Ad Agency

VS/Brooks Advertising Co-CEOs and Co-Founders Diana Brooks and Vivian Santos announced that Monica Agurto has joined the agency as senior media buyer.

Anomaly Los Angeles announced the additions of two new Executive Creative Directors & Partners – Paco Conde & Beto Fernandez. 

It’s no secret that advertisers are increasingly demanding more transparency from their agencies, ad-tech vendors, publishers, and other partners. In recent weeks, we’ve seen Google and Facebook take steps to address concerns over the way measurement is handled on their platforms: Google’s YouTube and Facebook are undergoing audits by the Media Rating Council (MRC).

Lopez Negrete Communications, Inc. walked away with 21 American Advertising Federation – Houston Chapter awards, including a “Best in Show” in the Broadcast category. This marks the 14th consecutive year that the agency has earned “Best in Show” honors.

According to The Walls Street Journal, The recent split between Honda Motor Co.’s U.S. unit and its media agency serves as the latest example of a breakdown in trust between a client and its agency.

Republica announced the appointment of Melissa Bartolini as head of strategy, and Fredda Rodriguez as director of channel strategy, new executive positions that aim to reinforce the agency’s brand strategy, media, and analytics practices.

Move over Millennials, it’s time to start discovering the next demographic headed our way: Generación Zeta.  The topic of what drives Latino teens – one of the hottest demographics that brands need to gear up for – is the focus of a groundbreaking survey completed by Alma, which was presented this week at SXSW Interactive.

Denny’s Corporation announced that it has selected Publicis Groupe’s Conill as its Hispanic advertising agency of record. The California-based agency will handle strategy, creative development, social media and digital communications targeting Hispanic audiences at both the local and national level.

HAVANA: Although the US trade embargo on Cuba still exists, a new report from Kantar Millward Brown advises international brands to take a serious look at the opportunities the country presents.

Republica received seven American Advertising Federation Miami ADDY Awards for its creative work for Segura Viudas Cava, Sedano’s Supermarkets and Amigos For Kids.

Walker Advertising announced he addition of Adriana Lynch as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Andy Rogers as Vice President of Sales & Business Development to its senior management team.

The island of Puerto Rico as many of our readers know is a territory of the United States governed by United States Federal Law.  It also considered a major US Hispanic Market, but since it resides on an island many place it under the international division.  But it has turned into a petri dish for many of this century’s testing: birth control, mass sterilization, agent orange and more up to the ad industry’s test of transparency.

Marketing executive Charlene Dance, with over 15 years of expertise spanning various industries including beauty and public health, announced her official departure from Strength of Nature Global LLC as its Global Marketing Director to step into a new role as President & CEO of The Montage Agency.

PACO Collective (PACO) announced that Flawless Beauty, LLC (Flawless), the new haircare line co-owned by Hollywood actress Gabrielle Union, has selected it as Social Media Agency of Record. PACO will be responsible for all social media efforts including social strategy, content management and creation, social engagement, and blogger management.

I was fortunate to have a great talk the other day with Kevin McNair, Britvic’s marketing director, in which he asserted the need for marketers to have the financial prowess of a CFO and the insight and business acumen to act like a CEO, as reflected in the headline for our interview.

Sometimes revolutions sneak up on you. For ages, boring bloggers (this one anyway) have been going on about the need for change, the coming of the transparent era, how the media agencies’ future resides with planners, how buying will become increasingly automated and on and on and on. And guess what? Suddenly it all seems to be starting to happen!  By Brian Jacobs / The Cog Blog

News that the Department of Justice is investigating “bid rigging” by ad agencies to favor in-house agency facilities highlights how competitive bidding works in the world of advertising and exposes a problematic industry practice, one that undermines the trust between agencies, clients and vendors.  By Alex Blum

Pólvora Advertising announced the hiring of Jon A. Andrade as General Manager.

Madison Avenue Manslaughter outlines the hows and whys of steadily declining fees, increased workloads, diminishing industry perception and morale, kickback scandals and opacity characterizing relationships among advertisers, holding companies, media buying companies and creative ad agencies.

If one were to equate the difference between the 4As and the ANA — the two associations which govern the ad/media agency and brand marketer communities respectively — to the differences between the Confederacy and Union states, the case for, or against, transparency should become abundantly clear.  By David Smith and Tim McHale