Agency

Anita Santiago Advertising (ASA) announced that it has been appointed Hispanic Advertising Agency of Record by Compass Bank, providing several advertising campaigns for the bank’s Hispanic outreach initiatives in the seven states included in Compass’ footprint.

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.

The National Retail Federation released its 2008 economic forecast today, predicting that retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) will increase 3.5 percent from last year according to its quarterly Retail Sales Outlook reportue before picking up in the second half of the year.

Creative agency SCPF was assigned to develop an image campaign targeting Hispanic Americans for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami, one of the largest affiliate chapters of the national youth mentoring organization.

Jose Cuervo has partnered with three-time World Cup participant Alberto Garcia Aspe to launch a groundbreaking campaign boasting Mexican pride. The campaign underscores the Cuervo Tradicional brand’s long-standing commitment as an official sponsor of the Mexican National Soccer Team here in the United States, and concentrates on soccer to deliver a social responsibility message to the multi-generational Mexican consumer.

After an agency search which included eight top Hispanic ad agencies, Time Warner Cable selected alPunto Advertising of Tustin, CA as Hispanic agency in Souther California. The assignment includes strategic planning, creative development, media planning and buying, interactive and promotions for Branding and DR programs.

Companies are reacting quickly to any changes in the economy or negative signals from the stock market. They’re canceling projects that were “full speed ahead” only a few months ago. Companies may get rid of entire departments, axing good performers along with bad. Or, departments across the company may be asked to cut staff by a certain percentage.

When I joined Ogilvy & Mather as a freshly-minted MBA way back in the disco era, a key maxim addressed to our clients was “increase spending during tough times to grow market share.” Good advice, actually. And often effective. However, it’s not very practical for most clients — particularly publicly traded ones.

Sources in the Industry have confirmed that the talks between Batanga and HispanoClick have moved ahead and that the acquisition will close in the next two weeks.

The American Association of Advertising Agencies, the American Advertising Federation and the Association of National Advertisers along with other key advertising executives, met with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to discuss how to better implement FCC rules that prohibit advertisers from adopting policies against advertising on Urban or Hispanic radio stations.