Archive → Septiembre, 2010
The Latin Box, Atlanta’s Premier Multicultural Advertising Firm, Launches Media Buying Program
The Latin Box, Atlanta’s Premier Multicultural Advertising Agency, is proud to announce that they have launched a full service media buying program for marketers wishing to reach the Hispanic market in the United States.
Premier Multicultural Advertising Agency, is proud to announce that they have launched a full service media buying program for marketers wishing to reach the Hispanic market in the United States.
According to Latin Box CEO Alfredo Osuna, this new offering is a natural progression of The Latin Box brand grown from the needs of its clients. “Hispanic media buying is an underserved area in the US. Most companies do not recognize the specific needs of the Hispanic market, including its audience segmentation and characteristics”.
Osuna continues, “Simply translating advertising into Spanish and buying ad space in your local Hispanic newspaper is not the way to reach this audience. The Latin Box has an unmatched knowledge of the Hispanic market, and now we offer our clients a better way to reach them.”
The Latin Box Media Program will consist of the following:
• Media Strategy: Detailed customer analysis to develop an innovative and customized strategy
• Media Planning: Analysis of current media and market trends relevant to Hispanic market
• Media Audit: Proprietary media analysis to gauge current Hispanic ad campaigns
• Media Buying: Forward-thinking, nimble, and ROI-driven Hispanic media buys
• ROI Analysis: The true gauge of every Hispanic media campaign’s success
The Latin Box is happy to have Jason Morrison, Executive Director of Capitol Media Solutions, advising them on their new media venture. According to Osuna “Jason Morrison runs one of the most successful media companies in the country, and we are so grateful to have him advising us as we launch our new offering. We know what our clients need are, and with his years of media buying experience, Jason can offer us a better understanding of the media buying process.”
Kno Offers a Second, Lighter Tablet
Most of the companies that hope to take on Apple in the white-hot market for tablets are industry giants like Dell, Google, HP, Microsoft and Samsung. But among the startups looking to become tablet contenders, Kno stands out.
- Most of the companies that hope to take on Apple in the white-hot market for tablets are industry giants like Dell, Google, HP, Microsoft and Samsung. But among the startups looking to become tablet contenders, Kno stands out.
I first wrote about Kno in June, when the company unveiled a dual-screen tablet aimed at college students. The knock against the chunky, 14-inch screen was its heft; it weighs 5.5 pounds, or nearly four times more than Apple’s iPad, and each slab was more than half an inch thick.
It seems as if the criticism was heard. On Monday, months before the first tablet, called the Kno, will ship, the company is unveiling a second model. The new Kno is a single-screen version of the previous device. Both are expected to begin shipping in December.
“From the college perspective, the overwhelming feedback is that the dual panel is great, but some students think a single panel is better for them,” said Osman Rashid, a founder and the chief executive of Kno. “At the end of the day, we don’t want to lock anyone out of our system because of form factor.” Mr. Rashid said the single-panel model is likely to appeal to the K-12 market in particular.
Kno’s mission is to create not only hardware, but also a software system geared for students that will allow them to read textbooks, take notes and perform other tasks. The software system is expected to work not only on Kno’s tablets, but also on PCs, iPads and other devices.
Shedding half its bulk and weight is certainly a move in the right direction for Kno.
Among the tablet’s biggest fans is Marc Andreessen, the Netscape founder who is now a venture capitalist and a director at eBay, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard and Skype. Mr. Andreessen recently led a $46 million round of financing for Kno. That brought the total raised by the startup to $55 million.
Whether that is enough to help Kno break into the tablet market remains to be seen.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/kno-offers-a-second-lighter-tablet/
Melissa Anne Muller New Director, Hispanic Marketing at Eclipse Marketing
From: www.eclipse-marketing.com
Eclipse Marketing Services, Inc. has appointed Melissa Anne Muller as Director of Hispanic Marketing. In this role, Muller will lead the Hispanic Division of Eclipse in developing cost-effective marketing strategies and campaigns specifically for the Latino marketplace; she will collaborate with clients to address their local market needs and opportunities. Joan Coyne, Sr. VP Marketing and Client Services, made the announcement.
Prior to joining Eclipse, Muller was a National Sales Account Representative for Univision Communications, Inc. She represented Univision and Telefutura, the number one and number two ranked Spanish language broadcast TV networks in 64 markets across the U.S.
“Melissa is a multilingual international executive logging more than 15 years experience in the entertainment and media industry, with expertise in the U.S. Hispanic market,” said Coyne. “She brings a wealth of knowledge and skills to Eclipse and its clients.”
