Agency

Microsoft Xbox360 “Jumps In” to the Hispanic market with a branding campaign to help launch the highly anticipated Xbox360 console. Casanova Pendrill, Microsoft’s Xbox360 Hispanic agency of record, developed the campaign.

More women executives hold seats on the boards of U.S. service firms in 2005 than in the previous five years, but their numbers have declined over 2004 in manufacturing and financial services, according to The Conference Board’s latest study on directors’ compensation and board practices.

Planeta Networks (www.planetatv.com) and Batanga (www.batanga.com) announced a merger in an all-stock transaction effective immediately.

Mediamark Research Inc. has released to its clients data from the company’s first-ever survey of American children ages 6-11, highlighting their magazine readership, multimedia and product usage, lifestyles and thoughts and feelings.

The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) announced that Hispanic television and print advertising spending in 2004 grew 4.7 percent from 2003. The findings were the result of the 2004 Hispanic Media Spend study commissioned by AHAA’s Hispanic Advertising Agencies Foundation, Inc. (HAAF) with data from TNS Media Intelligence and Market Development.

For soccer fanatics, the sport is more than just a game, it is a way of life. For many Hispanic families, soccer — or futbol, as it’s known to the rest of the world — is the popular pastime.

McDonald’s is celebrating the national launch of the McDonald’s Arch Card, a reloadable convenience card that doubles as the perfect holiday gift or personal spending card, by giving $22 million to consumers nationwide. The giveaway will take flight November 29, as McDonald’s takes to the skies giving away 5 million $1 Arch Cards to Southwest Airlines customers at 61 airports nationwide from November 29 through December 13, and onboard flights from December 14 through December 28.

The Coca-Cola Company and FIFA announced a renewed, elite sponsorship agreement and unveiled details of the first global “FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola,” which will include a visit to Los Angeles, California on February 20, 2006.

Consumer Electronics are among the most-wanted items for holiday gifts this season, according to a national survey commissioned by Circuit City.

The Official Guide 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ will be published by Landucci Publishers and circulated through a major distributor in the United States.

On July 11, 2004, Rajinder Singh Khalsa, an Indian Sikh man, was accosted by a group of men as he stood in front of his brother’s restaurant wearing a turban. “Give me that dirty curtain,” one of the men said. “It’s not a curtain,” Khalsa said. “It’s a turban.” “Go back to your country,” another man shot back. Khalsa said: “But we are American, where should we go?”

This working paper examines people who reported more than one origin in response to the Census 2000 question on Hispanic origin. The demographic characteristics, as well as the geographic distribution, of this population is analyzed. Particular attention is paid to people who reported non-Hispanic and at least one Hispanic origin.

‘Americans now rate “Honesty” as their top personal value, surpassing “Protecting the Family,” according to GfK NOP’s 2005 Roper Reports Worldwide® Study. The study found that 79% of Americans say honesty is an extremely/very important value to them, a 10% increase since 2000.

GfK NOP announced results from its annual Roper Reports® Holiday Shopping Outlook, finding almost half (45%) of Americans expecting to spend less this season compared to 2004, and only 8% of consumers saying they will spend more.

More consumers will be leaving their credit cards at home as they hit the stores for holiday shopping, according to the NRF 2005 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch. While debit/check cards (34.3%) will remain the favored form of payment this holiday season, fewer people will be relying on credit cards when purchasing holiday merchandise (28.2% vs. 29.5% in 2004).

Far more consumers say they will cut back holiday spending this year, rather than increase spending, and a key reason is the cost of gasoline and home heating, according to the results of the sixth annual holiday spending survey commissioned by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).