Music site encourages young U.S. Hispanics to get involved in the political process.

Latino voters are sure to play a pivotal role in the outcome of the 2004 presidential election. To encourage young Latinos to vote, Batanga  -- an online Latin music broadcaster with 1.5 million listeners -- will provide Spanish-language content for MTV's Rock the Vote (RTV) and provide online registration forms to all listeners.

iMediaConnection talked to Batanga president Luis Brandwayn about the new generation Latinos they reach.

iMediaConnection: How did the Batanga and RTV partnership develop?

Brandwayn: Batanga has been reaching young U.S. Hispanics for the past four years through music. During this time we kept receiving feedback from our audience regarding their wants and needs. We realized that even though young Hispanics were concerned with the outcome of the political process, they lacked access to voting information. We approached RTV knowing of its reputation and its efforts over the past decade. RTV felt that a partnership with Batanga would allow them to extend their registration efforts to the Hispanic community. Immediately, the alliance was formed and Batanga created GRITA TU VOTO -- "Shout your vote!" -- mini-site on Batanga. The GRITA TU VOTO mini-site features links to Rock the Vote online registration services as well as information about the voting process and testimonials from the most important Latin artists encouraging our audience to participate in the electoral process.

iMediaConnection: What was the thought process behind Batanga's decision to create this site catering to the Hispanic market?

Brandwayn: When we founded Batanga in 1999, we realized that there was a great need to reach young Hispanics born in the U.S. Not only was there no media outlet targeting this audience directly, but we also understood that this was the fastest-growing segment of the Hispanic population.

We felt the best way to reach this niche market was through music. One thing that binds all Hispanics, regardless of country of origin or language spoken, is their love of music. By offering the widest variety of Latin music streams on the Web, we were delivering our audience music they could not find anywhere else.

Our sustainable growth, both in listeners and clients, has proven our business model correct. Companies like McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Ford, Nokia and Warner Bros. use Batanga as an effective way to reach the very desirable and young bi-lingual market.

iMediaConnection: What were some challenges in building the site -- usability issues, translations, etc.?

Brandwayn: From the beginning Batanga has been a bilingual site. Everything is published in English and Spanish. We wanted to communicate with the audience in their language, and the interactivity of the Internet allows us to do that. Our listeners can choose to interact with us in the language of their choice.

The second biggest issue was the design of the home page. We wanted to drive people to listen to our music. At the beginning (1999) we let beauty of design drive our choices. Soon we realized that our audience was not reaching the music streams. After a series of focus groups in which the entire team looked at how users interact with the site, we settled into the basics of what you see today: radio streams easily displayed on the left side of the page.

The next challenge was to choose which media player to use. Again, our philosophy was to make things as easy as possible to our listeners. We offer our streams for the most widely used players in the market -- Window's Media Player, Real Player and Apple. Regardless of the player used by our listeners, they can enjoy our music streams.

We also needed to meet our advertiser's needs. As an online radio company we needed to deliver ads designed for "traditional" online portals: banners, sky scrapers, and later on rich media ads with animation. As a response to this challenge we created hybrid ads that combined the interactivity of online ads with the traditional delivery methods of radio. Hence we started delivering video channel starts -- 30-second video ads before the music starts -- and interactive radio ads, in which a radio ad is synchronized with a banner or Flash ad on your screen.

As our clients realized how effectively Batanga was reaching young U.S. Hispanics, they wanted to become more involved in the listener experience. They demanded that we create entire online experiences with which they could develop stronger relationships with this audience. Hence we started delivering radio stations for our clients, like Radio Zonica for Ford -- playing the latest music from the Latin Music World. We also created events like the Jeep sponsored Aventura contest, in which new bands send their music and have a chance to win a $ 10,000 studio session with a Grammy award winner producer.

iMediaConnection: What are some of the marketing trends and challenges for reaching U.S. Hispanics?

Brandwayn: Savvy marketers recognize that they need to reach what is being called "New Generation Latinos (NGLs)." This group of U.S.-born Hispanics will not only determine the success of products and brands within the Hispanic community, they will play a major role in the decisions made by the general market in the next decade. 

This represents a paradigm shift. The old principle of advertising in Spanish to reach Hispanics is being replaced by a more complex approach. It is not only which language a marketer uses. NGLs are, for the most part, bilingual. You need to address the cultural needs of this group. And this is an original American culture, created in the United States, with a mixture of home-country features, regardless of origin. It is important to remember that the United States is the wealthiest Hispanic country in the hemisphere, and the second largest in population.

iMediaConnection: Aside from the Web site, what else can Hispanics expect from Batanga -- online marketing efforts targeting the Hispanic demographic, etc.?

Brandwayn: Batanga also publishes Batanga Magazine, the only English language print publication that covers the Latin music scene in the United States. This quarterly magazine will soon be a bi-monthly publication with a reach of more than 60,000 readers.

iMediaConnection: Any other comments points about either Batanga or RTV?

Brandwayn: We at Batanga are very proud of our relationship with Rock the Vote. As a media company reaching young Hispanics, we have a responsibly to our audience. And we feel that empowering our audience by helping them become a part of the political process is part of our charter.

Elizabeth M. Lloyd is the director of corporate marketing for Netblue, Inc., an online customer acquisition company based in Silicon Valley. Previously, Elizabeth was the director of marketing for opt-in email provider, NetCreations, in New York City. Prior to NetCreations, Elizabeth was responsible for the PR department of ValueClick, Inc.