Two banking companies — one big, one small — have teamed up on a unique financial literacy project.
Bank of America Corp. and Bank of Texas Mortgage Group, a unit of the $17 billion-asset BOK Financial Corp. in Tulsa, are sponsoring a Spanish-language soap opera that will begin airing today in select markets in Texas, Arizona, and Florida.
The two banking companies will air multiple commercials during the program — Bank of Texas’ ads will air in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston, while B of A’s will run in Austin, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and San Antonio.
“Nuestro Barrio” is designed to educate Spanish-language viewers, many of whom are unsophisticated in money matters, subtly through entertainment, said Peter Skillern, the executive director of the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina, which produced the 13-week series.
“It has trauma and drama, beautiful people falling in love, dark betrayal, and secrets, while characters are learning how to use a credit card, buy a home, and watch out for predatory lenders,” he said.
Freddie Mac funded production of the show, which aired this year in North Carolina, where it received a Nielsen rating of 2. (That means 2% of televisions were tuned to the show.) The Spanish-language show, which carries English-language subtitles, will air in Phoenix, too, but no lender is running commercials in that market, a Freddie spokeswoman said.
As the Hispanic population continues to rise, regulators, banks, and nonprofits are developing financial education programs to try and break through cultural barriers.
Many immigrants, who are distrustful of banks in their native countries, are reluctant to open accounts here. Banks hoping to grab a portion of the unbanked market have begun outreach programs, created Spanish-language Web sites, hired bilingual tellers and loan officers, and developed special products.
Soap operas are a popular education platform in Mexico and Central America, and reaching the Hispanic market through entertainment is not new for some industries, like health care. But “Nuestro Barrio” is believed to be the first series in the “edutainment” genre that addresses financial literacy.
“We are pleased to have this opportunity to lead with something that hasn’t been done before,” said Tom Williams, a vice president and the manager of production operations at Bank of Texas Mortgage Group.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which has developed financial literacy initiatives such as Money Smart, is said to be working on a short, soap-opera style production to be shown at Mexican Consulates.
And the Texas Department of Banking hired Leilani Lim-Villegas this year to work with banks to develop strategies for reaching out to the unbanked. Ms. Lim-Villegas, who grew up in Mexico, said “Nuestro Barrio” is an interesting way to mesh Hispanic culture with an educational message.
“This is a way to reach them directly, yet indirectly,” she said in an interview last week. “It’s a novel way to communicate financial literacy.”
“It is another way to get the word out, and it is going to be much more effective, especially if it is interesting,” he said.
