Electronic Retailer - October 2011 - 62

Media Stream
Direct
Eitan Cohen
President & CEO
graphic: beauty, fi tness, health and housewares.
We have been able to take English infomercials
in these categories that are either successful, or in
some cases only marginally successful, and create
tremendous hits in Spanish.
Media Stream Direct is a direct response media
buying agency specializing in long-form national
cable and broadcast television, as well as in Hispanic
and per inquiry media buying. The agency
has held many top ranking shows on the IMS
charts since its inception in 2007. Eitan Cohen is
president and CEO of Media Stream Direct.
What are the advantages of using
a Hispanic-focused direct response
agency?
Media Stream Direct has two decades of combined
experience buying media in the Hispanic
marketplace. A strong media buying agency is
essential to the success of an infomercial. Many
agencies say they buy Hispanic media, but they
don’t have the experience and market knowledge
to properly execute a media test and subsequent
rollout. Media Stream Direct’s buyers have been
purchasing Hispanic media throughout their careers.
They understand that a successful English
media market does not necessarily translate into a
successful Hispanic media market. Understanding
where to buy is essential. Our deep-rooted relationships
with Hispanic stations have allowed us
to tap into highly coveted time periods that have a
strong track record of surpassing client goals.
What products are hot in the direct
response marketing industry right
now? Do the same products find similar
success within the Hispanic market?
We have seen the spending habits and buying
power of the U.S. Hispanic market rise over the
past year. As the Hispanic population has grown,
so has its comfort in using credit cards. This has
lead to a notable increase in direct response sales
via infomercials. The DRTV infomercial has always
been a problem-solution pitch. The Hispanic
community reacts exceptionally well to products
that solve everyday problems. The categories that
tend to be the most successful for DRTV correlate
perfectly with the interests of the Hispanic demo-
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electronicRETAILER | Direct Response Marketing Guide 2011
What level of involvement do you have
with a client’s call center or fulfillment
center?
In order for a race car to run smoothly at a high
speed, the engine must be fi ring on all cylinders.
At Media Stream Direct we consider ourselves
Hispanic marketing mechanics. We know how to
look under the hood and fi x the underline problems.
Call centers and fulfi llment houses are our
partners in success. We synergistically work with
them to tweak script offers, plan staffi ng and improve
the entire customer experience. We have
been uniquely successful in advising our clients on
how to manage the back-end metrics of their Hispanic
campaigns. If there is a problem, we jump in
and fi x it based on our vast client experience.
How much involvement do you have
with the creative process of a DRTV
campaign? How do you assure clients
that the creative, the media buying and
the distribution will be seamless?
One of the biggest challenges when deciding to
market a product to U.S. Hispanics via an infomercial
is in the translation. Our motto is “Don’t
translate – transcreate!” When speaking to the
Hispanic market, it is essential to understand that
there are different expressions and nuances in the
phrasing that a simple voice dub-over cannot communicate.
Taking the time to properly rephrase the
intention of each statement into appropriate Spanish
dialect immediately ingratiates the viewer to
the brand and the show.
How do you ensure that a marketer’s
online campaign complements a DRTV
or radio campaign?
A congruent message is important in Hispanic
marketing. We recommend using a unique Spanish
language URL in the creative. It also can help
to have an option on the main English site to go to
the Spanish language site.
Electronic Retailer - October 2011

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