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Video Jan 24, 2025

Multilingual vs. Multicultural Marketing – with Walter Boza

Welcome to three questions with MotionPoint.

I'm your host, Dominic Ditherbide. And today, I have the absolute pleasure of speaking with Walter Boza.

Walter is the founder of Collabhub.

Collabhub is a dynamic network of independent advertising and marketing professionals dedicated to delivering innovative solutions for clients.

Walter also has over twenty years of experience as an executive global advertising leader, including his tenure as president of the Hispanic advertising agency, Captura Group. Walter, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great. Thank you, Dominique. It's a pleasure to be here with you.

Well, the pleasure is all ours. Thank you very much again. So let's just get right into it.

Let’s go.

What is the difference between being multilingual and being multicultural? And why is that difference so important in your experience?

That that is a great question because in my experience, there’s still a little bit of confusion of, you know, of what it means to speak a language and what it means to understand a culture.

And it has a it knowing the distinction between the two has big implications in terms of marketing.

And let me go back to, like, to to the theory of of of what culture is and and why it matters. I mean, language is, of course, a a component of culture.

It's one of the dimensions of culture, but not the only dimension of culture. And while you can make yourself understood if you speak a language, you not don't necessarily are connecting on a, cultural level. So what I mean by what I mean by that, in in my view, marketing needs to be relevant. Of course, you you have to say something that matters to someone.

It has to be, understandable.

And it has to drive action. So those are three main concerns.

While you can be understood by speaking a language, you might be absolutely irrelevant if you don’t understand the culture.

So, so while making sure that you are connecting with your audience in in language is essential because if you don’t if they don’t understand you, then you’re absolutely irrelevant.

You need to make sure as a marketer that you are tapping into, cultural nuances, cultural understanding, the the value system, the beliefs, the the the the, the customs, the tradition of a particular audience, in order for you to be relevant for that particular audience. So so the two the two things are essential.

They need you need to be able to speak a language or communicate in a language in order to be understood, but you also need to be able to tap into the cultural understanding of a particular a particular audience if you want to be relevant. So they go together, but they're not the same.

Yeah. That's that's a great point. I mean, we talked about it a little bit beep earlier. Right?

Before before the interview started where it's like, you know, language is kind of like a medium. And just because they understand you, doesn't mean that you're resonating with them. Right? And there's, like, that difference.

You wanna make sure you resonate. You said something really, which is that drives action, and you're gonna drive action when you feel that you're talking to somebody that understands who you are. Right?

Yeah. And and, you know, we we live in a country that is, very unique. This is an experiment that is, unique in the history of of of, the humankind, in a country, of close to four hundred million people. You have so many different cultures that are coexisting, and so many different languages that are spoken within this this country, that I this is the only country, also because of its size and the size of the marketing budgets, in which multicultural marketing and multilingual marketing, are, almost a must for any organization that wants to be successful in this in this country. Yeah. So I I I'm I'm originally from Venezuela, and we well, we only did marketing in Spanish. And although we needed to understand the nuances between the different regions, and and we shared the the the common culture was more, or the culture was more, shared.

Yeah.

Yeah. So when I’m sorry.

No. No. Well, I was just gonna build on it. That makes a lot of sense.

It's like multicultural and multilingual marketing are things that are even more important here in the United States because there's just so many people from so many different parts of the world. And that I don't think that can happen in any other country to the degree where it happens here. I mean I'm from Mexico and I would agree with you like we will mark it in Spanish but there is like an a common understanding of our culture throughout that will resonate. And there's different regionalisms in that, like, you were saying as well for Venezuela, but nothing to do with here where not only do you have to resonate for different cultures, but that also entails different languages and different regions.

And there's just, you know, a a a different layer of complexity to it. That's fascinating.

So so many layers of complexity, as you said, which makes it, like, interesting and fascinating.

There’s not We’re we’re learning.

Every day is a is is an opportunity to learn something new about, you know, our our our our audiences and our the people that we're trying to connect with. And it changes every year. You know? We have an influx of immigrants, from Venezuela recently.

And, you know, that changes the type of, the that that changes a little bit the the the the complexion and the the of the Hispanic audience in different markets. So it Right. It's fascinating because not only we're seeing, you know, all the technological, shifts and, that affect culture, We're also seeing how immigration patterns affect, how we have to do marketing as well. So it's it's a it's an experiment that it's ongoing as a society.

And, for the people that work in marketing, like you and me, okay, we we need to make sure that we are in touch, in tune with what’s going on in society because otherwise, we’re not gonna be wasting our clients’ money.

That's a great point. Well, thank you, Walter. That's a great answer. So on to question number two, I I'd love to ask you, why do large, medium, large corporations struggle to handle, you know, global and multicultural marketing in house. When they take it in house and have to do that, why why do you think in your experience that's that's so hard to do?

Well, I I I think, number one, it's because it's very hard for one single organization to have, a deep understanding of if you're talking about global marketing, understanding of the different countries that they're marketing in. And in the United States, it's it's very hard for one organization to have an ear and an eye on the different cultures and and subcultures that are, coexisting in this country. So I think that's the first layer of, hurdle. The the first hurdle that Yeah. It's very hard for an organization to have representation and understanding of the different people that they want they want to reach.

And and in my experience, what I’ve what I’ve seen, it has evolved a little bit.

I’m not gonna go, into, like, Hispanic marketing, right now because that’s most of my multicultural experience in the United States.

You either had, within the clients, Hispanic representation, but who were not marketers Mhmm.

