Hispanic Ad Association to hold it's annual conference

Nation's leading marketers gather in Miami for AHAA's Annual Conference May 2 to 4
MIAMI, Fl -- Client-centered Theme "Listen Up!" to Infuse Sessions with a Robust Lineup of Distinguished Speakers

AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing will hold its Annual Conference on May 2-4, 2012 at the Intercontinental Miami Hotel with the theme of "Listen Up!" The conference will revolve around the client perspective and emphasize best practices across the broad Hispanic marketing continuum. Attending and being featured at the conference will be some of the nation's leading investors in the Hispanic market - The Clorox Company, Diageo, Google, Tecate and Wal-Mart are just a few of the marquis brands that will share their insights. They will reveal the creative strategies that resulted in outstanding campaigns that also deeply connected with Hispanic consumers.

AHAA's Annual Conference is the most comprehensive industry event dedicated to the U.S. Hispanic market featuring an exciting program packed with a lineup of best-in-the-business speakers and numerous networking opportunities. More than 400 Hispanic-specialized marketers, ranging from advertising, public relations, media, creative, research and promotion expertise, are expected to converge in Miami.

As part of the conference, AHAA chair Roberto Orci, CEO, Acento Advertising along with Board members Linda Lane Gonzalez, President/CEO, Viva Partnership, Inc. and Aldo Quevedo, President, Dieste, will kick off the conference and provide a glimpse into the current state of the U.S. Hispanic Marketing industry. Throughout the event, AHAA will announce the winners of the HispanicAd.com Account Planning Excelencia (HAPE) Award, the HispanicAd.com Media Planning Excelencia (HMPE) Award. In addition, AHAA, in partnership with Nielsen, will announce the winner of the 2012 Caballero Lifetime Achievement Award.

This year, the conference will showcase two CMO Fireside Chats:

Seasoned veteran, Felix Palau, VP of Marketing, Tecate of Heineken, USA, will present "Beer: Beyond the :30 TV Commercial." He will share his unique insights on Heineken's innovative U.S. Hispanic marketing platform, the importance of the Hispanic market for Tecate and what the future holds for the brand.

Javier M. Delgado-Granados, Marketing Manager, Wal-Mart and Mark Lopez, Digital Media Executive and Head of U.S. Hispanic Audience, Google, will discuss the fascinating developments occurring in the fast-paced world of digital and the changes they foresee ahead in their CMO chat, "Digital as Part of the Marketing Mix."

There are several top-tier keynote speakers that will share their insights on a broad range of topics in these five can't-miss sessions:

John Winsor, CEO of Victor & Spoils will address the topic of advertising and crowdsourcing in his session "The Trials and Tribulations of Harnessing the Chaos of Abundance," and Steven Rommeney, Humalog T2 Consumer Brand Manager of Eli Lilly, who will discuss healthcare marketing in "Looking to the Health of the U.S. Hispanic Market: Pharmaceuticals."

The Clorox Company's David Cardona, Multi-Cultural Team Leader and Lupe De Los Santos, Group Manager of Hispanic Marketing Communications will present the "Top 10 'Truths' from a Retail Client's Perspective of Hispanic Marketing," along with concrete examples to illustrate what works and what doesn't. Both David and Lupe have been on the agency side in the past and bring a unique perspective to being a retail client.

In keeping with the AHAA tradition of showcasing the latest compelling research to help with new business development and effective strategy building, The Nielsen Company also will share their key insights on the Hispanic consumer's online behavior and its business impact with Digital CEO Jonathan Carson and his session "Online Media Measurement and Analytics - Critical Insights You Can Learn On Hispanics."

Marc Stephenson Strachan, Vice President, Multicultural Marketing USA, Diageo-North America will discuss how Diageo is infusing Multicultural insights into General market strategies in the aptly titled session, "The Diageo Mulitcultural Marketing Journey...Everybody into the Pool!" He will also talk about the client-agency relationship and the importance of coming across less like a vendor and more as a partner. After experiencing an agency career, Marc will also share how it has influenced him as a client.

