UL Press: The Jersey City Reporter - February 25, 1996
Volume 13, No.9/Free Circulation
The Latin Beat
by David Cruz
New magazine looking at Hudson market
It isn't much of a stretch to say that the most under-represented market in the otherwise exploding Latino media today is urban Latino and Latina youth. This group, whose main mode of communication is English but whose cultural identity is very much Latin, is often incorporated into markets dominated by blacks or the generic youth markets.
Marketers have been slow (or reluctant) to market to this group because they don't recognize its economic power and because there hasn't really been a vehicle that attracted Latino youth as its primary market. Well, all that's about to change and, soon, all of you in this area will be able to see a new magazine that speaks to you about you written by people who look like you.
The magazine is called "Urban Latino Magazine" (ULM) and it's spreading across the country slowly.
"The market is starving," says ULM national marketing director Phil Colon. "We want to get in there and represent Latino youth culture."
The magazine started as a newletter at NYU where Rodrigo Salazar, the publication's editor, was enrolled as a student. It expanded slowly and then became ULM, now celebrating its first year. The glossy publication looks a little like Spin or Details or other such publications, but it also has a street-wise quality to it that incorporates graffiti-style art and active visuals.
Where most "ethnic" magazines fail is in the art design. (Believe me I've seen a few clunkers in my day.) BUT ULM is sharp and clean. While not perfect, it certainly is professional. "We wanted it to look good so that people know we're serious," said Colon.
Originally from the (Boogie down) Bronx, Colon is a graduate of Baruch College andm since the middle of last year, a Jersey City resident. "It's a little weird," he admits. It's not like I can go next door and borrow a little bit of Sazón, ya know."
Colon says that the staff of the magazine - all of them twenty-somethings - is learning as they go along.
"Our target is 18- to 26-year-old Latinos and Latinas," he said about how he views his readership. "But we try to structure the magazine so that it can be read by everyone in the household."
The magazine has presented well-written pieces on Prop. 187 in California and AIDS in the Latino community. Features like "Straight from the Youngstas" give high school and college age kids an outlet for their thoughts and ideas. On the other hand, the magazine has featured Rosie Perez, MTV goddess Idalis and John Leguizamo on the cover and inside. Some of the serious pieces are translated into Spanish and "Spanglish" is employed throughout.
"We hope that the magazine is laying on the kitchen table and that everyone in the family will pick it up one point," adds Colon.
Any publication, especially one like ULM, is going to have a rough go in its first year. While Colon is pleased that he's been able to get the magazine out to other Latino markets around the country like Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and Philadelphia, he has recognized that securing a home base is important.
"We want to make sure that we cover the East Coast effectively," he said. "We want to move into [Hudson County] in a big way. There's a great market here."
Colon said that ULM brought the magazine to a street festival in Elizabeth last summer and that it flew out of the boxes. I'm not surprised. (In its own small way, Latin Beat has shown many Latinos do, in fact, read when they are presented with something they're interested in.)
But the proof of any publication's mettle is in the advertisers it's able to attract. It ain't easy to convince someone to reach out to a new market. Colon and company have been learning that, as well.
"We started by approaching a lot of the larger agencies about the product," explained Colon. "We tried to impress upon them the power of the market, but we realized that we had to build a base on the grass roots. So we went to a lot of the local places and we were able to communicate with them because that's where we're coming from."
While local advertisers take up the bulk of ULM's ad space, they have been able to attract some national attention. Several record labels, including Sony and Mercury have bought space, and Calvin Klein and Sprint have also appeared on the pages.
"The market has yet to prove itself in terms of how advertisers see its buying power, but we're convincing a lot of people about what we can deliver," said Colon. "Our goal is to have an 85-page magazine that comes out every month."
That's a tall order in the tough publishing business, but ULM has the potential to be a huge success. Next stop: Hudson County. Cuidado!
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