Agency

The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) will host its 23rd Semi-Annual Conference October 31-November 2, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in New York. While it may seem a little spooky for the industry’s association to take this new, some might say terrifying, twist on the age-old question, “Is advertising dying?,” association leaders, conference organizers and Latino agencies are impassioned about the answer.

Laura Marella has resigned from her position as S.V.P. /Chief Growth Officer of Costa Mesa-based Casanova Pendrill. She has also resigned from her Board seat at the Association of HIspanic Advertising Agencies.

Ms. Marella has enjoyed a distinguished career in the US Hispanic market advertising Industry,. Her contributions to her agency and our Industry will continue to have a positive impact on our future.

Her future endeavors will allow her to contribute in the non-profit area providing help Hispanics take advantage of educational opportunities.

The Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) unveils the findings of its 2007 Corporate Governance Study. The study measures Hispanic inclusion on the boards of Fortune 500 companies.

The top 100 U.S. advertisers last year increased ad spending by a modest 3.1% to a record $104.8 billion. But most of that growth came from “unmeasured” disciplines. In a troubling sign for traditional media, the marketing leaders increased measured media spending by just 0.6%, the smallest gain since the 2001 recession. Media measured by ad-tracking services — such as TV, print and some forms of internet advertising — accounted for 58.2% of these top marketers’ U.S. ad spending, down from 59.6% in 2005, according to Advertising Age’s 52nd annual 100 Leading National Advertisers report. By Bradley Johnson / Advertising Age.

Hector and Norma Orcí, Co-founders of La Agencia de Orcí & Asociados, have been selected by the New America Alliance (NAA) to receive The H. Frank Dominguez Philanthropists of the Year Award. The couple is being honored for their extensive work towards the advancement of the American Latino community, which includes their work with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Camino Nuevo Charter Schools and the New Roads Charter School.

Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group (UIG) announced the merger of Latin Force LLC, a Hispanic marketing strategy firm, with Geoscape International Inc., the leading multicultural consumer intelligence and data analytics company.

In a move symbolic of the mainstreaming of the U.S. Hispanic population, Nielsen late last week announced plans for integrating and reporting Hispanic households and individuals as part of a single, general market view of the U.S. television marketplace.

Industry insiders state that the move is firmly based on finding overall accounting efficiencies in reduction of fees paid for the buying media, not advantageous CPMs, rates, marketing & media strategy performance or ROI.

This is an alarming trend that Hispanic Agencies are challenged by, when their efforts and results are not enough to offset the accounting process when an advertiser is more interested in saving fees than increasing market share.

The Heineken buying at The Vidal Partnership was the last element of Hispanic buying that MediaVest did not handle for Heineken, last year the Tecate brand handled by Los Angeles-based Grupo Gallegos was consolidated.

Can these large media buying units deliver the same Hispanic market know-how & skills, media relationships & partnerships and improve on impressive local, regional and national Hispanic ROI?

At the end of the day … Performance must be the metric. Time will tell.