News from AHAA conference in NYC … Day 1.

More than 500 Latino marketing professionals turned out for the first day of AHAA’s 23rd Semi-Annual Conference for Creative and Account Planning in New York. Panelists and presenters captivated audiences with thought-provoking ideas to challenge traditional thinking and boldly defy misperceptions that Hispanic advertising is dead. Conference organizers moderated the skill-building workshops designed to inspire and stimulate creativity…and stir up a little controversy. The response from attendees? “This is the best AHAA Conference I’ve ever attended.”

Aldo Quevedo and Gustavo de Mello, conference co-chairs, opened the conference today explaining that the theme is more than just a kitschy phrase or a concept that made sense creatively with the conference’s Halloween timing. It created an opportunity to demonstrate just how alive and vibrant the Hispanic marketing industry really is – while having a little fun. They said they want attendees to come away revitalized and energized to step outside of the box and from the buzz during the breaks…mission accomplished.

Donning trench coats, Quevedo, de Mello and AHAA Chairwoman Jackie Bird took the stage to shock the audience and set the pace for the conference. Bird urged members to make a commitment to take a hard look at “what we do and how we do it.” She said agencies need to remain ahead of the curve, relevant, and a step ahead of the rapidly evolving Latino consumer.

Respected marketer, entrepreneur and co-founder of the ultra-hip NaCo, Edoardo Chavarin, shared a fantastic story about creativity, courage, passion, determination and his creative process.

Edoardo Chavarin Reveals The Bloody Truth About Being Creative

Chavarin told the attendees three things make great creative: simplicity, humor, and strong, fast delivery. “You need to know how to be complicated to be simple,” he says, “but it’s about making decisions – fast ones – taking chances, swings and misses. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but you can always fix it along the way.”

Born in Tijuana and having grown up with one foot in the U.S. and the other in Mexico, Chavarin shared his personal journey and described how he turned his creativity and bi-cultural upbringing into a marketing success. The audience roared with laughter as Chavarin showed samples of his t-shirts and revealed the deep cultural meaning behind his designs. What started as a hobby to break down borders turned into a creative outlet to bring his heritage to life.

Chavarin urged attendees to tap into their creative talent, act on the ideas they never think will amount to anything, and draw on their personal experiences. He said those ideas that seem too simple are often the best.

Avoiding Death: Planning and Creating for Alternative Media
Jonas Hallberg, Partner/Creative Director, Kirschenbaum Bond & Partners
Liron Reznik, Co-Director, Brand Strategy, Kirschenbaum Bond & Partners

The media-neutral duo took the stage to showcase two wildly creative campaigns they developed for Absolut vodka and Don Julio tequila and discussed 10 points to avoid death in the creative process. Both campaigns demonstrated their multi-dimensional approach to engage consumers to interact with brands. They described how they created communities around the brands and invited people to become part of the experiences.

“A brand should aspire to arouse passion and inspire people to become part of its activities,” Reznik said. In describing their use of multi-media solutions to capture the spirit of the brands and give them a cultural voice, they shared how they used media like podcasts, Web sites, out-of-home, and print in interesting ways to integrally link the product and marketing. Reznik said products and marketing can’t be siloed anymore citing the Nike example, “It’s not just an ad for Nike shoes, it’s about promoting the running experience.”

The team encouraged attendees to be daring, take risks and force themselves to think differently. When asked how they convince clients to join them in taking risks, they said they use traditional research combined with experiential deep dives into consumer behavior to support their ideas. They said the best ideas come from true partnership between creative and strategic within the agency. While they don’t claim to have all the answers, they said the journey toward finding them is fun.

HAPE Award, Agency Executive of the Year and Creative Director of the Year Winners Announced

The Vidal Partnership, Conill Advertising and Grupo Gallegos took gold in the second annual HispanicAd.com Account Planning Excelencia (HAPE) Awards. Judged on insight, creativity and effectiveness, the 50 case study entries submitted in four categories summarized a business challenge and described solutions that changed or guided the course of communication. Winners were announced by HispanicAd.com CEO Gene Bryan during the AHAA luncheon. Dorlores Kunda from Lapiz won the Agency Executive of the Year and Sergio Alcocer from Latinworks was honored as Creative Director of the Year.

Other HAPE Award winners were:

Silver
Comcast High Speed Internet, Grupo Gallegos, Cultural Interpretation
Gatorade, Dieste Harmel & Partners, Cultural Interpretation
MTV Tr3s, Creative On Demand, Culture Specific
Cheetos, Dieste Harmel & Partners, Cultural Transformation

Bronze
Tide, Conill, Cultural Interpretation
Comcast Cable Latino National, Grupo Gallegos, Culture Specific

Honorable Mention for Cultural Interpretation
Lay’s, Dieste Harmel & Partners
Toyota Yaris, Conill Advertising
T-Mobile USA, Conill Advertising
Bud Light, Latinworks

Honorable Mention for Cultural Transformation
Washington Mutual, Zubi Advertising
Volkswagen, Creative On Demand
Honda Civic, La Agencia de Orci
National Pork Board, Bromley

Honorable Mention for Pro Bono
International Latino Film Festival, Dieste Harmel & Partners

Bronze
The Partnership for a Drug Free America, Grupo Gallegos, Pro Bono

Following lunch the Gold HAPE Award winners presented their case studies.

Creative Directors and Planners Dish on the Realities of Developing Killer Creative
Teams from a U.S. Hispanic market agency, an international market agency and a general market agency came together in a candid, one-of-a-kind panel discussion about the dynamics between creative and account planning disciplines in agencies.

Q: Can a planner kill creative work?
A: A planner can and should kill creative, or at least not let it go to the client, unless it’s on strategy. All agreed they look for ways to bridge or unite over-the-top ideas that might be outside of the original strategy. Recognizing that the creative process is fluid, and changes can be positive, we work together to solve the problem.

Q: When does a planner go too far?
A: Planners said the creatives bristle when there is an idea in the brief but creatives said more often than not there aren’t ideas in the briefs and they want them. There is a worry that once an idea is planted in a creative director’s head, it closes them off to other ideas but all agreed that planners need to bring ideas to the table – maybe not in writing, in the creative brief – but definitely voice the ideas. A good planner though has to be strong enough to push back and inspire great creative work but know when to pull back.

Q: What makes you angry with a creative?
A: When the brief that we’ve worked so hard to create is reduced to one line – what’s the one message you want out of it. They don’t want to sit through the briefing and listen or understand the consumer insight. Another planner said, when all creatives are worried about is an ad that will win at Cannes.

Q: What makes you angry with a planner?
I wish that every planner would take the time to produce a really creative brief. Another creative director said she would like to see planners show briefs with the same passion creatives are supposed to have when developing campaigns.

Q: How can agencies deliver better results?
A: Sometimes the most powerful ideas are truly terrifying – for clients and for us. But, usually the most exciting ideas tie into a social phenomenon that hasn’t quite caught fire. Agencies who can convince clients to see the possibilities, build the case and paint the scenario of social movement will help their clients rise to cultural thought leadership.

Quevedo and de Mello concluded the session recapping the key messages and reiterating the critical importance of working as a team.

Highlights of Friday, November 2nd:

More enticing panel discussions, breakout sessions for account planners and creatives, and an agency principals’ forum are planned for the morning. The 2007 Young Creative Competition winners will be announced at lunch and the conference sessions conclude with a panel discussion about Latino youth and the power and influence they are wielding on U.S. society. Attendees will rock out to the sounds of The Dey, a hot new youth band that will perform during the session.

…All this and more from AHAA’s 23rd Semi-Annual Conference from Crowne Plaza Times Square in New York.