Agency

Be concerned if you don’t know what bling-bling means. That is a red flag that you are failing to keep up with the new America. The growing number of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians has dramatically shifted the demographic and the cultural makeup of the United States population, and the once Caucasian majority called the American mainstream is being outpaced by the multiethnic, multicolored “new mainstream”.

A new report, released by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) Marketing Accountability Task Force, found that marketing accountability requires a precise process involving multi-functional teams, yet only a small proportion of marketers are utilizing them. “Marketing accountability is still often an activity trapped within the silo of the marketing function,” reads the report.

VRTC COM, the US branch of the Mexican communication and advertising agency Vértice Comunicación, officially opened its doors for business in January, 2007. Its central offices, located in Los Angeles, CA, will work towards growing the Hispanic market in the US.

The African American and U.S. Hispanic populations are growing at a faster rate than the general market, making multicultural consumers increasingly important for most packaged products companies. Coors Brewing Company is rolling out its 2007 multicultural marketing strategy which builds on positioning Coors Light as the beer as cold and refreshing as the Rocky Mountains.

More than three-fourths of executives who responded to a McKinsey survey say they plan to maintain or increase their investments in technology trends that encourage user collaboration, such as peer-to-peer networking, social networks, and Web services.

After years of spotlighting its expert associates and the in-store experience, The Home Depot is turning around its advertising lens to focus on consumers and their amazing home improvement stories. Focusing on the unique Latino experience, the home improvement retailer unveiled its Hispanic customer-centric branding campaign on March 26, with the ad “My Favorite Corner”.

GMAC Mortgage, LLC and the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) at the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California, have announced the results of a comprehensive survey conducted by GMAC Mortgage on home ownership among 4,000 Latinos in the United States. The survey revealed that Latinos hold substantial power when
it comes to the United States housing market.

Although the vast majority of North American consumer goods makers have restructured their sales forces since 2002, few raised their market share and cut their costs. Yet a handful of winners did. A McKinsey survey found that they focus more resources on fewer key customers and populate their key-account teams not only with salespeople but also with experts in category management, marketing, finance, and supply chains.