Ms. Muller began her international career as the Head of International Programming Sales for Canal 11 XEIPN TV in Mexico City. At Canal 11, she successfully positioned the broadcaster as the premier cultural TV programming producer. From there, Muller launched her own business, Magnolia International—a distributor of quality Spanish language cultural TV programming for worldwide markets. Upon returning to the U.S., Ms. Muller was at Univision for four years before joining Eclipse.
http://www.portada-online.com/article.aspx?aid=6803
Chicago Fire gets first Hispanic president/GM
The Chicago Fire unveiled the restoration of a nearly 13-year-old mural depicting the history of the team on 1030 W.16th St. in Pilsen. The restoration was led by local artist Oscar Romero who created the mural originally and told the team it needed to be restored.
“Chicago Fire is our team – it is our symbol… unifies us,” said Romero.
Fire coach Carlos De Los Cobos says their participation in the World Cup was good, and he needs to work hard with the young team.
“I’m excited because I think that for the next season we are going to have a very, very good team,” said De Los Cobos.
Posada, who has been a media executive, was also recently announced as the new president and general manager of the team.
“I was just very humbled that they asked if I would like run the team and I take that as an unbelievable opportunity,” said Posada.
Most recently, Julian Posada served as founder of Cafe Media, a multimedia company, and past general manager and founder of Hoy, the Tribune newspaper
He is thrilled to be named general manager of the Chicago Fire, in charge of strategic planning and day-to-day operations.
“The Fire is a huge brand. It’s got presence in the community,” said Posada. “It’s not like I’m starting from zero. It’s a good product and it’s just figuring out ways to make it better.”
The Colombian businessman, born in Michigan, says the time is ripe for Latinos to succeed and be what they want to be.
For a lot of the young professionals or Latinos out there – you can make it to very important positions. Sport is huge in our community,” said Posada. “It is a massive responsibility that I take very seriously about what I do and how to do it well.”
As for his Hispanic heritage, Posada said that he has “one foot firmly planted in the United States and one foot firmly planted in Colombia. My wife’s Puerto Rican, and we cherish that every day.”
Posada says he hopes by this time next year there will be other Hispanics running Major League Soccer teams and other major league sports franchises.
Posada believes there is much opportunity to grow the Fire in the Chicago market given the high level of play and the passionate fan base that is growing.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7686030
Strong Growth for Local Online Advertising
Local advertising spending is holding up better in 2010 than previously expected, according to estimates from BIA/Kelsey. The firm, which initially predicted a nearly 1% drop in overall local ad spending this year, forecast growth of 2.1% to $133.3 billion by year-end.
Drilling down into where that spending will occur, online is the source of all growth in the space. Traditional local spending, after a dramatic plunge in 2009, will continue a downward trajectory through 2011 and will not recover to earlier spending levels. But rising spending on the web will fuel overall increases in the local space from 2010 through 2014.
The growth of online local ad spending, along with the stagnation of traditional efforts, will mean online takes an ever greater slice of the local advertising pie in coming years. Online has already increased its share by 50%, from 10% in 2008 to 15% this year. By 2014, BIA/Kelsey expects nearly one in four local ad dollars to be spent on digital.
“The strength and popularity of certain media over the next five years in the local media marketplace will dramatically affect the distribution of advertising spending for many of the advertising categories,” said Tom Buono, CEO at BIA/Kelsey, in a statement. “Players in the local market need to be aware of their media competition for each of these advertising categories.”
In August, Borrell Associates released somewhat more conservative estimates of local online spending. The firm predicted advertisers will spend $13.7 billion on local online ads this year, a number set to increase 17.5% to $16.1 billion in 2011.
http://hispanicad.com/cgi-bin/news/newsarticle.cgi?article_id=30481
Univision launches local online TV strategy
From: www.cosasdelcibao.net
Bienvenidos a las ciudades: U.S.-based Spanish-language media company Univision has announced a local market strategy, launching 72 new online and mobile TV and radio sites in 20 top Hispanic markets nationwide.
The company aims to become part of the community conversation, a local voice for Spanish-speaking Americans, thus inspiring loyalty (and site traffic).
Local Website enhancements will consist of posting geographically relevant and interactive content, including more video and photo offerings, along with user-generated options and social media integration. Branding of local stations will also be more prominent on each site, including unique station URLs.
By having a localised presence, Univision hopes to maximise user engagement across its digital platforms. “This initiative strengthens our overall local media offerings, as Interactive plays an important role in the ongoing transformation of our local media business and in our long-term growth strategy,” said Peter Walker, president for Univision’s local media division.
