Ad Agency

Mercedes Colón, Director of Human Resources, resigned her post at New York’s The Bravo Group, effective April/06.

Colón had joined Bravo after the tumultuous stampede that started with the departure of the Agency’s key leaders between December 2004 and March 2005.

Her mission had been to avert the seeming unstoppable human exodus that has continued there ever since, while trimming positions on dwindling businesses.

Other also leaving are Daniel Orner, Account Supervisor/Mosaica and Ms. Colón’s Human Resources Coordinator, Aimee Perez.

“Customer-centric” is the marketing buzzword on everyone’s lips. Coupled with an increased emphasis on customized communications, it means we need to understand consumer attitudes and motivation in greater depth than ever before. This gives account planners a central role in the new marketing paradigm, but only if they – and their agencies – can find new ways of working to take advantage of the opportunity.

Hispanic advertising agency Latinvox announced the addition of Nelson Garcia to its senior management team as Vice President and Media Director.

Hispanics are the ‘it’ topic at marketing conferences, in the political arena and for government data analysts. The mainstream PR industry has slightly awakened to the relevance of the Latino market with ‘measurement’ seeming to be the busiest buzz word in PR right now. However, here’s the paradox: The National Research Council says “We are in the midst of a Hispanic moment” as they announce findings from their latest survey in Hispanic Business magazine, yet there are many PR practitioners around the nation wondering how to reach out or even if they should bother including Hispanics in their national outreach efforts. By Christine Clavijo-Kish, Managing Partner LatinClips.

The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) recognized 16 member Hispanic advertising agencies for their pro bono work valued at more than $12.1 million for more than 25 media campaigns during its semi-annual conference titled “AHAA Knows Latinos: Insights on Media Behavior” in Los Angeles from April 5th-7th, 2006. Campaings available for download.

The Fifth Third Bancorp selected New York-based Hispanic advertising agency Latinvox as its agency of record for all Hispanic initiatives.

Latinvox will work with Fifth Third Bank’s marketing and executive teams to expand the company’s Hispanic business plan and to develop fully integrated and culturally-relevant marketing campaigns for the Hispanic community.

The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) announced it will be recognizing 16 member Hispanic advertising agencies for their pro bono work valued at more than $12.1 million for more than 25 media campaigns during its semi-annual conference titled “AHAA Knows Latinos: Insights on Media Behavior” in Los Angeles from April 5th-7th, 2006.

Nobox announced the launch of www.lexus.com/espanol. The unprecedented Web site makes Lexus the first luxury automotive brand to consider the growing market of Hispanics in the US and bring them a tailored Web site. The launch of the site is being supported with a strategic online media campaign in Spanish-language portals that include Yahoo!, Univision and Terra.