Going along with the conference theme of "Listen Up!" are the results of the "People en Espanol 12th Annual Hispanic Opinion Tracker (HOT) Study: Insights into the US Latina Woman," which will be presented by Monique Manso, Publisher of People en Espanol. The study provides insights into the changing role of Latina women in the U.S. and reveals how Hispanic women continue to embrace their families, heritage, and identity as they become an increasing force in American life. Categories range from Beauty and Skincare to Computers and Internet usage.

In addition, the conference will include two exciting panel discussions from the industry's top public relations, media, entertainment and music professionals:

"Hispanic Public Relations: Creating Brand Evangelists with Engagement and Trust," will include panelists Solomon Romano, Head of Hispanic Marketing, Delta Dental, 2011 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Chair & CEO Rosanna Fiske, APR & Director/Professor, Florida International University, Natalie Boden, Founder & President, BodenPR and Manny Ruiz, Co-Publisher of Hispanic PR Blog and Founder/Creative Director of Hispanicize 2012 discussing how to generate advocacy, engagement, trust and sales with Public Relations.

"Juventud + Migracion + Adaptacion = Music, Language & Mucho Love: The Influence of the Macro Environment in the Transformation of Consumers," will provide insight on how the ever-changing and growing U.S. multicultural market continues to influence trends and brand activations. Mariel Llenza, Director of Hispanic Advertising, AT&T Mobility, Sie7e, Warner Music, Grammy® winning artist, Robert Isaac, Director of Music Programming, Mun2 and Xavier Alvarado, VP, Programming, WHKQ KQ103 FM will present what factors have most impacted them, how they've modified their strategy and how a common trend (i.e. Spanglish) has helped them unite forces in order to reach a new generation of audiences.

AHAA is also pleased to be collaborating with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in organizing a series of Media & Digital Workshops during the conference for the second year in a row. Attendees at the AHAA Annual Conference will enjoy an exceptional content line up that cleverly merges AHAA's Hispanic marketing and advertising expertise with IAB's supreme online advertising and digital media knowledge base.

Finally, the conference will conclude with the presentation by AHAA and Circulo Creativo of the inaugural U.S.H. Idea Awards, recognizing stellar achievement in work created by U.S. Hispanic agencies and directed at Hispanic audiences. The award ceremony will take place at the prestigious Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

"This year's conference is unlike any other," said Roberto Orci, chair of AHAA and CEO of Acento. "The premise of 'Listen Up!' is to provide our attendees with unprecedented access to A-list brands who are sharing their insights and applications for successful Hispanic marketing. These best business practices serve to not only foster creativity but also provide strategies to strengthen the client-agency experience."

For more information on AHAA's annual conference and to register, please visit http://ahaa.org/default.asp?contentID=353 .

About AHAA: Founded in 1996 and headquartered in McLean, VA, the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) is the national organization of Hispanic-owned and-managed firms united to promote the growth and strength of the Hispanic marketing and advertising industry to the private and public sectors. AHAA is raising awareness of the value of the Hispanic market's many opportunities while enhancing the professionalism of the industry. AHAA agencies lead the industry with collective capitalized billings exceeding $5 billion - more than 90 percent of the entire U.S. Hispanic advertising industry. Only AHAA agencies have the blend of cultural understanding, market knowledge, proven experience and professional resources that make them uniquely qualified to communicate with Hispanic consumers. These capabilities and skills offer the potential for Hispanic market success that's available nowhere else.

SOURCE AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing

Media outlets adapt to growing Hispanic audience

The growing U.S. Hispanic community has created another boom.

By Greg Allen Apr 3, 2012 (Morning Edition)

Rapid growth in the U.S. Hispanic community has created another boom — in Hispanic media. In recent months, several major media players have announced plans to join the competition for the Hispanic television audience. There's a new Hispanic broadcast TV network coming, plus a host of new cable channels aimed at Latinos.

The numbers tell the story: According to the census, the U.S. Hispanic population jumped by more than 40 percent in the past decade. The nation's 50 million-plus Hispanics now make up 16 percent of the TV-viewing public.

