Century 21 Real Estate Corp.'s Hispanic campaign will be expanded this year to include an advertising focus on professional sports venues of significant appeal to the Hispanic community.

In 1997, the Century 21 System became the first real estate company to reach out to the Hispanic community with targeted advertising and marketing.

The Hispanic market is an untapped reservoir of strong buying power, said Valerie Menard, associate editor with Austin, Texas-based Hispanic Magazine.

Menard said while the Hispanic community represents 11.3 percent of the U.S. population, it has an annual buying power of more than $300 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"And it's growing," she said.

The 1998 World Cup soccer tournament, which again proved to be one of the most highly watched sports events among Hispanic households, featured Century 21 Real Estate Corp. in 50 live radio commercial spots. Additionally, the System aired its commercials during live broadcasts of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and will air more commercials during the League Championship Series and the World Series.

"The results of this campaign have been outstanding. Brokers have utilized news articles about the initiative to recruit new sales associates and have generated hundreds of leads through television advertising, radio spots and printed materials targeting the Hispanic community," said Robert Moles, president & CEO of Century 21 Real Estate Corp. "The Century 21 System intends to further boost its outreach efforts aimed toward the Hispanic community through print media, as well as in print and electronic advertising and collateral."

This year's campaign includes a television spot targeting first-time home buyers. The campaign tag line, Una inversion para toda la vida, (translation: An investment of a lifetime) addresses the value of home ownership versus renting - a critical issue for Hispanic home buyers.

"There are not a lot of companies that have noticed this," Menard said. "They are beginning to. Corporate America hasn't really decided how best to market to our community, and they didn't believe you could market to the Hispanic market in English."

Published: October 9, 1998

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