AHAA continues Membership Expansion and Thought Leadership Initiatives.

Nearly 18 months ago, AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing announced a strategic shift to expand beyond Hispanic advertising agencies and advocate for all marketing, communications and media firms with trusted Hispanic expertise. Since then, membership has increased by more than 15 percent and AHAA’s Annual Conference has proven to be its most successful yet, with a prominent list of C-suite leaders and industry experts and record-high attendance. In addition, AHAA continues providing the most compelling research as part of its thought leadership platform that helps define best practices in Hispanic marketing and identify the best opportunities for corporate investment and growth.

With new members such as ESPN Deportes, MEC Bravo and Fox Hispanic Media, AHAA’s new members go beyond Hispanic advertising agencies to include media houses, direct marketing and digital firms and production companies. The April 2013 Conference included content reflective of this diverse membership, with keynote speeches by the marketing industry’s elite, including WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell, Draftfcb CEO Laurence Boschetto, Mark Tutssel, Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide, Adam Ostrow, Chief Strategy Officer of Mashable, and Oscar Suris, EVP of Corporate Communications for Wells Fargo, among others.

In this time of a growing Hispanic demographic, corporate focus on ROI, and an increasingly competitive market, Thought Leadership is vital for Hispanic marketers to succeed. Through a series of research studies, webinars and strategic partnerships with the best market research companies, AHAA is leading the charge to help educate marketers on the increased need to segment properly for higher ROI and not treat the vast Hispanic market as a “one size fits all.”

To that end, AHAA recently partnered with AARP and Nielsen to put forth two research briefs dissecting the consumer buying patterns and behaviors of Latino generational segments and exploring the nuances of the affluent Latino, respectively. This fall, AHAA will take on the polemic topic of total market with new research supporting the best strategic approach to ensure deep multicultural engagement and culturally relevant positioning within the marketing mix. And, later this year, AHAA will issue its Annual Budget Alignment report, which details levels and categories of corporate investment in the Hispanic marketing space.

“We are confident in the direction our organization is headed, particularly as I step down as chair and Aldo Quevedo, Principal and Creative Director of Richards/Lerma, takes over as the first creative to serve as chair of AHAA’s board,” said Roberto Orci, Chair of AHAA and CEO of Acento Advertising. “Marketers are faced with new challenges and need to take greater measures to understand the differences among Hispanics – we are here to provide that insight, advocate for trusted Hispanic experts and increase corporate investment and support in the multicultural space.”

For more information at http://ahaa.org>