Agency

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc./LMMiami.com

• A few years back, a senior marketing executive employed by a very large soft drinks company asked me what I would do with their flagship brand of sugary carbonated liquid, which was starting to confront strong public opinion headwinds as one of the main culprits of the growing epidemic of obesity, tooth decay, diabetes and so on and so forth.
• An unfair accusation if you ask me but a problem for the company nevertheless.
• To be sure, it could be argued that the volume-based nature of the soft drinks industry is partly to blame.
• Still, nobody forces people to chug down the thing.
• Anyhoo.

Media is a powerful tool—one that shapes our world. It can be used to help people, by raising awareness, entertaining or educating us, sparking debates and breaking down stereotypes. But it can also be used in harmful ways, be it by creating confusion with false information, reinforcing stereotypes or simply excluding groups from even appearing on the screen itself.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be completing my tenure as the CMC Chairman of the Board, and after two exciting and productive years, I’ll be passing the baton to my colleague Gonzalo del Fa. It’s only fitting to look back as well as ahead, and reflect on the state of our industry and the future of our organization.  by Isaac Mizrahi – Co=President of ALMA / Chairman of the Culture Marketing Council

Voices are only impactful based on the relevancy of their messages. PR practitioners are charged with crafting messages that drive impact within organizations. It is communications professionals who can ensure that messages are anchored on a voice from a diverse perspective, ensuring the message is relevant and considers insights from the intended audience. D&I needs to go beyond ensuring that the workforce is representative of different cultures and perspectives by addressing how an organization is communicating relevant messages to those audiences. PR has the power to drive the biggest impact to an organizations’ D&I efforts.  By Andy Checo – President of the Hispanic Public Relations Association & VP Havas FORMULATIN

L’ATTITUDE and Wells Fargo announce a strategic collaboration to elevate the U.S. New Mainstream Economy driven by Latino entrepreneurs, consumers and workers.

When it comes to transformational technologies, the irony that unites them all is how they’re routinely hyped before proven, applied, or even understood among CMOs and marketers. By the time they change the world, people barely notice and are well onto shinier objects. Technological innovations morph and rebrand as they spread throughout society and the business sector. The information superhighway, grid computing, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) are just a few examples.

I’ve wanted to do a post about trends in agency positioning ever since I wrote about agency taglines. What I expected to find was a significant overlap in the key terms and positioning statements across agencies. When I circled back to write it up, however, that wasn’t the case as much as I’d expected. The reason, I suspect, is that I selected some of the top-ranked agencies for this exercise. Were I to revisit this topic with a larger group of agencies, including small to midsize agencies that are not necessarily in the “top 100,” I think I’d find a huge amount of redundancy in positioning statements.  by Mark Duval – The Duval Partnership

A year following Hurricane Maria, both the population and poverty rate declined in Puerto Rico.

Median household income for the United States and 14 states increased significantly in 2018 from the previous year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.  The 2018 American Community Survey (ACS) shows that median household income rose between 2017 and 2018 for 10 of the 25 most populous metropolitan areas.

Brands are realizing they can’t thrive by personalizing only a few customer experiences. Because the brand relationship with the customer changes every day, every hour, with every experience, the investments in occasional outreach are better spent on a process that continuously learns about customers. With that kind of process at hand, chief experience officers and digital leaders are coming to see their ability to drive hyper-personalization is finally within their grasp. 

Anllelic Lozada is an Integrated Account Executive at Grupo LMH in Puerto Rico.

As the recession fades into the past, Hispanic income has been rising. However, it remains well below the average for total US households. For our latest report on the Hispanic cohort in America, we took a look at their attitudes on finances, finding that they are less upbeat than US consumers in general about their current economic situation. But a sense of upward mobility is an important part of their outlook.

TurboTax announced it is be celebrating the U.S. Hispanic community and entrepreneurs with the launch of #LatinxCulturepreneurs.  The Hispanic Heritage Month digital campaign highlights Latinx entrepreneurs who have built businesses rooted in their Latinx heritage.  #LatinxCulturepreneurs strives to inspire and support future culturepreneurs by highlighting the journey and advice of a four extremely passionate and talented individuals.

What do you as a brand want from me, as a customer? Simply, you want me to change the way I behave in such a way that my actions help drive your business success. But how best to do that?  by Philip Collier – Global Director of Innovation / Kantar

Media rebates are the top issue contributing to the breakdown of trust in the advertising ecosystem, according to a new survey from ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and its outside counsel, Reed Smith.

Over 32,000 respondents from the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) communities in 130 countries participated in CMI’s 13th annual survey. 200+ LGBTQ media, events and organizations worldwide partnered with CMI in this year’s study, helping to present diverse, representative data from across the community. This survey was fielded in English, Spanish, French and Hungarian languages.

As more unmarried couples opted to live together, their profile changed significantly, according to a new study from the U.S. Census Bureau: “Cohabitation over the Last 20 Years: Measuring and Understanding the Changing Demographics of Unmarried Partners, 1996-2017.”

The Hispanic Public Relations Association, Los Angeles Chapter (HPRA-LA) honored three Latinas who are leveraging their influence to uplift the Latino community at its annual scholarship program at the Conga Room at LA Live on Thursday, Sept. 12.

While many automotive manufacturers are abandoning sedans in favor of crossovers, SUVs and pickups, not all U.S. consumers are following suit at the same pace, according to new analysis from business information provider IHS Markit.

In many companies, once the annual marketing budget has been submitted and approved, it is often set in stone, with little opportunity for incremental funding over the course of the fiscal year. Moreover, many organizations employ a line-item accountability approach to budget management, which limits flexibility for shifting dollars from one initiative or one market to another.