Ad Agency

Only pursue pitches that are worth your time.  By Mark Duval – The Duval Partnership

Have advertisers (and their creative agencies) run out of ideas for improving their relationships?

alma announced that Marriott International has appointed them as its social media agency of record for the Caribbean and Latin American region (CALA) following a competitive pitch.

Have you felt that everyone around you is getting angrier and that the news is getting worse? Caroline McCarthy says you can blame the advertising industry. Learn more about how advertising is fueling the battle for our attention and feeding the current dysfunction in media.

The Culture Marketing Council: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing (CMC) announced its 2019 Hispanic Market Guide, the most comprehensive resource on the U.S. Hispanic market, is now available to download.

Hiring an advertising agency is an art. No matter how scientific one is during a search process, there is always a significant degree of subjectivity associated with it. This is especially true when hiring a segment agency, where one may not be a subject matter expert.  By Isaac Mizrahi – Co-President of ALMA

Strategy consultants find and implement pathways for “sustainably improved performance” for their clients. I’ve worked with agencies and brands to navigate the correct pathways for improved performance for the past 30 years. And when you work in many similar situations over several years, you perceive the broad patterns that affect all players.

Horizon Media announced that it has hired Sandra Alfaro as EVP Managing Partner of 305 Worldwide, effective immediately. Alfaro joins the Horizon team to lead 305 Worldwide, Horizon’s recently launched full-service multicultural agency with Armando Christian Pérez, aka Pitbull, the GRAMMY© Award-winning artist, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and education advocate, as its Chief Creative Officer.

The Ibero-American Creativity & Strategy Festival (FICE) has named Richards/Lerma its 2019 Independent Agency of the Year in the USA Hispanic and Multicultural category. The recognition celebrates Richards / Lerma’s work creating disruptive and impactful content for a diverse, multicultural America.

Being a two-way feedback exchange between a committed client and an active agency, the agency evaluation process could be better described as a relationship evaluation. And while much has been written about agency evaluations from the client’s perspective, there’s been little coverage of the agency’s side and its specific practices and behaviors.

Amscot Financial reveald its 6th Spanish-bilingual campaign geared toward a critically important consumer segment across core Florida markets. The new, original campaign highlights convenient financial services available to a wide range of consumers from new arrivals resettling in Florida, to entrepreneurially spirited, first-generation families and career-building millennials.

The 4A’s and The 614 Group released “The Future of Programmatic and Automation,” a report that reveals that full automation is the future of programmatic advertising and data-driven marketing.

Deezer, the music streaming service is introducing a brand new campaign targeting Latinos with the debut of “together we make magic.”

Equal business stature is a straightforward concept. It’s important because deals often don’t get closed without it. People do business with those they respect, those they trust and view as credible, and who they see as their peers. If you are viewed as less capable or less professional, why would someone trust you with their business?  by Mark Duval – The Duval Partnership

Conill announced that advertising creative Gustavo Sarkis will join the agency as its Executive Creative Director effective November 20. In this new role, Mr. Sarkis will lead all Conill creative teams and client campaigns across its offices in Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami.

There tends to be a cyclical movement regarding where an agency optimization function sits within an organization, but it usually resides in either the marketing or procurement group. Regardless of where the program sits within an organization, the idea around optimizing the agency partnership has evolved from a focus on process efficiencies and cost savings to real opportunities for marketing procurement and marketing operations to partner with brand marketers to create additional value for executive stakeholders and the business at large.

Growing up in Puerto Rico, Ingrid Otero-Smart was so introverted she rarely spoke in school.  Yet as President and CEO of Casanova McCann, Otero-Smart runs one of the largest multicultural advertising shops in the country. The firm works with blue-chip clients including Nestlé, U.S. Army and the California Lottery. This year, it was the most-awarded U.S. Hispanic agency at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the second year in a row Casanova earned that recognition.  By Court Stroud

As promised, I’m drilling down further on the positioning of the “full service”-classified agencies from Adweek’s list of the 100 Fastest-Growing Agencies.  By Mark Duval – The Duval Partnership

Republica Havas announced the appointment of Jason Wolske and Danny Alvarez as the agency’s Executive Creative Directors, effective immediately. Based out of Republica Havas’ Miami headquarters, Wolske and Alvarez will report to Luis Casamayor, Co-Founder, President and Chief Creative Officer. In the newly created roles, they will lead the agency’s creative team across a roster of major clients.

When it comes to agency new business, agency leadership is confident on one point: “just get me in the room,” they say—as if that alone is the golden ticket. Based on experience, that is most definitely not enough. But why? One reason is that people often don’t have the skills to close effectively. Another is that they are approaching the interaction with the wrong mindset. And another is that they’ve failed to do their preparatory homework.  By Mark Duval / Duval Partnership