Business

Douglas Darfield, Managing Director of Programming and Research of Hemisphere Media Group, was honored with the 11th Annual Hispanic Marketing Research Achievement Award at the 19th Annual Hispanic Marketing Conference and Awards ceremony, which took place Tuesday, May 19, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Pepsi is bringing excitement to its cola options with the launch of Pepsi Limon, a new flavored cola made with just the right amount of authentic lime juice. Handcrafted and inspired by the preferences of Hispanic consumers, Pepsi Limon combines the distinct flavor of Pepsi with a hint of real lime juice resulting in a great tasting cola.

Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) announced that it has acquired The Root, the leading online news, opinion and culture destination for African-Americans. In joining UCI, The Root will leverage UCI’s extensive digital production facilities and publishing infrastructure, while its editorial team will retain its voice and stay true to its mission.

Digital ad spending in the US will total $58.61 billion this year, and retailers’ ad outlays will comprise 22.0% of that figure, or $12.91 billion—by far outpacing all other industries—according to new figures from eMarketer.

Univision Communications Inc., the leading media company serving Hispanic America, today launched the recently announced “Todo Es Posible” (Everything is Possible) campaign, a multiplatform initiative that will bring to life the core values of the Univision Network brand and the journeys of Hispanics in the U.S.   The campaign will focus on seven themes – Tenacity, Love, Respect, Building Bridges, Achievement, Pride and Union – to connect with viewers through relevant and engaging content that reinforces the tenets of the beloved Univision Network brand and tell the stories that define the Hispanic experience in the U.S. 

Verizon Communications Inc. announced the signing of an agreement to purchase AOL Inc. for $50 per share — an estimated total value of approximately $4.4 billion.

Close to 100 former employees of The Bravo Group, the legendary agency of the 90s, will gather in New York City on Saturday, May 16 right after the upfronts.

By Gonzalo López Martí  –  LMMIAMI.COM

• Award shows can become a collective hallucination far too removed from reality. Many a creative considers award festivals a safe haven where “ideas” can be celebrated sans that pesky client intrusion.
• Award shows can be a collective guilt trip too: many a creative feels dirty about making a living in such a capitalist, phony trade.
• Especially Hispanocatholic creatives.
• (It takes one to know one.)
• On the other hand, when self-loathing & dirty consciences are properly channeled in productive ways the outcome can be plenty positive.

Nearly half of top executives say they weren’t effective at earning support for their new ideas when they moved into C-suite roles—and more than one-third say they have not successfully met their objectives during their tenures. But even successful transitions1 didn’t require new executives to have all the answers, and certainly not within their first 100 days in the job. These are among the key findings from a recent McKinsey Global Survey on executive transitions,2 which asked C-level respondents how they managed the business, culture, team, and self-management aspects of their new jobs.

More than ever, marketers are under pressure to demonstrate their business value. In a March 2015 study by Demand Metric and VisionEdge Marketing, 83% of marketing professionals worldwide said the pressure to prove their business contribution had increased.

It seems that the recent hoopla with the end of “Sabado Gigante” has sent ripples across the grid with many alluding that this, in fact, is “the beginning of the end for Univision,” and while I agree that in a way it does symbolize the end of an era/format that is no longer reflective of today’s USH audience, I still don’t hear the fat lady singing. In fact, this is a day they knew would eventually arrive.  Univision Will Be Just Fine Says Alma’s Media Director, Jorge Mercado.

The La Costeña and Jumex brands have partnered with Captura Group to launch  Mexicorico.com, a new bilingual digital platform showcasing recipes and tips focused on the true essence of Mexican cuisine and food products.

There’s a war going on, but you may not have noticed it.  It’s a subtle war that’s about to heat up substantially over the next few years: the war for talent!

Strategic and organizational factors are what separate successful big-company innovators from the rest of the field.  It’s no secret: innovation is difficult for well-established companies. By and large, they are better executors than innovators, and most succeed less through game-changing creativity than by optimizing their existing businesses.

NBCUniversal’s Hispanic Enterprises and Content announced the appointment of Ana Salas Siegel to General Counsel. 

Pulpo announced that it has promoted Oscar Padilla to Senior Vice President of Marketing, Digital Media & Insights. Padilla was previously the Vice President of Strategy for Entravision’s Luminar Insights, a “big data” analytics and modeling provider uniquely focused on delivering insights on U.S. Latino consumers. Padilla succeeds María Lopez-Knowles, who was recently promoted to Chief Marketing Officer of Entravision.

By Gonzalo López Martí  –  LMMIAMI.COM

• Another year, another award season.
• Last week we saw a cool display of fresh thinking at the USH Idea Awards hosted by Círculo Creativo & AHAA.
• The bar is getting visibly higher.
• Biased as it may sound, it was refreshing too to see how the Hispanic Account Planning Excelencia Awards  (HAPE) and the Hispanic Media Planning Excelencia Awards (HMPE) are steadily gaining traction, attention and mileage (as you might know, HAPE & HMPE are an initiative of this publication).
• A tip of the hat to the Zubi gang for their copious HAPE & HMPE harvest.
• Let’s not forget that Zubi is one of the last staunchly independent full-service agencies left in this ever-consolidating wasteland of an industry.
• It is too a healthy reminder of the fact that this business exceeds the siren songs, smoke & mirrors emanating from the creative department.
• In any case, creative award shows are a necessary & useful professional lab to broaden the psychological and factual horizons of our output as a self-proclaimed pop culture-shaping line of business.

The business of media has changed so much over the past few years that the notion of media agencies being “agents” of advertisers may no longer apply. That’s the message that Irwin Gotlieb, CEO of WPP’s Group M and arguably the dean of the global media industry, delivered to a room full of advertising executives at the ANA’s Financial Management Conference in Phoenix this week.

AT&T has completed its acquisition of companies operating under the name Nextel Mexico from NII Holdings, Inc., including spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores and subscribers in Mexico, for $1.875 billion, less approximately $427 million of net debt and other adjustments.

Call it a mobile majority. At the start of 2015, 39 of the top 50 digital news websites have more traffic to their sites and associated applications coming from mobile devices than from desktop computers, according to Pew Research Center’s analysis of comScore data.