Agency

Hispanics are transforming the nation’s religious landscape, especially the Catholic Church, not only because of their growing numbers but also because they are practicing a distinctive form of Christianity.

Religious expressions associated with the pentecostal and charismatic movements are a key attribute of worship for Hispanics in all the major religious traditions — far more so than among non-Latinos. Moreover, the growth of the Hispanic population is leading to the emergence of Latino-oriented churches across the country.

If you want to understand what the future of marketing could look like and how to be successful at it, I have found the book for you. It is PryoMarketing by Greg Stielstra. I was fortunate to be speaking at the Mountain Travel Symposium last week — the end-of-year get-together for the ski and mountain travel industry — and got to hear him speak. It was the first time that I have heard someone truly make sense of what is behind social or word-of- mouth marketing, and present a very practical approach to making these techniques work in the field. It was refreshing to hear this.

CVS/Pharmacy has assigned Hispanic AOR responsibilities to Conill Advertising. The finalists were AccentMarketing, Conill, The Bravo Group and Dieste Harmel & Partners.

Abece, which handled the account previously was not a finalists.

Advertising spending for the Automotive Industry in 2006 declined 1% to $13.5 billion, with gains in seen in Spot TV (4%), Network TV (3%), and Spot Radio (8%), according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the global advertising information service of The Nielsen Company. Nearly 80% ($10.5 billion) of automotive advertising in 2006 was placed on television and 11% ($1.45 billion) was spent in national magazines.

Budgets in Local Newspapers were cut 41% ($243 million); National Magazines lost 10% of automotive advertising, accounting for $165 million; and Cable TV advertising dropped 9% ($151.4 million). These declines contributed to an overall reduction in ad spending of $197 million.

MySpace, a lifestyle portal, announced the launch of a new Spanish-language version for U.S. based Hispanics. MySpace also revealed a new pan-regional site in Spanish for Latin American residents as well as further development plans for localized communities in Mexico and Brazil.

Last week during the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agency conference in Chicago, the finalist of the CVS/Pharmacy contenders of the Hispanic AOR assignment presented their final programs to earn the assignment.

Contenders AccentMarketing, Conill, The Bravo Group and Dieste Harmel & Partners await the decision.

Abece, which handled the account previously was not a finalists.