Research Convinces Hyland's to Take Two Child Care Products Bilingual

The Hyland's brand of homeopathic medicines covers thousands of products for safe at-home alternative health care. The company, however, felt that they could convey its message to a wider audience and convince retail channels to provide better placements in stores for its Teething Tablets and Colic Tablets—from the "natural products" shelves to the baby care section.

At the same time, Hyland's staff noticed some intriguing statistics about how many Hispanic babies were being born each year and learned that this segment was shown to be receptive to—and interested in—natural and homeopathic remedies for their children. Hyland's took their thoughts to two companies that would help direct the project—the Hispan America design firm in New York City and the New American Dimensions LLC research firm in Los Angeles. Hyland's was also a little worried about a potential consumer backlash if they changed their packages dramatically.

The Hyland's brand took the initiative in going bilingual on their packaging to reach out to Hispanic consumers who might normally overlook their product.

Exploring the possibilities

As much as they were willing to push the benefit messages bilingually on the front of the package, Hyland's also wondered if their current graphic approach was appropriate to communicate what the products were used for, and they thought the picture of a rag doll on the Colic Tablets was not particularly relevant.

Beatriz Mallory, CEO and chief strategist of Hispan America, stresses that it is important to learn the educational level of the target audience, and to find the right balance between familiar and formal language in translation so that the product is taken seriously without insulting the consumer. "We kind of intuitively know what's going to work and what's not going to work," says Mallory, who also had a strong feeling that alternating the languages on the package would work best.

Mallory is used to trying to accomplish many things in the small space of a package's front panel. "It has to be glance-ready," she explains. It made sense to try a package design with an illustration or picture of a baby, which conveys purpose and wholesomeness instantly.

Taking it to the streets

What sort of baby picture to use was a different question. David Morse, president and CEO of New American Dimensions, which often studies the Hispanic consumer, was charged with answering the baby question and finding out how all consumers would react to a fully bilingual package.

Morse's study subjects were broken down into three categories: general public, less-acculturated Hispanics, and more-acculturated Hispanics. In many ways, he found that the more-acculturated Hispanics (usually English-speaking) were much more like the general public in their tastes and reactions than expected, and they were inclined to look beyond what they found in the store or learned on TV about similar products.

The less-acculturated Hispanic subjects rated the previous rag doll image very low, and also disliked a cartoon version of a baby. All categories preferred a realistic baby illustration, and that illustration was refined to be what you see here—a baby of nearly indeterminate ethnic origin.

Hyland's was confident in making the change to the final bilingual package because it tested well with both Hispanic categories and because Morse found the general public had almost no negative reaction to the new bilingual packaging. Hyland's, Mallory, and Morse believe that this change communicates several things to the Hispanic community—care for their health, an effort to relate accurate information, and symbolically recognizing the importance of the community.