BB&T introduces Spanish-language advertising campaign

BB&T introduces Spanish-language advertising campaign

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BB&T Corporation (NYSE:BBT) today said it has introduced a multimedia Spanish-language advertising campaign developed with Miami-based Machado Garcia-Serra Communications (MGS), BB&T's Hispanic advertising agency of record.

The new campaign includes a series of 60-second financial education messages to air on Spanish television stations, including money management tips, banking and investment strategies, and news from the U.S. and Latin American financial markets.

The TV campaign will air through October in select, high Hispanic population areas in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Washington, D.C. BB&T also will run Spanish-language newspaper ads to tout its free checking and money transfer offering, "BB&T Free + Easy Send." To round out the campaign, BB&T will sponsor community festivals in these markets.

"Machado Garcia-Serra's expertise in brand-building and targeted advertising to the Hispanic market has been a valuable asset to BB&T in meeting the needs of our growing Hispanic client base," said Jorge Moller, BB&T's Multicultural Markets manager. "The new advertising campaign is one of many steps we are taking at BB&T to communicate to our Latino neighbors."

Hispanics make up the nation's largest and fastest growing minority group, representing about 15 percent of the U.S. population. More than half of all U.S. retail banking growth in financial services during the next two decades will come from the segment, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

BB&T's new advertising campaign is the latest step in its growing multicultural banking operation. About 10 percent of BB&T branches are designated "multicultural banking centers" that include bilingual staff members as well as Spanish signage and brochures.

"BB&T has a unique, multi-faceted approach to reaching their multicultural markets that is having a direct impact on their business results as well the lives of their growing number of multicultural clients," said MGS Chief Strategic Office Gabriela Alcantara-Diaz.

BB&T's multicultural program also includes its long-running series of "BiBi" educational audio recordings in Spanish. The latest installment, "BiBi Talks about Voting and Government in the United States" was released in March.

In a mock talk-show format with a character named "BiBi" (pronounced Bee-Bee) as the host, "BiBi Talks about Voting and Government in the United States" covers voter registration and the voting process; American political parties; federal government branches; state and local government roles; and more.

"BiBi Talks" follows nine previous editions of BB&T's original "BiBi Tapes" series, which mimic the "TV Novelas" storytelling approach made popular on Spanish TV. Designed to help Hispanic immigrants adapt to life in the United States, BB&T introduced the BiBi recordings in 2002.

Previous "BiBi" editions have featured topics such as emergency preparedness, basic banking information, school and health care information, finding a job, driving, housing, insurance and the American legal system. The free tapes and CDs from both series are available at BB&T's nearly 1,500 financial centers in the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Indiana and Washington, D.C.

Hispanic buying power in the United States reached $860 billion last year -- nearly equal to the gross domestic product of Mexico -- and is projected to hit $1.2 trillion by 2012, according to the University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth.

With $136.5 billion in assets, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T Corporation is the nation's 14th largest financial holding company. More information about the company is available at http://www.bbt.com/ .

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: acmcgraw@bbandt.com

Source: BB&T Corporation

CONTACT: Yvonne Lorie, MGS Communications, +1-305-444-4647, ext. 256,
for BB&T Corporation; Jorge Moller, BB&T Multicultural Markets,
+1-336-733-2482, Jeff Nichols, BB&T Corp. Communications, +1-336-733-1472

Web site: http://www.bbt.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/809325.html

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