L-Avenue & Rumbo Newspaper up for an award.

The 2007 International Newspaper Marketing Association (INMA) Awards competition has selected L-Avenue as a finalist in the Outdoor/Point-of-Purchase/Display Category Category for their creative campaign for client Rumbo.

The San Antonio-based, Hispanic advertising agency is one of only two finalists in this category. A total of 131 finalists for were chosen in different categories from approximately 1,000 entries in 34 countries. INMA annually recognizes excellence in newspaper marketing and the competition provides a showcase for the best efforts of professionals in all disciplines of this area.

“Just being selected a finalist is a great honor,” said Carlos Jaramillo, director of L-Avenue. “It’s a testament to the hard work and dedication our creative team has put into developing a campaign that truly connects with the Rumbo reader.”

The creative transforms the actual Rumbo newspaper into a movie ticket, a “soccer” ball (a player is catching the newspaper), and a paper roof to promote the different feature sections published different days of the week: Sports on Monday, Family matters on Wednesday and Entertainment on Friday. The Spanish-language copy ties it all together with sentences that translate into: “Your ticket to this weekend’s events, on Friday” or “Catch Sports’ News on Monday.”

L-Avenue describes their creative attitude as a ‘refreshing approach that leads the way in developing communications that speak to today’s Latinos.’ This well-established direction is one of the reasons why the agency is rapidly differentiating itself among U.S. Hispanic shops. L-Avenue’s “DriveWay™,” builds a strategic platform that guides the creative, which in turn makes a positive impact or improvement in the consumer’s everyday life.

The outdoor campaign uses smart lines such as “Adiós mi Cuate” which means “Good-bye my Friend” next to a picture of a young man with polishing mitts on, hugging his car. The closing tag line above the Rumbo Classifieds prominent logo reads: “You’ll sell your car, because your car will sell.” The supporting :30 second radio spot tells the story of a woman who wakes up her boss in the middle of the night to tell him that she quits and that she’s going to find a better job by using Rumbo Classifieds. “By the way I’m also selling my house, my dog, my cat, and my guitar…to buy better ones,” the woman adds.