Business

This time of year everyone comes out with lists of the biggest trends of the past year or bold predictions for the upcoming one. However, you can often forego bold predictions by paying close attention and adapting to big changes taking place right before our eyes. Using this lens, here are eight seismic changes to the Hispanic market that occurred in 2014, with huge implications for how to engage Hispanics in 2015 and beyond.  By Jose Villa / Sensis

By Gonzalo López Martí / LMMIAMI.COM

• A few weeks back I ranted about the feeling of déjà vu a citizen of 2015 is exposed to when he or she is marketed to.
• Ads.
• You’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.
• The naïve consumer of old is gone for good.
• Those darned consumers are terminally jaded and blasé these days.
• They’ve been marketed to to such an extent, they have been exposed to such colossal amounts of advertising that they simply switched off their fickle attention or trained it elsewhere. 

The internet and cell phones have infiltrated every cranny of American workplaces, and digital technology has transformed vast numbers of American jobs. Work done in the most sophisticated scientific enterprises, entirely new technology businesses, the extensive array of knowledge and media endeavors, the places where crops are grown, the factory floor, and even mom-and-pop stores has been reshaped by new pathways to information and new avenues of selling goods and services. For most office workers now, life on the job means life online.

It is tradition that at the end of the year, writers and industry pundits light up their crystal ball and predict what they think will be the key developments in the industry for the coming year. Crystal-balling has in fact been a tradition since the invention of the almanac, dating back to some time to the middle of the second millennium BCE.
When it comes to marketing and advertising, I recently realized that predicting is actually not very hard at all. And I am going to prove this to you with this post.

Mr. Ramos will lead Doneger in developing global strategic plans, implementing digital and merchandising strategies and continuing to provide the best and most customized service to clients.

Total advertising expenditures increased 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to $33.7 billion, according to data released by Kantar Media, the leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing information. During the first nine months of 2014 ad spending grew 2.2 percent.

The advertising industry can remember 2014 as the year of Madison Avenue’s biggest non-merger–and continued speculation as to what might happen to the sector’s smaller players–a market that was weak for television but booming for digital media and a reminder that technology is upending every aspect of the business.  Courtesy of Wall Street Journal

While a total approach to marketing might seem admirable, and offers the fantasy of economies of scale, in a country divided by so much, an integrated approach, rather than one grounded in cultural differences, hardly seems to fulfill the dream of better connecting with consumers.  Yes, a brand’s essence, its personality and messaging, should be unified and consistent.  But it is also likely to signify different things to different people.  By  David R. Morse – President and CEO / New American Dimensions, LLC

I’ve written before about why I believe the media industry’s future with most brand advertisers will be all about delivering specific business outcomes (leads, sales, etc.), in a predictable, provable and scalable way, not just about delivering a promised basket of media outputs (impressions, GRPs, etc.). The more folks in the business I talk to about this issue, the more certain I am that it will happen.

The creative industry should see more hiring activity in the months ahead, according to new research from The Creative Group. One-third (33 percent) of advertising and marketing executives surveyed said they will expand their creative teams in the first half of 2015, up 21 points from six months ago. Fifty-six percent plan to maintain current staff levels in their organizations, 5 percent project hiring freezes and 6 percent expect to reduce the size of their staff.

“Achieving success requires more than just doing the right thing,” says Geoffrey James, contributing editor and award-winning blogger at Inc.com and author of Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know. “Success also means changing the behaviors that hold you back.”

By Gonzalo López Martí – LMMIAMI.COM

• A few weeks back we elaborated on the revitalized currency & sway “influencers” hold in the current state of marketing.
• Especially when we are talking about resident influencers who really & factually work for the companies they endorse on social & traditional media.
• Namely Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, the Silicon Valley bucaneers.
• Yeah, for some reason California is a hotbed of influencers.
• A peculiar laboratory of idiosyncratic human behavior applied to business.
• Northern and Southern California too.
• Have you read the leaked Sony Pictures emails?

Cisneros Media announced the expansion and re-branding of its state-of-the-art production facility in the heart of Miami, which will now operate under the name of Cisneros Studios.

AP&P Solutions announced the appointment of Mike Cano as President.

The Partnership for a New American Economy released a new report highlighting the important role that both native and foreign-born Hispanics play as consumers, purchasing goods and services that circulate money through the economy and help to grow and sustain businesses.

It’s that time of year again. As we race to the finish line of 2014, we’re also starting to look to what’s next. At JWTIntelligence, our 10 Trends and later 100 Things to Watch have traditionally marked this transition. They’ve become a powerful tool for JWT to communicate its understanding of the future and emerging trends, and a proof point of our expertise.

Nearly every week for the past two years, my colleague Geoff Brash and I have coached people to deliver five-minute pitches. We’ve seen people pitching for money and for customers, for staff and for beta testers. We’ve seen pitches that are persuasive, funny, compelling, vague, wandering, insecure.

The boost that the World Cup was supposed to give Brazilian soccer hasn’t materialized as a sluggish economy and budget shortfalls leave the majority of top division clubs unable to pay salaries.  Courtesy of Bloomberg

2015 will be the year of mobile!Wait, people have said that about every other year? How many years have we been saying that one now — five? Six? Sigh.

Just read an article in the LA Times on how Latino Urbanism is informing how LA is remaking and reinventing itself. This is not only taking place in traditional Latino communities like Boyle Heights and Pacoima but it is also happening alongside many African American communities in South and Southeastern LA. As I read the article I thought about how “Hispanic Marketing 101” historically influenced this dynamic.  By Richard Vasquez / Vasquez & Associates