And those numbers are expected to grow. Univision is already the nation's fourth-largest network. In some markets and time slots, it hits No. 1.

Four years ago, the network's growing clout was recognized when it hosted both the Democratic and Republican candidates in primary debates. This year, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney sat down for extended interviews in a candidate forum, hosted in English by Univision anchor Jorge Ramos and broadcast with a simultaneous Spanish translation.

"Historically, Univision was Spanish first and Spanish only. They were adamant about that," says Roberto Orci, CEO of Acento Advertising in Los Angeles. Orci says that's beginning to change: Univision recently began broadcasting its prime-time telenovelas with English subtitles — something competitor Telemundo has done for years.

That's a nod to changes in the Hispanic population shown in the census: Over the past decade, most of the growth in the Latino population came not from immigration, but from births — kids born and now being raised in the U.S.

Market research shows that only about a fifth of U.S. Hispanics now prefer Spanish-language programming on TV. The rest — some 80 percent of the Latino population — are bilingual or prefer English.

Helen DeJesus is a good example. She's bilingual, a second-generation Cuban-American who lives in a Miami suburb.

"I don't watch Spanish channel," she says. "In a way, that's a bad thing, because I should, especially for my son."

DeJesus says watching Hispanic TV growing up helped her sharpen her Spanish-language skills. But she's part of a growing Latino population that is moving to English language TV. Acento's Roberto Orci says that trend is sending a clear message to Hispanic broadcasters.

"We have to appeal to them in culture, but in the language of their preference," Orci says. "And a lot of the bilingual Hispanics watch English-language television and Spanish-language television. So you want to be able to reach them where they are."

Orci greets as good news a recent report that Univision is in talks with Disney to develop an English-language all-news channel aimed at Hispanics. It's one of several new cable channels for Latinos planned by Univision and other media companies.

Cable operator Comcast recently announced plans for two new channels — including one that will be run by movie director Robert Rodriguez. It also will be in English. It joins competitors like NuvoTV, an English-language channel aimed at a young, bicultural Latino audience.

The No. 2 Spanish network, Telemundo, is part of NBC Universal. It has long made English part of its programming — both in its use of Spanglish and in the subtitles it shows on telenovelas like Una Maid en Manhattan.

Telemundo Chief Operating Officer Jacqueline Hernandez says reaching Hispanics is about more than language. It's also about their culture, and she says her network's telenovelas reflect that.

"They're created in the U.S. for the U.S. Hispanic audience," Hernandez says. "And they reflect the world that we live in."

Anticipating the move toward a younger, bilingual audience several years ago, Telemundo launched a cable channel, Mun2 — pronounced "mundos," a play on "two worlds." It features several bilingual programs, including a reality show with Mexican pop singer Jenni Rivera.

"We do a show about her life, and it takes place in Long Beach," Hernandez explains. "And it's in English, because she and her family, that's how they roll. And they speak English at home. So the show will have English and a little Spanglish. But it's really authentic."

In one show last season, Rivera operates a taco truck.

"I am a hard-working Mexican-American woman who can make excellent records and excellent tacos," she told viewers.

Now, the two Hispanic broadcast networks, Telemundo and Univision are getting a new competitor. Fox — which already operates three Hispanic cable channels — this fall plans to launch MundoFox, a Spanish-language broadcast network.

The network, which is working now to sign up station affiliates, will draw programming from some of Fox's Spanish-language cable channels. But Hernan Lopez, CEO of Fox International Channels, says he expects the new network's strongest draw will be action dramas — shows that he thinks will have broader appeal than traditional telenovelas.

"We were presenting it as a Latino network with an American attitude," Lopez says. "It is in Spanish, but with a level of quality that viewers are used to in American television."

Lopez says the network may be including English closed-captioning on some programs.

Advertising executive Roberto Orci says it wasn't that long ago that many in the industry thought the future of Hispanic television was limited. As immigrants settled in, it was supposed, they'd assimilate. And over a generation or two, Latinos would leave Hispanic programming for the mainstream media.

But rather than assimilating, Orci says, U.S. Hispanics have acculturated.

