Agency
HMC announces Shortlist for the 2023 HMC Strategic Excellence Aawards
After a record number of entries, 16 US-based agencies representing 27 campaigns in seven categories have made the shortlist of finalists for the Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC) Strategic Excellence Awards, the only award competition of its kind recognizing strategic excellence in Hispanic marketing and advertising and cultural fluency*. Winners will be announced at the HMC 2023 Annual Summit in New York City on April 27.
What is Gen Z?
Generation Z comprises people born between 1996 and 2010. This generation’s identity has been shaped by the digital age, climate anxiety, a shifting financial landscape, and COVID-19.
Cristina Saralegui
Cristina Saralegui’s incredible career as a talk show host, entrepreneur, and advocate for various causes is viewed as one of a champion who broke new ground and revolutionized Hispanic media and the storylines about the Latino community. One could say creating powerful editorial content ran in her veins, as her father was a publishing icon in Havana. However, Cristina’s parents did not initially support her career aspirations. Nonetheless, Cristina pursued a career in communications and creative writing and would eventually become the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan en Español. Under her joint leadership with dear friend, Helen Gurley Brown, the publication became a huge success in the U.S., Latin America and Spain.
Teresa Menéndez
When it didn’t exist, the Latinas we recognize this month often built the infrastructure. Teresa Menéndez was definitely one of them. Teresa started her path in market research via a work study program at Florida State University that helped her fund her education. At that time, the Florida State Legislature had granted monies to FSU to assess the economic impact the influx of Cubans would have on the state. Upon graduation, Teresa was hired by a local research firm, where she managed general consumer research projects for Coca-Cola. While Teresa found that work to be interesting, she was passionate about assignments where she could utilize her knowledge and skill sets in Hispanic research beyond Florida, and she began searching for firms that specialized in the Hispanic consumer audience and with projects that were national in scale. In doing so, she realized there were only two, and in 1980, she founded Menendez International Hispanic Research.
The Hispanic Growth Engine Post Pandemic
A key responsibility of marketers is to identify growth opportunities. It would be easy to overlook the strength of the U.S. Hispanic market if you were not aware of their impressive economic performance before and during the pandemic. The Latino Donor Collaborative published their latest annual report that paints a powerful picture of resilience. It confirms the dominance of Latinos in the growth of the new mainstream economy. By Roberto Orci
U.S. ADVERTISING MARKET REMAINS RESILIENT THANKS TO MEDIA INNOVATION
Vincent Létang, EVP, Global Market Research at MAGNA, and author of the report, said: “In a similar economic climate, ten or twenty years ago, the U.S. advertising market would almost certainly fall off a cliff. Things are different in 2023 because of media innovation fueling marketing demand. The organic drivers that boosted the ad market in 2021 and the first half of 2022 are still around and mitigating the impact of stressful economic signals. Such organic drivers include the rise of retail media networks which are redirecting billions of marketing budgets dollars into advertising formats.
Gisela Girard
With a Bachelor's of Arts and Political Science, and a Master of Arts and Urban Studies, Gisela Girard started as a researcher conducting commercial real estate feasibility studies, and, with her own company, she marketed international properties in the U.S.A., Mexico and Argentina. But in 1999, her strategic mind guided her in a new direction. Along with her husband Al Aguilar (a former founding partner of pioneering giant Sosa, Bromley,Aguilar & Associates), they embarked on a joint entrepreneurial journey and founded Creative Civilization--An Aguilar/Girard Agency.
Carmen Sepúlveda
Carmen Sepúlveda was born a changemaker in the PR and Communications field and is a natural and gifted communicator. For her, driving change is not just a role, it’s a purpose she has delivered on throughout her entire 30+ year career. This is particularly true as it pertains to reaching and including diverse and multicultural communities through PR. She has dedicated her career to advocating for multicultural communities and building bridges between the brands she represents and communities they serve. Additionally, she has championed and helped advance the work of ethnic media to promote a diverse media landscape, not only by ensuring they are included in pitches so they can break the stories for the communities they serve but also by encouraging her clients/employers to support trade organizations, such as the National Association of Hispanic Journalist and National Association of Black Journalists, that nurture and promote ethnic journalists and producers.
Conill named Cultural AOR for Burger King U.S.
Burger King U.S. announced that strategic communications firm ICR and cultural and brand partnership marketing agency Conill have been tapped to join the brand’s growing list of world-class agency partners.
