Estrella Media is kicking off a new bilingual identity campaign extolling the Hispanic identity of the network and its viewers.
The campaign uses the theme Celebro Quien Soy (celebrating who I am) and starts in time for Hispanic Heritage Month.
But Estrella plans to run the campaign for at least four months.
“There’s a number of companies and brands that really love to jump on the bandwagon for 30 days for Pride month or Hispanic Heritage Month,” Hanna Bolte, senior VP, marketing, communications and talent relations at Estrella Media, told Broadcasting+Cable. “We talked about it. We’re Latino 365 days a year and so we wanted a campaign that would span not only Hispanic Heritage Month, but had more legs and was more connected to the identity of Estrella TV.”
The multi-platform campaign features Estrella’s talent telling relatable success stories about their journeys becoming who they are as Hispanics in America.
The first promo, airing Thursday (September 7), features national news anchor Abel Alvarez and top-rated regional morning show host Don Cheto.
“People can and say how much Don Cheto means to them. They want to talk to him about a story they saw on the news,” Bolte said. “We know we have this connection with our fan base.”
Campaign ads will appear in prime and news on TV, radio, FAST channels, streaming audio and on Estrella’s app.
Estrella is also getting its affiliates and sponsors to get involved in the campaign.
The spots precede Estrella’s Fiestas Patrias (Mexican Independence Day) Celebrations on September 10, when the network is mounting events with live music and food in Los Angeles and Houston. Bolte said 20,000 people are expected to attend each of the events.
Estrella talent will be at the events, doing meet and greets and taking pictures with viewers.
“We are also going to be shooting content for our news division,” Bolte said. “People will tell their stories about how they came here. It’s more than an immigration story. Its their identity. It’s how the community sees themselves.”
Amid the turmoil in the television business, Hispanic media has remained relatively strong and continued to grow.
Estrella is something of an upstart, competing with giants like TelevisaUnivison and Comcast’s Telemundo.
“They’re a well-oiled machine. They are very big corporations,” Bolte said. “We’re a scrappy company. We’re small. We’re like a start up”
Estrella Media emerged from the bankruptcy of LBI Media in 2020.
The company has distinguished itself by focusing on reality programming and news, as opposed to the novellas that appear on other networks. It was also quick to jump into the free, ad-supported streaming television business.
“You can’t come out of bankruptcy and not be scrappy. There’s not one person here at this company that’s just phoning it in. Everyone here is acutely aware of how everyone’s action helps drive a business and helps connect with an audience.”
The campaign was created in-house. “I’d say 90% to 95% of it was created by Latinos,” Bolte said.
She said the campaign aims to be authentic.
“We’re in a world of influencers and content creator culture. Everyone’s trying to be bigger, flashier, louder,” she said. “We’re real. These are true stories.”
The campaign is partly built on the idea of Hispanics being “more than,” Bolte added, “Our audience is more than a demo study. They’re more than a focus group. They are the most influential population group in the United States right now. We all strive to be more than what we first imagined ourselves to be. Everyone has been building a career, a business and legacy and that’s what this campaign is.”
Estrella will be producing a series of 15-second individual spots featuring interviews with the on-air talent from the network and its stations. They will share their inspiring personal stories.
Another spot will use the backgrounds of Estrella's on-air talent to highlight the cultural diversity within the Hispanic community.
The campaign also employs special graphics, banners, social graphics, custom logo treatments and lower thirds.
Each week, the network’s news team will present an inspiring success story, highlighting the determination, resilience, and accomplishments of these individuals.
The campaign also supports the network’s expanded one–hour program block of Noticiero EstrellaTV: Cierre de Ediciion and the one-hour expansion of Alarma TV.
Hearst Television, which owns a number of Estrella affiliates is looking to shoot local promos with its stations’ talent that would be part of the Estrella campaign.
Estrella’s sales department is also talking to brands that want to be a part of the campaign–partly because it will last beyond Hispanic Heritage month.
“We used to say there was general consumer media and Hispanic media. It’s now one. Latinos are consumers, period,” Bolte said. “Our audience--we like to say our fans--are sticky. They’re loyal.. They’re not only driving culture and politics and community, but they’re going to be driving business.”