The initiative has already begun in Miami, Los Angeles and New York, and new sites in the following markets will roll out through the end of the year: Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, El Paso, Fresno, Calif., Houston, Las Vegas, McAllen, Tex., Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco; Phoenix and Puerto Rico.
An example of the new format can be found at Miami-based WLTV Univision 23 at www.univision23.com, and the Mix 98 WRTO 98.3FM at www.mix983.com.
“These new sites are an integral step in providing our users with a comprehensive and fully engaging local interactive experience that further strengthens our connection with Hispanics at the community level,” said Kevin Conroy, president at Univision’s interactive media division. “These enhancements will grow our audience and engagement, while allowing us to better serve our advertisers and partners with expanded features and a stronger platform through which to reach our valuable audience.”
http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/201009207894/univision-launches-local-online-tv-strategy.html
ShowEast to salute Universal International’s Mauricio Durán
From: www.presseportal.ch
Mauricio Durán, VP of Latin American marketing and distribution for Universal Pictures International (UPI), will be honored with the “International Achievement Award in Distribution” at the 2010 ShowEast Convention in Orlando, Florida.
Durán has been with UPI since 2007. In 2008, under his leadership UPI Latin America grossed a record-breaking $157 million in the region. Last month, Despicable Me became the biggest-grossing Universal film of all time in Latin America. Durán was also a key player in the distribution arrangement forged between UPI and Warner Bros. Mexico.
During his tenure, Durán has been responsible for distributing over 30 Mexican films in his region, including five of the top 12 all-time Mexican releases: El Crimen del Padre Amaro (Sony Pictures), which was the biggest Mexican film of all time, and Rudo y Cursi, which was the third-highest grossing Mexican film.
“We are extremely proud of all that Mauricio has accomplished for Universal Pictures and believe him to be a deserving recipient of this terrific honor,” said David Kosse, Universal’s president, international.
Durán began his career in 1986 with Columbia TriStar in Mexico, moving up to the posts of marketing manager and marketing director. In 1997, when Sony and The Walt Disney Company had their joint distribution venture, he was appointed associate general manager. In 1998, he was given additional responsibilities over the sales area.
During his 24-year tenure in the film industry, Durán has released over 1,200 films theatrically including blockbuster hits such as Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean, Armaggedon, Pearl Harbor, Terminator 2, Bruce Almighty, Men in Black, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Public Enemies, Fast & Furious and Despicable Me.
This week Dallas will host U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce convention for first time
It’s hard to ignore the power of Hispanics in the Dallas area: They account for about 40 percent of the population and about 60,000 Hispanic-owned businesses.
So it makes sense that the largest gathering of Hispanic business leaders in the country would be held here. The question is what took so long.
For the first time, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual national convention Wednesday through Saturday at the Hilton Anatole.
“It seemed a natural choice,” chamber chief executive Javier Palomarez said. “We are blessed that the Dallas economy and the Texas economy have continued to move forward.”
Dallas ranks among the top U.S. cities for the most corporate headquarters, and North Texas is home to nearly half of the top 100 Hispanic-owned businesses, Palomarez said. That’s also why Dallas would be a likely site for a regional office under consideration by the chamber.
“If we opened regional offices, I would like to open one in Dallas,” he said. “I come from the corporate world, so for me satellite offices make a lot of sense.”
Palomarez expects a record 4,500 attendees at the convention, which is funded mainly through corporate sponsorships.
The Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates the meeting will generate $4 million in spending and other economic benefits to the city.
“It kind of puts front and center the economic clout Hispanics have and the strong undercurrent of entrepreneurship,” said Edward T. Rincon, president of Rincon & Associates, a Dallas multicultural research services firm. “Nationally, Hispanics create businesses at about four times the national rate.”
One of the convention’s headliners is U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner , who will discuss policy issues with Palomarez and other Hispanic business leaders Friday morning. More than a dozen CEOs from major consumer companies, including locally based 7-Eleven, Comerica Bank and Frito-Lay, will be at the convention.
Large U.S. companies are increasingly reaching out to Hispanic consumers, the fastest-growing minority group. The purchasing power of about 47 million U.S. Hispanics hit $951 billion in 2008 and is expected to reach about $1.4 trillion in 2013, according to the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth.
Rincon’s research shows the 60,000 Hispanic-owned businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area had $22 billion in spending power in 2008.
Dallas business owner Nina Vaca, who is convention chairwoman and the chamber’s incoming chairwoman, was instrumental in focusing this year’s convention on a broader variety of topics for entrepreneurs, corporate Hispanic executives and local Hispanic chambers.
