- Della de Lafuente

Following several unsuccessful attempts over the past nine years to launch the brew domestically, Mexican beer Tecate Light this week will embark on a dual English-Spanish multimedia strategy targeting U.S.-born Hispanic males.

This will be the first time Tecate Light, imported by Heineken USA, White Plains, N.Y., has executed an Hispanic-targeted effort in English, eschewing the traditional belief that all marketing created for a U.S. Latino audience must employ only Spanish messaging.

"The U.S.-born first or second generation [consumer] is more likely to have an American lifestyle, so they're more in tune with U.S. beer and the light beer category," said Carlos Boughton, Tecate's brand director.

Boughton said ad spend will increase by as much as 15%. Tecate Light spent about $3 million on Hispanic spot radio in 2007, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Two of four planned TV spots, one in English and one in Spanish, will break on network TV in major Hispanic markets in San Antonio, Texas; Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; and Albuquerque, N.M. Spanish creative will air on Univision, Telemundo and TeleFutura in 11 major Hispanic markets. Support includes print, radio, outdoor and POP in English and Spanish. Tag: "For those who want more." ("Por los que quieren más."). Lead agency is Adrenalina, New York.

A humorous spot, "Papás" ("Parents"), sees a couple in Mexico lamenting about their son, who upon moving to America was transformed from a Tecate Light aficionado into a domestic light beer drinker. "I never taught him that," his angry father says, pointing to a photo of their son and his amigos drinking a weak U.S. light beer. Says the sobbing mother, "It's my fault. I used to make him drink eight glasses of water a day."

Reaching the U.S. Hispanic male market may be a tough sell for Tecate Light, said Eric Shephard, executive editor at Beer Marketer's Insights, West Nyack, N.Y. Light beer accounts for 60% of the domestic beer category. The top three imported light beers—Corona Light, Amstel Light and Heineken Premium Light—sold 29 million barrels in 2007.