The War on “Woke” and the Future of Multicultural Marketing
In June 2020, The ANA and its diversity initiative, the Alliance for Inclusive & Multicultural Marketing (AIMM), acknowledged the limited progress made in all aspects of DEI. In a letter to its board of directors and members, the organization pledged to do everything it could “to end systemic racism and achieve equality and justice” in the marketing and advertising industries. By David Morse - New American Dimensions
Ingrid Otero-Smart
Ingrid Otero-Smart has become a powerhouse in Hispanic and Multicultural marketing and advertising; one that has nurtured many current and future leaders in our industry. She started her advertising journey at McCann Erickson in her native Puerto Rico, and in 1987, she joined Mendoza Dillon & Asociados. She worked at MD&A for 18 years, leaving as President /COO in 2005 before heading to Anita Santiago Advertising, where she was President until 2008. For the last 15 years, she has served as the President/CEO of Casanova//McCann, where she brought a renewed sense of vitality and creativity to the agency; one that has established a multi-year winning growth trend. In 2020, Ingrid acquired the majority stake in Casanova from IPG, becoming a McCann affiliate and making Casanova a certified female-owned and minority-owned enterprise.
How to Make Retail Brand Campaigns Work Harder in a Tight Market
According to Harvard Business Review, and a lot of anecdotal evidence that we can all point to, companies cut marketing budgets in a recession. Not only that, retail brand budgets can be the first to get slashed as they are the hardest to connect to sales numbers. For the brand budgets that are left, advertisers worry how they can drive any meaningful value if they can't get the reach or impact that they might feel they need.
Ad-Filtering Users, How They Accept Some Advertising and Reward Those Advertisers with Better Recall, Positive Brand Associations [REPORT]
If two assumptions can be made about advertising, consumers are attempting to filter out intrusive ads, while advertisers are striving to capture their attention. These opposing behaviors actually create a better environment for advertisers and media agencies, with notable improvements in recall and positive brand associations, according to new research by MAGNA’s Media Trials unit and the ad-filtering technology company, eyeo, titled, Reaching & Influencing Ad-Filtering Users.
Millie Carrasquillo
Since starting her career, Millie Carrasquillo has been an enthusiastic innovator and driving force in the area of Hispanic consumer research and media measurement. At a time when the required tools and technologies did not exist, Millie was committed to creating methodologies and designing studies to more accurately reflect Hispanic consumer attitudes, behaviors and media consumption to inform our marketing strategies and media investments.
TAJÍN & Bud Light introduce Bud Light Chelada TAJÍN Chile Limón [VIDEO]
Some things are just better together, the perfect pairing. Two of the most beloved brands come together to create the new Bud Light Chelada Tajín Chile Limón.
Jackie Bird
Those that know Jackie Bird know she’s an energy-filled powerhouse and an accomplished professional who has shattered multiple glass ceilings throughout her career. She paved the way for female professionals at Procter & Gamble in Puerto Rico, where she became the first female brand manager on the marketing team. Later, she made history as the first woman to be named President by a global ad agency parent company in Latin America, and also the first female member of the agency's Executive Committee for the region, while working at Grey Advertising.
Isabel Valdés
Isabel Valdés, one of the most renowned In-Culture Marketing™ experts in the nation. With two decades of experience consulting for Fortune 100 and 1000 companies, Isabel is a true business development guru. She’s also a published author public, speaker and trainer
U.S. Soccer Foundation renews partnership with Telemundo
The U.S. Soccer Foundation is extending its partnership with NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises as the official Spanish-language media partner for the second year. The announcement will be shared today at the “Unstoppable Women in Sports: Changing the Game Together” event at Telemundo Center as part of the network’s ongoing celebrations of Women’s History Month under this year’s campaign: “Change the Game” (Cambia el Juego). The renewed partnership spotlights the organizations’ long-standing commitment to encourage Latino girls and boys to live healthy and happy lives through soccer, especially in under-resourced communities.
Although Inflation is Moderating, Food Costs Remain High, and Consumers Continue to Shift At- and Away-from-Home Eating and Spending Behaviors as a Result
Last year, food inflation at retail and foodservice exceeded levels reached during the Great Recession. Even with inflation currently moderating, higher food prices will continue influencing consumers’ spending and eating behaviors this year, reports Circana, formerly IRI and The NPD Group.
Everyone’s Obsessed with AI… But Don’t Forget the Humans
AI is taking over the internet, and what feels like the world lately. While generative AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E continue to grasp consumers' attention, AI has been used for many business applications in digital media and marketing. With 83 percent of companies claiming that AI is a top priority in their business plans, business leaders must not forget the most important part to integrating training and enhancing the output of AI tools: the human element. If business leaders fail to recognize its significance, they run the risk of losing consumer interest.
