Ad Budgets – Disgusting or an OPPORTUNITY?

According to Tony Ruiz – Managing Partner at New York based The Vidal Partnership, he stated yesterday at Broadcasting and Cable’s – Multicultural TV Summit that the current levels of Hispanic targeted ad budgets and the fact that we need to make a ‘BIG DEAL’ about the 2010 US Census registering over 50 Millions Hispanic in the USA is DISGUSTING.

I have known Tony Ruiz for over 20 years, respect him as a professional & friend and I would venture to say he wishes he had not used the word DISGUSTING.

I believe he would have rather have said that the fact that Corporate America continues not to recognize the US Hispanic Market is an OPPORTUNITY.  It is really their loss and our job to educate them and demonstrate that there is true ROI in targeting US Hispanics.

He once told me that don’t hire my agency because we Hispanic, hire me because you believe I am the best team to market your product.

Words like disgusting make headlines, but do NOT help our cause.

Using negative terms to sell the positives our industry has to offer does not help us.

I disagree with him that WE had to make a ‘BIG DEAL’ about the 50,000,000 US Hispanics in the USA.  If WE don’t, nobody will

Tony, what do you have to say about that?

Gene Bryan
CEO
HispanicAd.com