Full Service Hispanic Advertising Agencies – An Endangered Species.

Has anybody noticed how many Hispanic advertising agencies today do not have the media planning and buying responsibilities for some their biggest accounts? That’s right the trend that has occurred in the general market over the last 10 years towards the consolidation of media into one of the big “media only shops” has also affected the U.S. Hispanic Market.

In too many instances media shops such as Starcom, Carat, Mindshare and Zenith have all been given the responsibility over Hispanic media budgets by their clients. Is it because they are truly qualified to do this? Does it make good business sense?

The primary reason usually given for such a move is the need to “cut costs” by streamlining the work under one entity.

That may make sense in the general market where billions of dollars are at stake and agencies need to maximize their leverage, but in the Hispanic Market? We are only talking about billings in the few millions. Is it because clients are looking for a higher level of sophistication from their Hispanic media plans? I have seen some of the media plans that these mega shops have produced and the degree of sophistication and expertise is negligible. In fact what you get is a real lack of media creativity and resourcefulness. I wonder if sometimes these decisions are just made over a round of golf somewhere in the Midwest. It may seem logical on paper but in reality the results are not in the client’s best interest.

I think this development is one of the most critical factors affecting the Hispanic ad industry and yet I do not see anyone addressing it.

When Hispanic agency pioneers roamed the earth, they were able to convince corporate America that they were the true experts in the market and were the most capable people to handle all facets of the business – account management, creative, strategy and media. Although they lacked today’s measurement tools and research, clients at the time felt comfortable with the way these agencies handles their business. The agencies partnered with the media to make sure that the campaigns created delivered immediate results. The need for quick results was a necessity for fear of losing their budgets. How many times did we hear clients and their general agencies asking what the ROI will be if we do a Hispanic program when they are spending 100 times that amount in the general market without worrying about any metrics. These pioneers in the market – people like Luis Albertini, Rafael Conill, Castor Fernandez, Dick Dillon and Lionel Sosa, etc. – were able to forge real partnerships with their clients and were responsible for building this ad industry. All of them were able to provide their clients with the proper Hispanic expertise – including the handling of the media assignment.

Today the new generation of Hispanic ad agencies leaders likes to talk about a “new paradigm” in our business that demands more accountability and a higher degree of sophistication. What these leaders are not addressing is the fact that many of them are in danger of becoming creative boutiques or even worse, translation services, instead of full agency partners. When a client does not trust you with spending his or her media budget in your own market then you are truly not a full-fledged partner.

Most general market media shops that handle Hispanic media budget are mostly managed by mid-level media people who have not put in the necessary time to really get to know the Hispanic Market. Many times this responsibility may reside with 25 year old who would not know the difference between East LA and Union City.

Hispanic media capabilities go beyond the placing Network TV GRPs on a flowchart.

It includes establishing a communication planning process, knowing how a national plan affects local market delivery and developing local market promotional programs that support your national campaign. It also means having a symbiotic relationship with your media partners and getting them to go above and beyond the spots and dots.

Time and time again I have heard media sellers complain about the lack of in-market experience they have to face when dealing with these media only shops.

So I challenge our industry and organizations such as the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) to find a solution that will allow its membership to reverse this trend so that they can become full-service agency partners again to their clients. As an industry we need to convince Corporate America that Hispanic agencies are the true experts in Hispanic media planning and buying. I call on those agencies that currently have solid media capabilities to constantly promote their media expertise to their clients the same way they promote their services.

As agencies we also need to be held accountable for training and nurturing media talent that can compete with anyone. At the end of the day, we want to be trusted with spending our client’s money again – for the sake of the business.

Sam Pagan
Partner, Grupo PyR, LLC
440 West 34th Street
8th floor
New York, NY 10001
sp****@******yr.com