Ad Agency

In a survey, ICOM agencies, all independently owned and operated, were asked to rate their outlook for the advertising business in 2005 on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being the least positive and 5 being the most positive). The majority of responses fell in the 3-to-4 range with almost half at 4. Only Indonesia, Italy, South Korea and Venezuela fell below 3. And of those, both Indonesia and Venezuela expect 2005 to be a better year for advertising than 2004.

Siboney USA announced that it has been awarded the advertising account for US Airways targeting Hispanics living in the Eastern U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean.

The New Year has arrived and for Zubi Advertising the start of 2005 brings innovation and a new competitive edge. For more than 27 years, Zubi Advertising has led the way in the industry by spearheading trends and discovering insights to bring its clients closer to the Hispanic community.

CreativeOndemanD (C.O.D) is launching a novel advertising initiative geared at U.S. Hispanic youth for its client Volkswagen of America. Inspired by the important year-end ritual of students signing each other’s yearbooks, C.O.D developed a Volkswagen-branded “signing page” that effectively reaches young Latinos in a natural way and through a credible medium that genuinely connects with them.

al Punto Advertising celebrated success and growth for the past 10 years with the much anticipated al Punto X-Perience event. Principals Eduardo Bottger and Peggy Goff welcomed clients, friends, and industry representatives to an X-themed anniversary bash celebrating the industry and culture. The X-Perience featured bowling and billiards pros and as promised in the invitations, adventurous guests were marked with X tattoos.

Debbie Nason – VP Interactive Media at The Bravo Group in Miami has departed to join Bromley Communications in San Antonio as VP Managing Director running Bromley Interlink. She will report directly to Jessica Pantanini – COO of Bromley Communications.

Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages (CSAB), the Texas-based subsidiary division of London-based Cadbury Schweppes plc, announced that it has selected San Antonio-based The Cartel Group as the agency of record for Hispanic market efforts for its Dr Pepper brand.

In 2005, the extra stimulus from the election and the Summer Olympics will not be present and the pace of the economic recovery should moderate. However, we do expect the U.S. economy to grow at a reasonable pace, and we expect continued improvement in the advertising trends which historically tend to lag behind the economic trends. We expect advertising to again grow faster than nominal gross domestic product.

Catalina Saldarriaga – VP Director of Human Resources and a veteran of The Bravo Group has resigned her post effective immediately.

This week Forbes.com and the advertising agency Euro RSCG Worldwide released a study that found that a lot of C-level executives think the advertising industry has little understanding of the business issues challenging businesses like theirs.

The study also revealed that less than 40 percent of the some 9,000 C-level executives surveyed think “external advertising and marketing services bring a valuable perspective to our advertising and marketing issues.”