"Which means we take the best of American culture that we came to adopt and love," Orci says, "and we keep the best of our culture that we value. And so, you have this hybrid American that is very proud and happy to be an American, but is very proud and happy to have his culture which makes him unique, or her unique."

And the competition for that rapidly growing Hispanic bicultural market is happening not just in television, but also in radio and social media, and on the Web and mobile platforms. For media companies looking to grow, Hispanics now look less like a niche market, and more like the future.
Source: NPR

Largest event for Hispanic marketing

Top Hispanic brand advertisers, case studies and research highlight ambitious Hispanic advertising track of Hispanicize 2012

MIAMI, FL -- Some of the nation's most respected leaders from Hispanic brands, research and advertising agencies will present at Hispanicize 2012 ( http://www.HispanicizeEvent.com ) as part of the event's sweeping Hispanic advertising and integrated marketing agenda unveiled today.

Now in its third year, Hispanicize 2012 (April 10-13 in Miami) is the annual event focused on Latino trends and trendsetters in social media, marketing, entertainment, and media.

"Our Hispanic advertising sessions track is completely brand, research and trends-centric because that's what brands want," said Manny Ruiz, Hispanicize 2012 organizer and creative director. "With today's announcement Hispanicize 2012 now becomes the first event ever to unite an agenda focused on every single discipline of Hispanic marketing: advertising, social media, PR, bloggers, digital and media."

"This Hispanic advertising track offers brands the latest best practices, data and actionable insights they need to succeed in 2012 and beyond," said Gustavo Razzetti, Chief Strategy & Engagement Officer at Grupo Gallegos and chair of the advertising committee of the Hispanicize 2012 advisory board.

To underscore the event's focus on trends and research, Hispanicize 2012 has partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau will showcase research and analysis during various sessions related to advertising to Latinas, youth and the Digital Divide, among others.

Hispanicize 2012's roster of presenters currently features senior Hispanic brand marketers and non profit organizations from Unilever, Disney, State Farm, BlackBerry, Google, Dunkin Donuts, Suave, Clorox, General Motors, RadioShack, UnitedHealthcare, Walmart, Sprint, McDonald's, Diageo, Ford, LiveStrong, the March of Dimes and the United Farmworkers, among others.

Altogether more than 110 speakers will present more than 65 sessions at Hispanicize 2012, including social media and filmmaking, which are about to be announced. (See most recent list of speakers here).

Among this year's advertising-related sessions are:

·      The U.S. Census 2012 Update: An In-Depth Look at the Latest Numbers and Their Implications

·      The Power of Musica: An Inside Look at BlackBerry's Innovative Q'Viva Platform and What We Can Learn About Effectively Marketing to Latinos through Music

·      Why Not Do It For Real? Reality Advertising and the Latino Consumer

·      CASE STUDY: State Farm and Alma DDB Hispanic Advertising Campaign

·      For the Brand's Greater Good: Best Practices for Productive and Positive Agency Collaboration

·      Innovative, Digital and Influential: The New Face and Growing Pace of New Generation Latinos

·      Digital Exito 3.0: Great Digital Case Studies from the Hispanic Portals

·      Overcoming the Mariachi Band Syndrome: How Young Creatives are Moving Boldly Beyond Latino Stereotypes

·      Break On Through to the Latino Side: Selling Breakthrough Latino Creative

·      All Shapes y Sizes: Overcoming the Challenges of Targeting Bicultural Consumers

Now in its third year, Hispanicize 2012 (#HISPZ12) is the annual event focused on Latino trends and trendsetters in social media, entertainment, marketing and media. The event is a partnership of the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA), Hispanicize and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Hispanicize 2012 brings brands, media, marketers, celebrities, filmmakers, innovators and bloggers together in a unique creative environment focused on ideas and best practices. The conference is a launch pad for creative endeavors, new products, technologies, marketing campaigns, films, books and more targeting Latinos.

Hispanicize 2012 will be held at the gorgeous JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Miami, April 10-13, 2012.

