A Dollar in Any Language

At the workshop, ad agency representatives suggested newspapers audit circulation and networks conduct viewership surveys before making sales pitches -- moves that can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

"It has not been easy," said Juan Guillen, publisher of DTM, a Latino lifestyle and trend magazine. "We don't have the money to get audited."

The publication started out as Dominican Times magazine, but Guillen changed the name to an acronym so young Puerto Ricans and Columbians might take a second look, too. Carrying a stack of magazines with this month's cover girl, Jennifer Lopez, Guillen said even Spanish-language agencies have been slow to embrace bilingual publications like his.

"We can market to other Latinos, but our core is the second generation, the English-speaking Latino," he said. His comments came as the U.S. Census Bureau announced that half of America's 41.3 million Hispanics are under age 27, and that the number of births outpaces immigration.

Rather than just citing population growth, multicultural strategist Saul Gitlin advised slicing demographic data so it is relevant to the company being wooed.

"Twenty percent of purchasers of Mercedes, BMWs and Acuras are Asian?" asked Gitlin, who works for Kang & Lee Advertising, which focuses on marketing to the Asian American community. "Now I have permission to speak."

During a break in the day, DTM's Guillen wandered over to India-West, a Bay Area-based newspaper, and flipped through its latest venture, a lifestyle publication that seemed the South Asian counterpart to his magazine.

In the course of conversation, it came up that India-West had broken the story about McDonald's french fries containing animal flavoring, which led some vegetarian Hindus to file a lawsuit.

"Wow," Guillen said. "Is McDonald's an advertiser?"

"They were after our story," editor Bina Murarka responded.