Kmart's “Madres y Comadres” Series Premieres on YouTube

Madres y Comadres is an eight-part original Spanish-language miniseries from Kmart targeting Hispanic mothers and the unique challenges they encounter raising a family in America and remaining true to their Hispanic heritage, as seen above, housed on a dedicated YouTube channel.

With Hispanics now the largest minority in the U.S., the webisodes are humorous and sensitive to the prevalence of extended families in the culture, hence the title: 'Madre' meaning mother, and 'Comadre,' her female confidantes.

Evocative of a 'telenovela,' the scripted episodes tackle issues such as a heartbroken mom who discovers her son is trading homemade tamales for tuna sandwiches at school; a son from a Spanish-speaking home who gets a ‘C’ in Spanish and an ‘A’ in Chinese; a mother whose daughter really wants a sleepover, a practice not popular with Hispanic moms.

"We're passionate about the diversity of our customer base and excited about the opportunity to speak directly with our Hispanic customers while celebrating their culture and traditions," said Kmart CMO Mark Snyder in a press release.  

The YouTube campaign, Kmart's first foray into branded entertainment, will include Facebook and Twitter social elements, sharing features, and shoppable videos, and twelve interviews with real Hispanic moms (from Mexico, Peru, Guatemala and Colombia) to enhance the scripted episodes. The Spanish-only series was produced with Meredith publishing's video production unit.

"The content is highly relevant linguistically and culturally, and caters to U.S. Latina needs and interests. We're finding that most brands that engage the U.S. Hispanic market on a sustained basis are able to achieve brand development and sales growth by successfully establishing a deeper link with their consumer audience," said Mark Lopez, head of U.S. Hispanic strategy at Google. 

The series is directed by writer/director Alberto Ferreras of the long-running "Habla" series on HBO Latino. "Women are forced to play so many roles - mothers, housewives and professionals. When you are a Latina, you have to be all that and bilingual and bicultural,” said Ferreras.

Click here for a behind the scenes look at the making of the series.