• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, August 8, 2008

Bank of America is out with a new effort directed at reaching the ever-growing Hispanic demographic to establish a relationship among a group that is historically wary of financial institutions

"Hacia Adelante," which translates to "Moving Forward," includes two TV ads as well as new radio, print, out-of-home, ATM and banking center point-of-sale advertising. The media campaign runs through Sept. 7.

It will run nationally on network television, including Univision, Telemundo and TeleFutura. In addition to the national networks, the advertisements will run on local Spanish-language stations in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, Houston, Phoenix, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta.

In one spot called "Date of Birth," a father is shown looking back on the birth of his daughter and the events of her life, including walking along the beach. Another spot is called "Growth Chart." A spokesperson says the work is an extension of the company's "Bank of Opportunity" positioning that launched last year.

The commercials communicate account features such as FDIC insurance, free check cards with photograph, the Total Security Protection package to protect against unauthorized transactions, Online Banking in Spanish-language for money transfers and 24/7 account management, and access to more than 6,100 banking centers and more than 18,000 bilingual ATMs.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank says the new advertisements convey the central importance that a checking account has in achieving life goals such as owning a first home, paying for college and starting a small business.

"We have been marketing in Spanish language since the mid-1970s," says a Bank of America spokesperson. "Our first such TV commercial appeared in 1993." The bank also markets in Chinese, Cantonese, Korean and Mandarin. "We seek to grow our business by identifying trends that provide substantial growth potential and seek to serve customers of many ethnic backgrounds."

The effort capitalizes on findings from a new national survey commissioned by the bank, which found that one in four Hispanics has no confidence in personal financial management skills; would like to have a better understanding of all the products and services a bank has to offer, which is nearly 40% more than non-Hispanic respondents; and would like to talk with their bank about how best to meet their financial goals, which is 80% more than non-Hispanic respondents.