Or marketers who had no idea what the Hispanic culture was about. So Yeah. You either had a a a a person who had a Hispanic background or Hispanic last name trying to do marketing work when that was not their expertise, and then, you know, just you need to you need to know marketing. You need to know advertising.

It's not just the fact that Hispanic or African American or or or Korean American. It's not just that. You need to be an expert in what you're doing. So so what I've seen is an evolution now.

You see a little bit more of representation within the clients of the different, populations and and and audiences that they want to reach. And also, this is the second layer, which is a little bit more complex, is the unconscious bias that we all bring to every role. So it is very hard for organizations to take away their blinders to not only understand the opportunity, but understand how to capitalize on that opportunity.

So it’s Yeah.

It's a complex situation. It has evolved. It has evolved. Like, I think more more and more clients and organizations are understanding that they need to, like, open up their take away their blinders first and then tap into the resources that truly are experts in communicating with the people that they want to reach. The so that's why it's hard for for, an organization's in house team to be able to connect with everyone because they're they Right. They are not everyone.

Exactly. No. That's a great point. It's something we see in the translation industry a lot as well where it's like people will start off translating content and they give it to somebody that speaks Spanish.

Right? But there's a difference between someone that speaks Spanish and a professional translator or a professional linguist and in the same light, like it it's different for someone that knows that culture to doing marketing for that culture because you also have to have a core competency of knowing how to do marketing. So it's a balance of that, and it becomes where, you just don't have the expertise in house to, you know, spread your your wings and wrap them around the entire earth. Right?

Like Yeah.

A a quote comes to mind, like, our our palms don't cover continents, you know. So you have to you have to have help from people that are in those markets and that have experience in those markets. That's a great point, Walter. So wanna make sure that we we move on to the next topic, which is another great question, for someone with so much experience like you, which is, what are some learnings that you formed about marketing to the US Hispanic, our audience and market in particular with the experience that you've had doing marketing for them over the years?

Yeah. So I I think number one, is that there's not one Hispanic audience. There's sixty million Hispanics, but there's so many subcultures and, so many layers of complexity within that population. You're talking about the size of a country.

I mean, the the Hispanic population in the United States is larger than most his most entire populations in most Latin American countries. So, so you're talking about a country, but a country that can come from different subcultures. You're from Mexico, I'm from Venezuela. Share a lot of common things.

Like, if I tell you Juan Gabriel, you know who Juan Gabriel is, and I know who Juan Gabriel is. But your experience growing on in in Mexico is slightly different than mine growing up growing up in Venezuela. Now we're coexisting in this country as Hispanics.

So that layer of complexity, doesn't happen when you're doing marketing, like, inside Venezuela for Venezuelan population or in Mexico for the Mexican population. So the the number one learning, and I think that's the most important learning, is that there's not just one Hispanic population. You need to, within that population, do a little bit of multicultural marketing as well. So you need to understand what type of population, the the the composition of that Hispanic population in terms of, you know, country of origin, not all Hispanics speak Spanish, talking about language and, and, culture. But not and not all Spanish for the different Hispanic populations is the same. So you need to be very cultural aware and sensitive, even when you're just doing marketing for the Hispanic population.

So that that to me, if you if you start there, with also, you know, coming into this not as, you know, because I'm Hispanic, I know it all. No. I'm I'm Hispanic. I'm a marketer. And because I'm Hispanic and I'm a marketer, I need to understand that I don't represent anyone. And if you start there, then you start on feeling that that that richness of layers of of the Hispanic population that is, to me, the key to being successful in Hispanic marketing. Not assume that one size fits all, and you have to do your homework also, and understand the different segments of the Hispanic population.

Yeah. But but that's great. And I and I agree on all points. Specifically, I think that, you know, in some cases, they're marketing to someone with a US Hispanic culture, but they might prefer to speak in English.

You know? So sometimes it's that that it doesn't even have to be about about language. Right? You're talking to a second generation immigrant that's been raised in English their entire life, but they still have, you know, that that that Hispanic part of them in terms of behavioral, you know, behavior, like, actions in the way that they they they psychologically react to different messaging.

Like, you have to be attuned to that. And and that's kind of also go goes back to the point of the difference between multilingual and multicultural marketing. Right? Like, multi being multicultural and showing that you understand the, you know, the target market, the target audience, in this case, US Hispanics.

You know, it's it's it's it's interesting and it's counterintuitive. You sometimes you don't even have to use, you know, the Spanish language to do that.

It just has to be just aware of how that thing Going back to language as a as a as a as a as a component of culture.

I was reading an article not so long ago about the English that's spoken in Miami, which is a different version of English because we people kind of translate from Spanish to English. So you would say, I I I don't live in Miami, but my sister lives in in Southern Florida. You would say something like, get down off the car.

Because in Spanish, you say instead of get out of the car. Salvia del carro.

So even even if you’re speaking English to the Hispanic population that speaks English, you need to be aware of how much of our way of thinking is in Spanish.

So it it it is so, so, so rich, and that's why I love what I what I what I do. And being multicultural and being, an immigrant and being, being able to think and speak in two languages and raising multicol bilingual, bicultural kids, it's fascinating, as a marketer and also as a human.

Yeah. Well, that's that's brilliant, Walter. It's it's been a pleasure talking to you. This is all great information.

I I hope we get to do this again, but that does it for three questions with MotionPoint. I really appreciate everybody tuning in. And, Walter, until next time. Thank you, very much.

Thank you so much.