Año 3 • No. 123 • noviembre 10 de 2003 Xalapa • Veracruz • México
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Marketing Veracruz
Jay Bildstein
A product without promotion is like a solar system without a sun, in darkness we cannot see beauty. We live in a world where sales and marketing play a prominent role in everything we do. Madonna, a cultural icon of the last 20 years, is an example of that notion. By her own admission neither a great singer nor dancer, her foremost ability is in her sustained self-promotion.
As a non-native resident of this state, I see and experience on a daily basis, beauty and cultural bounty that is the stuff of dreams. It is said that Xalapa is the Athens of Veracruz. For me, that is

an understatement, Xalapa is a veritable treasure on a continental scale. I like to think of it as, “the Athens of the Americas.”

The State of Veracruz is home to miles and miles of beautiful beaches, mountains of wondrous majesty, ecosystems of grand diversity, archaeological ruins as well as cultural and educational institutions of great import. The City of Xalapa alone is home to six major universities, a variety of language schools, as well as centers and institutes catering to every fathomable academic discipline. The Symphonic Orchestra of Xalapa rates as one of the top in the world and the Museum of Anthropology is one of the most important in the Americas.

With the incredible richness that Veracruz has to offer, in addition to some of the best food and most hospitable people anywhere, this state is a true gift to humanity. Hopefully, we can speak out more and more, spreading the word to the international community, so that more people may partake of the sensory abundance that is this state.
My hometown, New York City, is a diverse and powerful place that now counts some 300,000 Mexicans as New Yorkers. Growing up, one of the most important things I learned about my town was the way in which it beckons to individuals from all over the world. This has been accomplished through linguistic accommodations that aid peoples of other nations in feeling at home in New York. Currently, that city is home to some one million Latinos who form part of a vibrant Spanish speaking community within the context of a greater metropolis.
This multi-linguistic dynamic allows for international promotion and hence, high levels of tourism as well as unsurpassed levels of foreign investment.

To fully promote the State of Veracruz and allow the international community access to it’s splendor calls for promotion that is ceaseless in its goal orientation; to attract more people to the state by utilizing the power of language. Since the United States and Canada are an important market in terms of tourism, trade and investment, creating market penetration there calls for the use of English as a strategic tool.
A small number of radio and television shows airing in English, as well as some English language columns in Xalapa’s daily newspapers could go a long way to bridge the information gap that currently divides many of our friends to the north from experiencing the pleasure that is Veracruz. After all, this is the era of the internet, an effective place to transmit those works.

Lamentably, the United States of America, for all its advances, retains an insular mentality that relegates little institutionalized importance to learning and mastering languages other than English. This unfortunate fact must be addressed when marketing to that audience. Mexican people speaking English can help liberate my fellow countrymen from this unfortunate small-mindedness, something that although embarrassing, I must admit to having at one time had.

For Veracruz to increase its share of tourism and international investment, carefully planned shows that disseminate information in English as well as newspaper articles in English, can be key in attracting the often well meaning yet Spanish language challenged friends that we have to the north.

I have had the opportunity to travel to some beautiful places in my lifetime, and few compare, as a totality, to the State of Veracruz. I hope that positive messages about this state will find themselves released in the English language on an ongoing basis utilizing the excellent media that we have here.

In this sense, la Universidad Veracruzana is a guiding light, ensuring that current and future generations of students are equipped to communicate in a variety of languages besides their native Spanish. This foresight on the part of the University will inevitably lead to young people who dynamically represent Veracruz and its importance to the world.