Heidi Eusebio could clearly see what it would take to sell contact lenses in the Latino market. Her vision was one that looked beyond the immediate bottom line and focused on
the bigger picture.
In the spring of 2002, contact lens maker Vistakon wanted to take its product, Acuvue, into the large -- and largely underserved -- Spanish-speaking community. It turned for
help to Eusebio, the vice president heading up the diversity solutions team at Edelman. Rather than go for the hard sell, Eusebio says, "we wanted to position Vistakon as a
company that really cares and that wants to give back by filling the information void on eye health."
The PR team had hard numbers to document that void. Johns Hopkins research showed that Hispanics tend to suffer disproportionately from eye diseases, and remain largely
uninformed about these conditions. Only 38% of Hispanics with glaucoma even knew they had the disease, as opposed to 50% to 70% of other Americans with the disease. By building
awareness of these eye-care issues, the Edelman team would build brand loyalty for Acuvue.
The first step was to research the competitors' actions - a search that turned up scarce marketing information in Spanish. Clearly this was a gap the PR team could fill, with
Spanish-language brochures and other educational materials aimed directly at addressing the information needs within the Hispanic community. These came together under the campaign
theme, Viviendo Con Ojos Saludables (Living with Healthy Eyes).
Targeting the message also was a straightforward affair, since it was possible to reach 80% of the Hispanic population by targeting just the top 10 markets, including New York,
Los Angeles, Miami and so on. Within those markets the PR team sought out what it called "ambassadors," eye-care professionals who would be considered authorities by the
community.
The doctors viewed their participation as a means of giving back to their communities, and therefore were easily recruited. To keep the story local, the team recruited doctors
in six of the major markets. Once the doctors were lined up, the PR team moved to get them some exposure. This meant sending press releases, bio sheets on the doctors and a fact
sheet including the Hopkins research to known media contacts in the target markets.
The PR team also created a Spanish-language microsite at the Acuvue site, where consumers could find additional eye care information. Callers could request any one of four
Spanish-language brochures, two of which were educational in nature and two of which were Acuvue-branded pieces.
Festivals are among the most popular cultural outlets within the Hispanic community, and the Edelman team decided to take advantage of that by mounting a major presence at
three of the biggest such events in the country: The Miami and Los Angeles events, each of which attracts about a million people in a six-hour time frame, and the New York
festival, which draws about 500,000 visitors.
At each festival Acuvue mounted a large booth with branded banners and information on eye health prominently displayed. Each booth had on hand a doctor who would answer
questions about eye health, as well as an eye simulator that would show visitors how they would look with different-color eyes. A celebrity makeup artist offered free eye
makeovers, while the staff distributed Acuvue-branded bags filled with educational materials and other items.
To get the maximum effect from these efforts, the PR team met with the media two days in advance of the festivals to talk about eye health and hype the presence of the Acuvue
booth. The media was eager to hear the story, "in part because there was nothing else out there," Eusebio says. "The Spanish-language media has covered everything on health, from
AIDS to heart disease, but they had never covered eye care."
While the festival tactic was a hit, Eusebio admits the PR team had to think on its feet in order to maximize its presence. "In terms of strategy we were right on, but we did
have more of a learning experience in some of the small tactics," she says. "It's a festival and the attention span is fairly limited, so we changed that on-site to make it a one-
on-one thing, which turned out to be better for us. We ended up having lines of people waiting to talk to the doctor, and that had a much greater visual impact."
The campaign, which wrapped up in December 2002, generated more than 100 million media impressions and distributed approximately 50,000 branded brochures, along with other
pieces of promotional literature. The toll-free number and the microsite both generated significant traffic.
Did the effort sell contact lenses? Perhaps not yet, but neither was it really expected to. "Within the Hispanic community it is really important to first build that
relationship and build that loyalty, to position Acuvue as a company that is really out there as a part of this community," Eusebio says.
The Campaign Team Edelman/Diversity Solutions
- Heidi Eusebio, Vice President
- Barbie Casasus, Account Executive
- Claudia Mejia, Senior Account Executive
How to conduct A Diversity Campaign
Edelman's efforts on behalf of Acuvue offer a few tips:
Build relationships - Get active in the community with a service message before going in for the sell. Build a presence as a trusted partner within the community.
Be relevant - Meet the community where it lives: In community festivals, churches, civic groups. Such culturally relevant efforts help develop lasting rapport.
Partner up - Forge ties with physicians, clergy, educators or others who can speak as trusted authorities within the community.
Stay local - When reaching out to multiple geographic markets, find community partners within each of those markets in order to keep the message local.
Contact: Heidi Eusebio, 212.704.4469, [email protected]