Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies forms Online Measurement Task Force.

José López-Varela, chairman of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA), recently tapped several of the organization’s members to lead an initiative designed to unify agencies, research companies and online publishers and deliver more precise Hispanic market online data. Members of the newly formed AHAA Online Measurement Task Force met for the first time in New York, NY in November to discuss the issues and next steps.

With approximately 52 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population online – more than 23 million Latinos – Hispanic-specialized marketing agencies didn’t feel like they could waste any time in addressing the need for accurate research data. “Online is a critical component of many Hispanic-targeted campaigns,” says López-Varela, “and our clients depend on our ability to deliver accurate measurement of the efficacy of those campaigns. We have a commitment to advertisers to deliver results and a return on their investment. Ensuring that online research methodology, and the sampling and definition of Hispanics online are accurate is paramount to AHAA agencies.”

AHAA is engaged in the ongoing movement against Arbitron’s Portable People Meter. López-Varela appointed a similar task force to voice the concerns of agencies regarding the PPM’s Hispanic sample accuracy. “Effective, efficient and accurate data is the goal of any measurement tool,” he says. “We want to initiate discussions with online stakeholders to ensure everyone’s issues and concerns are addressed as tools are developed.” Based on initial conversations with members of the new AHAA Online Measurement Task Force, López-Varela says he is encouraged that consensus and cooperation will prevail and will benefit the entire industry.

Members of the AHAA Online Measurement Task Force include: Marla Skiko, SVP, director of digital innovation at SMG Multicultural; Alberto Ferrer, managing partner, the Vidal Partnership; Anne Howard, group account director interactive marketing, Lopez Negrete Communications; and Matias Perel, chief executive officer, Latin3. Skiko will head the task force and Perel, also a member of the AHAA board of directors, will serve as board liaison. The group will meet with all of the stakeholders and key players regarding online measurement of the Hispanic population and make a recommendation to the AHAA board of directors in April.

“Ideally, we would like to replicate the experience the Hispanic marketing industry enjoyed with Nielsen and the evolution of television measurement from Nielsen Hispanic-American Television Index (NHTI) to Nielsen Television Index (NTI),” López-Varela says. “The transition certainly wasn’t without its bumps, but Nielsen representatives welcomed suggestions for improvement from AHAA agencies, and dialogued with members of our AHAA NTI Task Force to make certain the methodology and instrument were sound. Nielsen was responsive to the needs of our community and recognized the need for quality sampling – the validity of the mechanics to deliver accurate viewer data. We are anticipating much the same outcome with online measurement.”

AHAA will continue to take an aggressive position to ensure precise research measurement across the board, according to López-Varela because the success of advertisers depends on it.