Showcase of San Antonio’s Hispanic Advertising Agencies.

With presenters and attendees coming from as far away as Connecticut, Miami, Dallas and Laredo, San Antonio’s Hispanic Marketing leaders recognized eight local Hispanic Advertising Agencies and enjoyed an unprecedented opportunity to view their outstanding work for national clients.

On Thursday, March 15th, more than 175 marketing executives participated in the first Showcase of San Antonio’s Hispanic Ad Agencies, sponsored by SAVisión and the American Marketing Association. The event united eight local agencies to exhibit their outstanding creative and strategic work to prospective clients and media alike. The Showcase highlighted the economic importance and prestige the industry brings to the South Texas region. The participating agencies included Bromley Communications, The Cartel Group, Garcia 360, Guerra DeBerry Coody, K Fernandez & Associates, PMG, Inc, PMDG Laredo, and Viva Media.

Norma Garcia, Anchor of Telemundo’s 10 p.m. Newscast “Conteo de Noticias” arrived from Dallas to emcee the event. According to Celia Chavez, General Manager of Telemundo San Antonio, “We recognize the importance of this forum for the growth of San Antonio’s ad community, and the Telemundo Network is pleased to contribute to the event’s success.”

Participants heard first-hand from agency principals how San Antonio’s creative shops have crafted successful national campaigns for industry giants like Verizon Wireless, Bell South, The Wells Fargo Bank, and Dr. Pepper. They learned how local talent successfully handled the Jeb Bush Gubernatorial campaign, how two laundry brands joined forces to expand their budgets and captured the Latino market, and how San Antonio ad execs created health education programs for the Centers for Disease Control to help prevent teen obesity. They also learned how the Laredo Medical Center was repositioned after it was acquired by an out-of-state conglomerate unfamiliar with the market.

The innovative event started with a tabletop creative exposition at which agencies presented samples of their work, showcasing agency creative, research, and client solutions through ads, collateral, video presentations of creative, and other interactive materials. This allowed attendees to speak one-on-one with agency principals and creative talent, and gain an insight into the scope of the clients being serviced from south Texas.

During the banquet, each of the eight agencies presented a multi-media client success story. Principals from each agency explained the challenge or problem faced by the client, the research and insights garnered to create compelling strategies, the creative solutions developed and media plans executed, and then the measurable campaign results.

All attendees received a copy of a newly-released book on Hispanic marketing – The Olé Degree – the Blind-Side of Marketing – by local authors Jesús Ramírez and Paul Goya.

According to Diane Huth, Chair of SAVision, “San Antonio was the birthplace of the Hispanic media industry – the first Spanish-language daily newspaper, radio station and television station were all started here. So it’s logical that the Spanish-language ad industry was also born here, to provide the commercial engine to support these new media vehicles during their early days.”

Scott Keeler of ABC Radio noted that “The San Antonio Hispanic ad community is now highly visible nationwide, and facing greater competition every day by out-of-state agencies. We must all strive for continual improvements and deliver excellence for our customers to keep our competitive edge and grow the industry here in San Antonio.”

Participants and attendees at the event were enthusiastic in their praise. According to Chris Linskey, Vice President of ADVO who came from Connecticut for the event, “I was completely unprepared for the size and scope of the clients presented and the caliber of work performed by San Antonio agencies. I now understand why San Antonio is called The Madison Avenue of Hispanic Advertising – I have never seen such a concentration of talent and world class accounts in one city, much less in one room.”

Plans are underway to make this an annual event, as presenting agencies have already asked to participate next year. According to PMDG’s Wanda Reyes, “Sign us up right now for 2008 – this is a must-attend event for agencies and marketers alike.”

The Showcase was hosted by SAVisión, under the auspices of the San Antonio Chapter of the American Marketing Association. For more information, visit http://www.savision.org> to learn more about the organization and to see pictures of the event.