Ralph Castro, president of the 3-year-old Southeast Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, met with national chamber leaders and suggested the convention include workshops on management skills and funding sources for small-business owners.
“The way small businesses are doing business today is unlike how they’ve done it in the past,” Castro said. “Many of our Latinos come from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Nicaragua and other places. They start a business from money they’ve saved, but they’re lacking the skills to manage that business.”
Still, some local Hispanic leaders think the $500 cost to attend the convention is too high for many small businesses given the tough economy. (Some individual events are priced as low as $70.)
Dallas is attracting more attention from Hispanic leaders as a place to do business.
Dallas has hosted nearly 70 Hispanic meetings in the last five years vs. “hardly any” before that, said Phillip Jones, chief executive of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. The chamber national convention is the largest Hispanic meeting here, but the bureau has booked three others of similar size for each of the next three years, he said.
When Jones joined the bureau in 2003, one of his main goals was to target fast-growing emerging markets such as the Hispanic market. Since then, the group has hired a person to focus on the Hispanic market, launched latinodallas.com and retained a Hispanic marketing firm, he said.
In May, Miami-based Hispanic PR Blog held the first national Hispanic PR and Social Marketing Conference in Dallas.
Conference creator Manny Ruiz said he chose Dallas because it is a top Hispanic and Fortune 500 market.
The U.S. Hispanic Chamber convention is “a great opportunity to showcase to Hispanic business leaders from across the country all the great things going on in Dallas,” Jones said. “We want to convey that Dallas is a great place to do business.”
Lionsgate and Televisa Unite on Films
LOS ANGELES — Lionsgate’s African-American-focused film business, anchored by Tyler Perry titles, has become a gold mine for the studio. Movies with predominantly black casts that tell stories rooted in black culture — surprise! — bring out a sizable black audience.
Camilla Belle, left, and Alexa Vega in “From Prada to Nada,” directed by Angel Gracia.
Now Lionsgate is trying to pull off the same trick with Hispanic-focused films.
The studio, in partnership with Televisa, the media conglomerate based in Mexico City, is betting millions of dollars on that notion. On Tuesday, the companies plan to announce the creation of Pantelion Films, which will release eight to 10 movies annually over the next five years that are aimed at Hispanic moviegoers in the United States.
The films will represent a mix of genres, as varied as romantic comedies and action thrillers. Some will be presented in English and some in Spanish. Pantelion’s first title, “From Prada to Nada,” about two spoiled rich sisters who are forced to move in with their poor aunt in East Los Angeles, is scheduled for release in January.
“If we tell emotionally resonant stories and explore the roots of Spanish-speaking people, there is a very attractive opportunity here,” said Emilio Azcárraga Jean, chief executive of Grupo Televisa. “People like to see themselves represented on the screen.”
Hollywood has repeatedly tried to till this ground, without success. In 1999, two Los Angeles companies announced plans to release as many as a dozen Spanish-language films in the United States a year. That effort fizzled after audiences ignored two early releases. In 2003, Universal Pictures scrapped a distribution agreement with Arenas Entertainment, a Latino film label.
Samuel Goldwyn Films got burned when it tried to tap the Hispanic market in 2001 with films like “Tortilla Soup.” At the time, Meyer Gottlieb, Samuel Goldwyn’s president, told The Los Angeles Times, “When it comes to filmed entertainment, they don’t view themselves as Latinos. They want to see it because everybody else wants to see it.”
But Mr. Azcárraga and Jon Feltheimer, chief executive of Lions Gate Entertainment, say they are confident they can succeed, citing figures showing that 37 million Hispanic moviegoers bought 300 million tickets in 2009, a per-moviegoer rate of more than eight tickets a year, the highest of any ethnic group.
Analysts say that, compared with other racial and ethnic groups, Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the moviegoing audience and tend to buy more DVDs. At the same time, Latinos have started to drive results for broad releases; “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” from 20th Century Fox, and “Fast & Furious” from Universal blossomed into hits in large part because of support from Latino moviegoers, the studios said. At the art house, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” directed by Mexico-born Guillermo del Toro, has shown the potential for a crossover audience. That film, made for about $19 million, generated more than $83 million at the global box office.
Lionsgate has also been quietly experimenting with Spanish-language releases, finding moderate success with tiny films like “La Mujer de Mi Hermano” (“My Brother’s Wife”), which sold about $5 million in tickets in 2006.
“We have been interested in this market for a long time, but now we really think we can turn it into a business,” Mr. Feltheimer said.
