With Latinos making up a significant portion of the buying population, opportunity is the No. 1 reason marketers need to focus on this demographic, says Reinaldo Padua, assistant vice president, Hispanic Marketing, Coca-Cola North America, No. 2 on The 2008 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list.

"It's changing the outlook of our market," Padua says. "[Latinos are] the largest and fastest-growing segment in the U.S. When you look at the information from the census, in the last six years, more than 50 percent of the total population growth in the U.S. has been coming from Hispanic consumers. That's tremendous! It's something that is basically changing the face of America."

Coca-Cola excels at knowing and understanding how the Latino consumer receives messages. "I can summarize our actions into three different things: The first one is segmenting, the second one is reaching and the last one is connecting with Hispanic consumers," says Padua. "Once we have the research, we go and understand among those segments and occasions which are the most important ones, and we verify those. Then we go and understand what the best way is to reach those consumers in those occasions, and basically that includes what we call 'from the couch to the shelf,' which is from TV and mass-media communications to when they are in the store."

But getting a Latino consumer who is among the 30 percent to 35 percent that are Spanish-language dominant into the store to buy a product has to be handled differently.

"The Spanish language has two aspects to it," Korzenny explains. "One is the understanding and the ability to comprehend the message. The other is the emotional part, which is where [marketers] want to show that they are really interested in me because they understand that my roots are in this language. Not just for the functional aspect but for the emotional aspect."

If there's one thing that can link the array of Latino cultures--including Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Peruvian and Salvadoran, among others--it's the language.

Coca-Cola has marketing to Latinos down to a science. Not only does the company understand message delivery and the effectiveness of language, it also measures age and cultural affiliation in both quantitative and qualitative calculations. The outcome of this research gave Coca-Cola the edge by finding something else besides the language to link all Latino cultures in the United States.

"The message to Hispanics in the U.S. is a lot about optimism," explains Padua. "Coca-Cola is a very positive brand, and usually all the messages are talking about the positive side of life. The optimism talks in a very strong way to Hispanics because optimism is the main reason that brought all of us here to the U.S."

He continues: "We came with the idea that we could live a better future for our families, for our sons and daughters, and it's something that gets us together, and it's that common denominator and that common feeling of 'all of us.'"

Coca-Cola's unique approach to the Latino consumer is in understanding them on a global level first and then condensing that message to target them in the United States.

"Coca-Cola is already a positive brand in all Latin American countries," says Padua. "It's a very well-known brand, and we take that brand that already has a global positioning and bring it to life in a very strong way to Hispanics in the U.S."

To be sure, marketing to Latinos can be a complicated proposition. Never underestimate the power in numbers and the effectiveness in marketing to Latinos, in Spanish or in English. Whichever language the message is delivered in, it has to be authentic.

"The half-baked strategy is [when] you put [out a message] and only translate a few items, as opposed to putting together a complete [message] that addresses that constituency completely," says Korzenny. "If you are going to put together any materials, don't make them look like they're an afterthought. They have to show that you really are taking the Spanish as seriously as the English because I know that many Hispanics are turned off by that kind of notion [of] 'Well, they put a few cosmetic things up front, and then when you dig a little deeper, everything is directed to others, not to me.'

"There is a lot more than just 'Let's put this in Spanish.' And even in English, that is true too," he concludes. "For example, if you are going to put materials for Hispanics in English, don't just put the same one, just changing the faces of the people. The message has to be cast in a way that it connects with the consumer."

Click here for DiversityInc's Hispanic Heritage Month coverage.

Click here for our "Things to Say to Latino Coworkers" story.

Click here to read our story "Latino Buying Power is a Growing Economic Force."