Qwest Web site reaches out to Spanish speakers

Denver — Qwest this month launched a new stand-alone Web site in Spanish with special offers tailored to the 5 million Hispanic consumers living in its 14-state territory.

It's the latest in a long list of strategic moves that Qwest and other phone providers across the nation are making to cater to Hispanics, the largest and fastest-growing minority in the U.S.

Qwest offers a 10-cent-a-minute calling plan to Mexico, gives about $3 million a year to Hispanic-related charities nationwide and operates "El Centro," a call center staffed with 300 Spanish-speaking sales reps.

"Phone providers are making a push to differentiate their marketing to Hispanics and other ethnic segments," said In-Stat analyst Amy Cravens, author of a recent report on trends in ethnic marketing. "But when it comes to Hispanics, Qwest has done the most."

Qwest's mostly Western and rural territory is heavily Hispanic. Colorado's Hispanic population has increased by 75 percent since 1990 to 800,000, or about a fifth of the state's population. Qwest estimates their annual purchasing power to be more than $10 billion. Arizona's Hispanic population is even larger and faster-growing. Other booming Hispanic markets in Qwest's territory include Boise, Idaho; Yakima, Wash.; and Minneapolis.

"Hispanics are a critical growth segment for Qwest," said Rick Werner, who headed up Qwest's Hispanic marketing until two weeks ago. Now he is rubbing shoulders with Qwest's top executives on Floor 50 of the Qwest Tower as head of Hispanic public relations, a new position.

Werner, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, said his new job is to "create a Hispanic voice for everything we do." His job gets harder every day because of a younger generation of Hispanics who listen to hip-hop music and speak English.

"Years ago, you could just do ads in Spanish," Werner said. "Now, it's getting very complex."

But Werner's job is somewhat simplified because two-thirds of the Hispanics in Qwest's territory are originally from Mexico.

BellSouth, on the other hand, serves Miami's more challenging mix of Latin immigrants from the Caribbean and all over Latin America. SBC has Chicago, which is split between mostly Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. New York's Hispanic population, covered by Verizon, is all over the map.

But what Hispanics have in common, Cravens concludes, is that they are "more influenced by recommendations from family and friends than by particular advertising initiatives."