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Exclusive Interview
Coral
International
changes its name
In today’s
dynamic market, companies continuously
seek formulas to stay ahead, especially
since globalization has become mainstream.
José Escalante,
general manager of Coral International,
spoke with
ONLY TELENOVELAS about
the company’s new global brand image,
and explains their future goals, while
making a current analysis of the world’s
leading telenovela consumer markets.
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 After
25 years of worldwide recognition as Coral
International, the company is changing
its name. There are several strategic reasons
that led to this change. Primarily, it indicates
alliance with the producing channel, and reflects
the seal of quality Latin American productions
are known for. “Coral
has always been the exclusive distributor
of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV)
products; when we presented a production to
a client, we did it as Coral, the distribution
company, not the production company,”
explains José Escalante. “From
now on, we will be called RCTV International.”
Although, José Escalante
prefers to keep certain information confidential
for the time being, we can assume that there
will be a transitional period in which they
will gradually make this merge public. The
specific information will be disseminated
using Coral’s strategic
brand placement, which is made possible due
to 25 years of worldwide prestige. “First
of all, it is a strategy to modify the structure
and avoid any possible confusion when distributing
the products,” he explains. “When
we distribute Colombia’s RCN
titles in Asia, we present them as RCN’s
products. Equally, RAI’s
titles distributed in Australia are presented
as RAI productions,”
explains the general manager. “From
now on, we will present the products of Radio
Caracas Television as RCTV
International.”
José Escalante says
that RCTV’s executives
believe that with this strategy the distribution
company will grow stronger, particularly due
to the fact that RCTV is
one of the greatest television companies in
Latin America. “We want to take advantage
of one of the main features of the channel:
the outstanding production of high quality
titles, and when I say high quality, I am
speaking about the whole package: story, artistic
talent, excellent producers, and fabulous
photography. All of which is a combination
that delivers successful titles to screens
all over the world.” Furthermore, he
adds that in NATPE 2005 they will make important
announcements about other initiatives, but
refuses to elaborate further since it will
spoil the surprise.
Escalante has been a key element in the mechanism
of Group 1BC, owner of RCTV,
since 1988. Once he gained experience on different
areas of the firm, he moved to the trading
company Coral, making it
one of the world’s leading distributors
of telenovelas, and in the process making
Escalante one of the most knowledgeable and
important executives in the industry.
Main
telenovela
consuming countries
In all continents there are many countries
that are great consumers of telenovelas. “Indonesia,
for instance, is a major buyer of telenovelas,
in particular since its social structure and
economic situation is similar to that found
in Latin America. Then, I would say that Malaysia
and the Philippines are avid telenovela consumers,
not only because of cultural similarities,
but because the fact that Spanish is used
in their Tagalo language. Additionally, in
Europe there’s Spain with 2 telenovelas
broadcasted in TVE the national channel; 3
to 4 telenovelas are broadcasted in the Canary
Islands at any given time; and Galicia, Catalonia
and Andalucia also broadcast many telenovelas.
All this without counting the ones they are
producing on their own,” explains the
executive of RCTV International.
“Then we have Eastern European countries,
with Slovenia, Serbia-Montenegro, Croatia
and Rumania in first place,” he says,
then refers to Rumania’s Acasa
telenovela channel, which already started
to produce in-house with great results.
“Those previously mentioned are some
of the main consumers, although closely followed
by the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Nowadays,
Moscow is broadcasting 4 telenovelas, and
then there’s Estonia with also 4 telenovelas,
and Lithuania with 3 telenovelas. In Latin
America, for instance, Ecuador and the Dominican
Republic broadcast up to 20 telenovelas per
day, followed by Venezuela, with many faithful
viewers,” says Escalante.
He further elaborates, “What we have
to take into account, nowadays, is that the
Hispanic market in the United States consumes
more telenovelas than any other Latin American
country. Univision has 6
telenovela slots daily; Telemundo
broadcasts 4 telenovelas during prime time
and 2 in the morning, and Telefutura
has 6 more telenovela slots. So, we’re
talking about 18 telenovelas altogether. That’s
a significant figure, and we should add the
telenovelas broadcasted in Azteca
America and other channels. Therefore,
the demand for telenovelas by the Hispanic
market in the U.S. clearly surpasses even
that found in Latin America.”
Markets to be conquered
Escalante and his sales team have also focused
on India, which is one of the markets with
greater potential. “We have to invest
in various strategies, since the telenovela
genre conquers many countries and cultures.
Germany, France, and Italy, for instance,
are other territories that we target. We’re
planning to grow and expand our distributing
efforts in Eastern Europe, Russia, the Baltic
and Balkan States and in all the countries
of the ex-Soviet Union: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,
Belarus and Georgia,” says Escalante
with great excitement.
Which was the country where you found
more difficulties and what were the strategies
used to overcome them?
“Russia is a country where they used
to watch only Mexican and Globo productions,
but today they broadcast RCTV’s Trapos
Íntimos, Viva La Pepa
and Juana La Virgen. Our strategy consisted
in visiting the country many times, but also
taking the time to learn and understand the
taste of Russian and Muscovite people. Learning
about their culture and programming preferences
is part of our job, as well as being good
at public relations, which means making new
friends everyday. It is also important to
be persistent and even to learn the language,
among other things. I wish there was a formula
so that I could give it to my salespeople,
but I don’t have it, even though I believe
that having a rigorous work spirit is the
key,” says Escalante.
José Escalante is
a charismatic engineer. He is talented and
has all the qualities of a modern leader:
determined, salesman by nature, possesses
great communicating skills, and versatility,
but above all, the know-how to administrate
crisis and to make the most of competitive
advantages. He brilliantly performs those
qualities during his daily work. His last
year’s predictions for 2004 were: “It
will be a better year than 2003, but with
a lot more competition.” And it turned
out just the way he predicted. José
Escalante always seeks strategies
that will ensure the company that he runs
will remain highly competitive and an international
force in the telenovela industry.
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