Business

Bonafont, drawn from wells in Monterrey, Mexico., announced its arrival in the United States. The first Mexican bottled water to distribute in the U.S., Bonafont will be first introduced throughout the state of Texas with plans to distribute nationwide shortly after.

Steve Levin, veteran Hispanic television professional, lost his battle with cancer last night, Wednesday, February 20st.

He is survived by his wife of 20 years Katheryne and his 3 children: David, Rachel and Andrew.

Descansa en Paz hermano ….. hiciste bien para todos nosotros.

Anheuser-Busch announced that it will be rolling out in May of 2008 a new launch of lime-infused Bud Light . A move seen to compete with Miller Brewing Company’s launch of Miller Chill last year.

Consumers actually love packaging most of the time, they just don’t know it. That’s because when the design is done well, people don’t notice the boundary between the products they adore and the package delivering the goods. Like a referee in a sporting event, the job is considered well done when the package is not a focal point detracting from the “main event”.

Bacardi Corporation announced two significant promotions to its executive leadership team. Angel O. Torres, currently president of Bacardi’s Puerto Rico operations, has been promoted to chairman, while Joaquin Bacardi, currently a senior global brand marketing director, has been named as president and chief executive officer of Bacardi Corporation. Both promotions are effective April 1, 2008.

Hispanics are the country’s fastest-growing ethnic group but have lower penetration rates for multichannel video packages, according to SNL Kagan’s newest study, “Economics of Hispanic TV Radio in the U.S., 2008 Edition.” This report estimates that 71.6% of Hispanic TV households had a multichannel subscription in 2007, compared to 87.6% for the entire U.S., making Hispanics an important target for cable and satellite distributors.

And that was before recent economic concerns.

Drastic marketing budget increases are not likely this year for most marketers worldwide, based on a survey conducted by the CMO Council and sponsored by Deloitte Consulting, Marketo and TechTarget.

Interep’s Sherman Kizart, Senior Vice President/Director of Urban Marketing, played an integral role in arranging an unprecedented meeting recently held between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and members of key ad groups. The historic session focused on the issue of No Urban/No Hispanic Dictates, the first time the FCC has held such a meeting. Kizart arranged the meeting at the behest of FCC Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Robert McDowell.