The accelerated changes in communications technology have brought significant shifts not only in the way media outlets operate, but also in the way the public interacts with them. During the early development of digital technologies, consumers passively accessed advertising across different media. That is no longer the case. Today’s consumers/users maintain interactive relationships with both […]
The accelerated changes in communications technology have brought significant shifts not only in the way media outlets operate, but also in the way the public interacts with them.
During the early development of digital technologies, consumers passively accessed advertising across different media. That is no longer the case. Today’s consumers/users maintain interactive relationships with both media and advertising.
This evolution in communication media has impacted sales across all consumer sectors, particularly within the automotive industry. For this reason, the United Group of Automobile Importers (GUIA by its Spanish acronym) held its 31st GUIAeduca Seminar, featuring executives from major media outlets and communication platforms—print press, radio, television and internet—as well as marketing specialists for those platforms.
According to Yasmín Rotger of the Aleph Group, the most important element in the advertising equation in the era of online markets is “being able to connect the audience with the business and results.”
For her part, Pilar de la Campa, also from the Aleph Group, referenced the fact that, just like in the United States, a new car buyer often arrives at a dealership with a decision already made. “We have to accompany [the potential buyer/user] through their search and the digital touchpoints they are having so that the brand generates value,” de la Campa argued.
Although the penetration of print publications, particularly newspapers, has decreased globally over the years, thus losing ground to digital media, this does not seem to be the trend in Puerto Rico. Here, newspapers have maintained a steady 13% penetration rate for the last 10 years, agreed top executives from the Island’s three main newspaper companies.
“I want to make it clearly established that none of us are competing against digital [media outlets], but rather we complement each other because all of us have platforms on both sides [digital and print],” noted Salvador Hasbún, president of El Vocero.
For Yamil Ruiz, president of Vision News Media (VNM)—the parent company of Metro and Caribbean Business newspapers, and El Calce, Sabrosía and Punto Digital websites—news media have assumed a role as corroborators of the information that users access across various digital channels.
“In this storm of misinformation, which is not only about ‘fake news’ but also the creation, through artificial intelligence, of content that can be false or misrepresented, people go to our media outlets to verify if it’s true or incorrect,” Ruiz said.
“That is our job, to continue strengthening that journalistic rigor. This is the great value of our media, and that is why we invest so much in ensuring that reliability,” he added.
Ruiz was making an open reference to the exorbitant amount of false information distributed through social networks, particularly WhatsApp.
Hasbún added that a study conducted last year in the United States revealed that “73% of study participants have high trust in print newspapers.”
Rafael Lama, CEO of GFR Media—the parent company of El Nuevo Día and Primera Hora newspapers, and several other communications companies—agreed on how important it is for advertisers that their brands are associated with credible media.
The media executives also agreed that multi-platform options offer brands the advantage of presenting offerings tailored to their specific needs.
“We design tailor-made solutions… At the end of the day, it’s about creating metrics and strategies that actually work for the brand,” Ruiz concluded.
