Union Bank’s advertising slogan is “It’s Different Here.” Translated directly into Spanish, that comes out something like, “It’s Kind of Weird Here.”

When it comes to Spanish-language advertising by banks, it really is kind of weird in Los Angeles.

Despite dramatic statistics about the growth and spending power of Latinos, banks have been extremely slow to target them with their advertising messages.

San Francisco-based Union Bank (which tweaked its slogan in Spanish to Note Usted la Diferencia, or “Please Note Our Difference”) has one of the more extensive Spanish-language ad campaigns among banks doing business in L.A., as does Bank of America. But then, that’s not saying much.

Traditionally, most banks have spent only a tiny fraction of their marketing budgets on Spanish-language advertising. Their apparent lack of interest has been exacerbated in recent years by a massive consolidation trend; most of the bigger banks here have been too busy absorbing new acquisitions to worry much about their Spanish-language ad campaigns.

Now that the dust is settling, there have been signs of change. But executives with Latino media organizations aren’t holding their breath.

A sales executive with one local Spanish-language TV station said he is constantly offering statistics about Latino buying to banks and their ad agencies. “They tell us, ‘Boy, this is great information.’ But it only means something if they start buying commercial time, and it’s been a very quiet year,” said the executive.

He said financial institutions account for only about 3 percent of the ad revenues at his station. That percentage has changed little over the past decade.

It’s not much different in radio. While the two top-rated stations in the L.A. market are both Spanish-language, banks have bought very few Spanish radio spots.

In 1998, only 1.8 percent of the dollars spent on Spanish radio ads in L.A. came from financial institutions, according to George Nadel Rivin with accounting firm Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co., who compiles a survey of advertising income from local radio stations. That compares to 4.1 percent of revenues from financial institutions for mainstream radio. (Rivin notes that KSCA-FM 101.9, one of the two top Spanish stations, was not surveyed by his firm).

Because Spanish stations take in less ad revenues than English stations, that 1.8 percent represents a fairly small amount of money. Bank of America is on pace to spend more than $500,000 on Spanish radio ads in L.A. this year, Rivin said. No other bank is spending a material amount on local Spanish radio in 1999.

For the L.A. radio market as a whole, financial institutions spent $16.4 million on commercials during the six months ended June 30, according to research from Miller, Kaplan. By the end of the year, the total is likely to be double that.

Why so little effort to market toward such an enormous part of L.A.’s population?

“I think the easiest answer, and probably the most accurate, is ignorance,” said the Spanish-language TV station executive. “I think banks feel it is a cash-driven population, that checking and other services are not something they use which is wrong.”

Marketing officials from various banks concede that their efforts have been sporadic at best when it comes to targeting Latinos. But they say they’re working to address the situation.

“If you look at the size of the opportunity and the way marketing budgets have been allocated historically, you could probably argue that not enough has been done. At Wells Fargo, we’re starting to change that,” said Tom Byrne, director of marketing for the Southern California region.

Wells has been in the midst of a massive restructuring since its merger in November 1998 with Norwest Corp. That restructuring has included the marketing department. Whereas marketing was formerly handled almost exclusively by the San Francisco headquarters, there are now five regional marketing managers in California.

In Southern California, a new executive in charge of ethnic marketing, David Urbina, was hired in July. Urbina’s main focus is Latinos.

Byrne promises that the result will be a stepped-up Spanish advertising campaign, though he would provide few specifics. The bank’s Spanish-language ad agency, Anita Santiago Advertising in Santa Monica, is in the market research stage, so no strategies have been finalized.

In fact, none of the banking executives interviewed for this story would provide specifics about Spanish-language ad spending, though all said they are increasing their efforts in that area.

At Union Bank, a small Latino marketing division has been in existence for two years headed by George Ramirez, senior vice president and manager of emerging markets administration. The bank had done only sporadic Spanish advertising before 1997, Ramirez said.

Working with San Diego ad agency Cohen Latino Communications, Union Bank is creating both Spanish-language ads targeting newer immigrants and English ads using images of Latinos to target the bilingual set.

“You’ll see a more multicultural look to our advertising these days than I think you did in the past,” said Ramirez.

Little wonder; out of about 260 Union Bank branches in California, close to 90 are located in Latino neighborhoods, Ramirez said.

About a year ago, following its acquisitions of both Great Western Bank and Home Savings of America, Washington Mutual Bank hired L.A.’s biggest Spanish-language ad agency, West L.A.-based La Agencia de Orci & Asociados. Agency co-chair and chief creative officer Norma Orci wouldn’t reveal the size of the Washington Mutual account, but said the bank isn’t one of the agency’s bigger clients, which include Allstate Insurance, American Honda Motor Co. and Bell Atlantic.

Orci said Washington Mutual is concentrating on free checking accounts and mortgage loans in its Spanish-language advertising. But she said there are numerous other products and services, such as credit cards, that she believes Washington Mutual and other banks will spend dramatically more to promote in Spanish in the future.

“There are lots of (banking) products that are not being advertised to Hispanics in any major way,” Orci said.

Assistant Managing Editor Dan Turner writes a weekly column on marketing for the Los Angeles Business Journal.