Robert – Account Group Director On Nissan @ Ornelas & Associates.

Latino marketing specialist Robin William Robert will join Ornelas & Associates on January 15 as Group Account Director heading up the agency’s Nissan North America business.

Robert, a 20-year veteran of Latino marketing, most recently was Group Account Director at Interpublic/Casanova Pendrill in Irvine, CA, where his responsibilities included management of the Coors Light, DIRECTV Para Todos, Moneygram and Verizon accounts. He was account director on Coors Light from June 1999 to June 2001.

Based in Dallas, Ornelas & Associates became Nissan’s first lead Latino agency in 1999. In October 2002, the agency opened a Los Angeles office to expand its services to Nissan L.A. corporate headquarters and to handle the newly acquired Nissan Southwest Regional business, which Ornelas had won earlier in the year.

“Robin shares our core values and brings strategic vision, passion for the Latino market motivation and drive to provide superior service to Nissan, not only to our brand new outpost here, but to our home office in Dallas,” said Victor Ornelas, founder and president. “Together with the talent we have hand-picked in this market, Robin rounds out a terrific Latino marketing team for Nissan. Nissan has committed resources and trust in our agency, and we in turn are doing the same. It’s a true partnership in every sense of the word.”

Robert became acquainted with Victor Ornelas 20 years ago when Ornelas was Director of Latino Marketing at Anheuser-Busch and Robert worked for one of the brewer’s agencies. “Victor was my client, and I succeeded in meeting his expectations,” said Robert. “After I read that he was opening an office in Los Angeles, we got together and caught up. We’re both passionate about the tremendous opportunity for marketers and agencies that truly understand the Latino market and how to connect with it. It’s an increasingly powerful market with many distinct facets and a burgeoning array of Spanish-language media to reach it.”

Robert began his marketing career in 1983 at Castor Advertising in New York. There he worked on such accounts as Anheuser-Busch, Coke, General Electric and McDonald’s. He joined Young & Rubicam’s The Bravo Group in New York in 1994 as Director of Promotions. In 1996, Robert moved to Lezcano Associates in Miami, which was Chevrolet’s agency of record, as VP and General Manager before opening his own boutique Hispanic marketing agency, Spirited Concepts, also in Miami, in 1997. He joined Interpublic/Casanova Pendrill in 1999.