume media in a vacuum, and they understand how advertisers are trying to reach them in the general market as well as on Spanish-language media. But they do expect when you are reaching them in their language, that it is contextually correct in their culture.
What unifies Jack's advertising, which carries the theme, "We don't make it until you order it," is Jack. "We try to send out the message that this is a positive experience," says Ms. Newman-Carrasco.