The difference this time, the executives involved say, is experience. Lionsgate has a successful track record in marketing movies to niche audiences. Televisa’s strength is in production. And Pantelion has a potential ace up its sleeve: AMC Entertainment, North America’s second-largest movie theater chain behind Regal Entertainment. AMC’s chief executive, Gerardo Lopez, has agreed in advance to dedicate at least one screen in 50 of its theaters to Pantelion films. The theaters are in neighborhoods where more than a third of the population is Hispanic. Another chain, Cinemark, said it was in discussions with Pantelion to provide the fledgling production company with marketing support.
“Gee, if we can give them more culturally relevant product we may just get them to come to the movies a little bit more,” said Mr. Lopez.
He said that was something he thought about not as a chief executive but as an average moviegoer. “It’s difficult to go to the movies and find Latinos in roles that are normal,” he said. “Instead, it’s the bad guy in the neighborhood, the guy with the tattoos. Rarely do you see a Latino portrayed as a businessman, for crying out loud.”
James M. McNamara, the former chief executive of Telemundo, will be Pantelion’s chairman and Paul Presburger, a longtime Lionsgate international executive, will be chief executive. Mr. Presburger said part of Pantelion’s strategy involved forging partnerships with consumer brands that were courting the same demographic. “We are deep in those conversations,” he said.
Mr. McNamara says he is hopeful that Pantelion will get a robust welcome from screenwriters and actors. “I think there is a lot of pent-up demand for this on behalf of the industry’s creative community,” he said.
Multi-Platform Beringer Campaign Breaks New Ground
Hispanics’ wine consumption has grown by 35% since 2005, and they accounted for more than 50% of wine consumption growth during the slow-growth years of 2005 to 2008, according to Experian Simmons. But you’d be unlikely to spot those trends based on the perfunctory Hispanic marketing commonplace in the wine market.
“Translating a mainstream ad or [in-store] wine taste cards into Spanish, with no context or cultural relevancy, isn’t our idea of a Hispanic ‘campaign,’” comments Francesca Schuler, CMO for Treasury Wine Estates, owner of Beringer Vineyards.
Beringer is now out to show how it’s done. Every element of the brand’s new, multi-platform pilot campaign is based on in-depth consumer research and designed to demonstrate how its wines fit naturally into Hispanic lifestyles, traditions, social occasions and cuisines, says Schuler.
Themed “Invita El Sabor” (“Welcome Home the Flavor”), the campaign, from Los Angeles agency Baru Advertising, spans a variety of formats on Spanish-language broadcast television, POS promotional materials and dry sampling in grocery stores with Hispanic customer bases and at Hispanic events, and public relations.
The campaign launched this week with a 30-second TV spot featuring Latinos enjoying Beringer wines in three settings: a backyard barbeque with friends, a family dinner, and a couple cooking dinner together. The spot aired first in the Los Angeles market, reflecting Beringer’s status as the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley, as well as the fact that 37% of U.S. Hispanic wine consumption comes from the country’s Western region.
While the TV spot sets a tone or cultural context, a major part of the campaign consists of educational elements designed to reduce the “intimidation” factor associated with wine, which are being implemented through marketing partnerships with Univision 34 and Telemundo 52. Vignettes, also launched this week, are airing on Univision’s lifestyle television show “Tu Estilo” and on Telemundo’s entertainment/lifestyle show “Acceso Total.”
These include segments on food and Beringer wine pairings, “Wine 101″ (how wine gets its colors and flavors) and a history of the Beringer brothers — all presented by Leticia Chacon Rodriguez, one of Beringer’s premium winemakers. In addition, two wine-pairing “promercials” featuring voiceovers done by Univision talent — one on holiday meals and one on grilling — will air on “Tu Estilo,” and a 13-part series (two minutes each) featuring Los Angeles chefs pairing their dishes with Beringer wines will air on “Acceso Total.”
In-store and at-event materials will include a “wine wheel” that suggests specific Beringer varieties that pair well with three different Latino meal flavor groups. “Retailers are very excited, because they’re looking for ways to serve the Hispanic community,” notes Schuler. In addition, a Spanish-language page is being developed within Beringer.com, and Beringer Vineyards is adding twice-weekly Spanish-language tours and tastings (also available by appointment).
Obviously, Beringer sees its pilot campaign, which will continue through the end of this year, as an opportunity to create and enhance brand preference and loyalty in a very promising growth market (7.3 million Latinos 21 and older consume wine, and 20% report drinking one or more glasses of wine in the past 30 days, for an average of five glasses per month).
But Schuler stresses that the initiative is first and foremost “very consistent with [Beringer's overall] brand strategy,” which emphasizes “inclusiveness” — meaning that its wide range of quality wines have broad appeal across demographic groups and lifestyles.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=135799