Comcast to distribute Latino networks

Comcast Announces Agreements with Four New Minority-Owned Independent Networks

Selected Networks Were Proposed By Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Robert Rodriguez, and Constantino "Said" Schwarz

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- Comcast Corporation, one of the world's leading media, entertainment and communications companies, today announced it has selected four new minority-owned independent networks to be broadly distributed on Comcast Cable systems between April 2012 and January 2014. After a thorough evaluation of more than 100 proposals, Comcast selected four networks -- two of which are majority African-American owned and two that are majority American Hispanic owned and operated and programmed in English.

            "We are thrilled to work with such talented individuals to launch these new networks that will bring exciting and fresh content to consumers," said David L. Cohen, Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation. "Comcast is committed to delivering programming that reflects the interests of our customers, and we look forward to integrating these great networks into our rich programming line-up."

African-American Category:

Aspire: Spearheaded by Entrepreneur and NBA Hall of Famer Earvin "Magic" Johnson, in partnership with GMC TV, Aspire is dedicated to delivering enlightening, entertaining and positive programming to African-Americans families, including movies, documentaries, short films, music, comedy, visual and performing arts, and faith and inspirational programs. Aspire will celebrate the successes, achievements and accomplishments of the African-American community and create new opportunities for the next generation of African-American visionaries. The network will launch by summer 2012. "Aspire will be a network that encourages and challenges African-Americans to reach for their dreams and will appeal to all generations. Aspire will celebrate our heritage, our groundbreaking achievements and the fearless talent that has shaped American culture. I'm most excited about Aspire creating opportunities for the new voices, new visions and the next generation of storytellers," said Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

REVOLT: Proposed by superstar and entrepreneur Sean "Diddy" Combs and MTV veteran Andy Schuon, this network is designed to have programming inspired by music and pop culture, including music videos, live performances, music news, and interviews and will incorporate social media interaction for music artists and fans. The network has entered into an agreement to launch in 2013. "REVOLT is the first channel created entirely from the ground up in this new era of social media" said Sean "Diddy" Combs. "We're building this platform for artists to reach an extraordinary number of people in a completely different way. REVOLT will be live, like all great moments in television history. REVOLT will also be immediate, like today's social networks. We know it was a highly competitive process and we want to thank Comcast for this opportunity to truly change television with REVOLT."

Hispanic Category:

El Rey: Proposed by legendary Hollywood director Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures executives John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa, this network is designed to be an action-packed, general entertainment network in English for Latino and general audiences that includes a mix of reality, scripted and animated series, movies, documentaries, news, music, comedy, and sports programming. The El Rey network will include programming that features Hispanic producers, celebrities and public figures. The network has entered into an agreement to launch by January 2014. "This partnership with Comcast signals an important moment for the Latino community in this country -- we are passionate about creating a wildly entertaining destination that we can be proud of by appealing to both Latino and mass market audiences," said Robert Rodriguez and CEO of FactoryMade Ventures John Fogelman. "We engineered El Rey to address a burgeoning opportunity to deliver unique, high-quality and compelling content to a hard-to-reach demographic and are excited to bring more opportunities to generations of talent, storytellers and dreamers through this special partnership."

BabyFirst Americas: Proposed by Spanish language television veteran Constantino "Said" Schwarz, this network is designed for infants, very young children, and their parents, and emphasizes the importance of early development of verbal, math and motor skills. The network has entered into an agreement to launch by April 2012. "We are thrilled to partner with Comcast and commend them for recognizing the importance of quality education for young children," remarked Constantino "Said" Schwarz, CEO and Chairman BabyFirst Americas. "BabyFirst Americas aims to bring the essential academic building blocks for Kindergarten readiness into the home, making it accessible for families all across the U.S."

Comcast made a series of voluntary public interest commitments in connection with the NBCUniversal transaction, one of which is to launch 10 new independently owned and operated networks over the next eight years. Of the 10 networks, four will be majority African-American owned, two will be majority American Latino owned, two will be operated by American Latino programmers, and two will provide additional independent programming. Ultimately, each of the 10 networks will be added on select Comcast systems as part of the digital basic tier of service.

Source: Comcast Corporation