Fernandez – Executive Director of Planning @ Dieste Harmel & Partners.

Aldo Quevedo, president, Dieste Harmel & Partners, announced the appointment of Rocio Fernandez as executive director of planning.

For many agencies working in the Hispanic market, planning has focused on quantifying the opportunity in order to justify investment in the market. Although investment has grown substantially, a disconnect exists between brands and Hispanic consumers-in fact, 79 percent of Hispanics indicate that they do not identify with any one brand. Recognizing a need to help brands further understand the Latino consumer and learn how to build authentic relationships with them, Dieste turned to Fernandez.

“Rocio’s thought leadership about the evolution of the Hispanic market and the way consumers relate to brands questions and challenges conventional approaches and perceptions, with the goal of delivering great work for clients,” said Quevedo.

“Our market is changing, but often we are afraid to truly connect with people and make that connection ‘real.’ Too often we speak about the market and the Hispanic consumer in abstract and generic terms,” said Fernandez. “To overcome this abstraction, I suggest that we eliminate three overused phrases in Hispanic marketing: ‘over-index,’ ‘U.S. Hispanic consumer’ and ‘Latino insight.’ I propose that in their places we substitute ‘relationships,’ ‘people’ and ‘Latino strategy.’ That is the type of thinking I intend to generate on behalf of our clients and their customers.”

Prior to joining Dieste, Fernandez was vice president and strategic planning director with CASANOVA PENDRILL (IPG) in Costa Mesa, California, where she introduced planning as a formal discipline in the agency’s daily processes. Drawing on her formal education in sociology and political science, Fernandez developed for the agency a set of tools that helped elevate strategic standards to the same level as the best general-market agencies. From 1999 to 2004, Fernandez also served as vice president and strategic planning director for DDB Mexico. In addition to leading the effort to win such accounts as Aero México, Gatorade and PepsiCo, Fernandez was named by DDB Worldwide as one of 15 permanent DDB University “Wizards” and Springboard Leaders. She has also held research and strategic planning roles with J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather in Mexico as well as GIC Consulting in Spain.

“I consider DDB my professional alma mater and believe it is no coincidence that both Dieste Harmel and DDB are part of the Omnicom family, as they have so much in common,” added Fernandez. “I see many similarities in the priority both agencies place on outstanding creativity as the objective for strategic planning.”

One of Fernandez’ priorities will be to codify, as well as add freshness to, the planning process for Dieste Harmel. With a young, energetic team not afraid to ask questions, Fernandez believes the agency can help clients get closer to consumers in a changing world. “As reflected in many commercials today, there is a sense that some of the stereotypes we have about the Hispanic market are now morphing into an idealized version of a ‘bicultural Latino.’ I am here to help clients move beyond a monolithic, neutral and professional view of this market to one in which they not only ‘walk in their customers’ shoes’ but also ‘live their customers’ experiences.’ My job is to instill in our team that we won’t think in terms of a generalized ‘Hispanic consumer’ but rather about individual people.”