For Alex López Negrete, It All Started With Radio

For more than four decades, Alex López Negrete, Co-Founder and CEO of López Negrete Communications, has been a driving force in multicultural marketing. He is also a passionate advocate for the power of radio.

From his days as a sales rep for McGavren Guild Radio to serving as an on-air commentator for the Houston Rockets – while simultaneously running his own agency – López Negrete has long had a strong connection to local radio. For May’s Radio Ink Magazine, we spoke with him about his career in radio and advertising, exploring themes of culture, community, and the importance of forging true connections among brands, people, and local media.

Radio Ink: Lopez Negrete Communications’ mission is “Maximum Return on Cultural Intelligence.” What is cultural intelligence? 

López Negrete: It’s understanding your target market and being able to activate it with actionable insights, and activating those insights in a creative way and in a way that actually generates results for your clients.

There is a return on investment, but we believe that activating cultural insights delivers maximum return on cultural intelligence. It’s about knowing your customer and understanding the insights that will drive them to action and ultimately benefit the business.

That’s what we mean. If you bank on cultural intelligence, if you bank on the insights that drive the business, you will deliver an improved ROI. It’s not just about reaching people, it’s about really connecting with them.

In our case, it’s the Latino consumer.