Multiculturalists or CrossCulturalists talking out of both sides of their mouth.
April 24, 2011
The Hispanic ad agency is doomed according to these new multiculturalists or cross-cultural theorists. They can only do one thing well; target US Hispanics in Spanish the old traditional way, but mainstream ad agencies can do it even better.
Well with that said, Ken Muench a cross-cultural theorist from Draft FCB and proponent of mainstream ad agency prowess in targeting US Hispanic Consumers stated in his blog recently about the GSD&M win of the Jarritos mainstream ad effort, “I’m sure GSD&M’s work was great and the brand will do great (I love their Southwest work). It just seemed like the perfect brand for a young, edgy Hispanic shop to own and break into the Gen Market. It was a perfect situation: an undeniably Latin brand, a US consumer that loves consuming cultural authenticity and discovering the next cool cultural thing…who better to tell that authentic story than Hispanic ad pros?”
Ken, so if it is a Hispanic-only focused account it is OK for us to take them to market to reach non-Hispanics. On the other hand, we are not good enough at our US Hispanic Ad Agencies to take American Brands to market to reach US Hispanics.
What?
He also goes on to mention in this blog and has mentioned in previous blogs, that US Hispanic Ad Agencies are so siloed in targeting US Hispanics in Spanish through traditional media that the skill-set is not what clients are looking for anymore.
David Flynn/Marketing Director at Jarritos is a veteran Hispanic ad agency /marketer and his reasons MUST have been very sound to assign GSD&M the assignment. He uses a Hispanic ad agency to maximize their skill-set, why not use a mainstream ad agency (award winning shop by the way) to maximize his mainstream goals?
‘Voy a David’ on this one.
Basically this is another example of using the Best of the Best to maximize your returns.
Ken, according to you and using your own words, Hispanic ad agencies offer “cultural authenticity and discovering the next cool cultural thing…who better to tell that authentic story than Hispanic ad pros”.
So tell me why they are not qualifies to target to US Hispanic consumers?
Multiculturalists or CrossCulturalists, what happened to Crispin Porter & Bogusky and Burger King account?
There is a real story to be told on how there was a possible disconnect between agency/client/consumer, more to come on this one.
It comes down to skill-set and ‘Insight de la Tribu’. Part of this cannot be taught, but lived.
Gene Bryan
CEO
HispanicAd.com
