Hoping to capture a greater share of the burgeoning and highly competitive market of young Hispanic consumers, Western Union Co. is partnering with leading Hispanic-content broadcaster Telemundo Communications Group LLC.
The companies are teaming to promote two MasterCard-branded reloadable prepaid cards. Western Union designed the Telemundo prepaid card for Hispanics in the U.S., while the mun2 prepaid card links to Telemundo's mun2 channel for younger, bicultural Hispanics, the funds transfer company said in a May 17 announcement of the deal.
"We're very excited to partner with Telemundo because we have a lot in common," Victoria Lopez-Negrete, senior vice president and general manager for North America at Western Union, said in an interview.
Western Union has previously partnered with the popular Hispanic broadcaster not only for television marketing of Western Union products but also for events, such as a Mother's Day "Love in Any Language" campaign earlier this month to promote funds transfers.
The companies are planning a comprehensive, multilevel marketing and advertising campaign, particularly for the mun2 card, Lopez-Negrete said. She declined to provide details because the companies are still formulating their plans. "Clearly, [promoting] a product like this requires us to become very close to the target consumer," Lopez-Negrete said, noting that targeting bicultural Hispanics with social media and mobile marketing is a natural fit.
And Western Union is particularly interested in the bicultural Hispanic market, she said.
"The mun2 property has very successfully carved out a value proposition for the bicultural Hispanic segment," Lopez-Negrete said. The target market "is very hip. They're online, they're building their financial lives, and we're excited to work with this segment because, according to the census, this segment is growing very fast."
Western Union and Telemundo will make the prepaid cards available online and at retail locations they have yet to disclose. The companies continue to work on the design of the customer-acquisition effort, Lopez-Negrete said.
For reloading, cardholders may visit any of Western Union's 46,000 agent locations, have their paycheck deposited into the card account or transfer funds from an existing account online, Lopez-Negrete said.
"When you've got people already doing financial transactions with the company, adding the Telemundo name to a new product does make sense," said Leylha Ahuile, senior multicultural analyst at Mintel Comperemedia, a financial market research firm. "It's also possible Western Union needs to step up its game with the Hispanic community, as other companies such as Wal-Mart are now doing the same kinds of services for the underbanked segment."
