Dr. Felipe Korzenny
Director of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication
Florida State University

eMarketer: What are best practices for sites and marketers that want to reach the Hispanic audience?

Dr. Felipe Korzenny: Spanish, as long as you don’t make it too regional or too colloquial, is pretty much understandable to everybody. US Hispanics have formed a new sense of kinship with people from other Latin American countries. It’s almost like a reaction to the way that the census has classified us and the way that they’ve talked about us over the past 30 years or so.

Even though we might not use the label “Hispanic” because we find it annoying, we have a commonality with people from Latin America. We share 400 years of dominance from Spain that has left a huge amount of cultural heritage in Latin America, regardless of the country.

“I don’t think it works to say, ‘This is a site for Hispanics and this is a site for others.’”

Hispanics have a lot of commonalities, and it’s OK to talk about a group that has these sorts of common roots and interests. It doesn’t work well to try to segregate people. I don’t think it works to say, “This is a site for Hispanics and this is a site for others.”

View the rest of the story at emarketer.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090629/FL39336 )

Mizrahi is bringing more than 18 years of international marketing expertise with leading brands with a multi-geographic scope, along with his functional experience to Alma DDB.

From his position, Mizrahi will act as Luis Miguel Messianu’s business counterpart and report directly to him, overseeing all of the agency clients marketing strategic programs, being his main responsibility the growth of their brands as well as the development of new business initiatives for Alma DDB.

Mizrahi was most recently Director of Innovation and Multicultural Marketing at Sprint Nextel, where he spent five years developing Multicultural Marketing strategies for the brands targeting Hispanics and Asian American consumers. Previously he acted as Director of Branding and Advertising services for BellSouth International; his early career spanned a wide variety of international and national positions in several divisions of The Coca-Cola Company during seven years. A native Brazilian, Mizrahi started his career in 1991 achieving several brand, media and marketing roles at the local division of British American Tobacco in his country.

“He will bring a unique client perspective to the day-to-day operation, ‘translating’ the business challenges that our clients are facing to the creative team to enhance our focus direction and also by serving as a sounding board for creative ideas,” stated Luis Miguel Messianu.

Along with his responsibilities, Isaac Mizrahi will be concentrated on identifying the new usages of media, the consumer’s contact points, and below the lines initiatives. He will also focus on helping managing the administrative issues, including human capital development, which is one of his areas of passion.

“It’s a unique opportunity to join an agency that shares similar beliefs around the importance of building strong brand as a driver of profitable and successful business for our clients,” said Mizrahi.

He will join the Management team at Alma DDB which in addition to Luis Miguel Messianu, counts on the experience of Angela Battistini, VP of Client Services; Michelle Headley, VP of Operations; Enrique Faillace, VP Executive Creative Director; Jose Luis Villa, VP of Creative Influence Director; Marta Insua, VP Planning and Insights Director; Larissa Acosta, VP of Innovation & New Business; and Leo Peet, Finance Director.

Mizrahi, 39 years old, holds an MBA from the prestigious Emory University (Atlanta) and he is relocating to Miami with his wife and their one-year-old son.

Isaac’s recognitions include the 2006 Brand Week’s Hispanic Marketer of the Year Award, the Ad Age Creative Judge for their Hispanic Awards, among several keynote speaker appointments acknowledging his strong reputation in the US Hispanic market arena.

Note to the Editors: High resolution images, and media materials are available at http://epk.almaddb.com

About DDB:

DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc. (www.ddb.com) is the largest consolidated advertising and marketing services global network in the world, according to Advertising Age. DDB also has been frequently ranked as the most awarded agency network in the world by Creativity magazine and The Gunn Report, among others. With more than 200 offices in over 90 countries, the DDB Group believes that creativity is the most powerful force in business, building enduring and powerful brand experiences that create TalkValue(TM), influence social communities and drive results. DDB Worldwide is part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) .

For further information, please contact:

Olimpia Del Boccio
Alma DDB - (305) 662-3154
odelboccio@almaddb.com

Website: http://www.ddb.com

Under the theme “Getting it Right: Connecting with the Hispanic
Consumer,” more than a dozen top notch client side marketers have already
confirmed their presence, including the following:

- John De Armas, VP of WorldDirect and Head of DirectTV Mas.

- Lorena Hidalgo, Manager Hispanic Marketing Wrangler/VF Jeanswear Inc.

- Javier Farfan, Lifestyle Marketing, Senior Manager, Zune, Microsoft
Corp.

- Teresa Iglesias Solomon, VP Multicultural Initiatives, Best Buy

- Manny Gonzalez, Hispanic Marketing Director, Hennessy Brand - Moet -
Hennessy USA

- Brian Lange, Brand Manager, SPLENDA, Multi-Cultural Marketing,
Johnson & Johnson / McNeil Nutritionals

- Monica Morales, Brand Manager, Dr Pepper Hispanic Market

- Kristin Page, Multicultural Marketing Director, Macy’s

- Andrea Riley, Corporate Brand and Automotive Marketing, GMAC
Financial Services

- Rodolfo Rodriguez, Multicultural Marketing Director, General Mills
- Hector Vallejo, Hispanic Marketing Manager, DeWalt
- Teresa Wakeley, Advertising and Media Manager, Volkswagen of America
WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND:

— When the tail starts wagging the dog: how multicultural consumers
are shaping trends and consumption for America as a whole, and what your
business needs to do about it.

— Getting a bigger bang for the buck with digital media targeting
Latinos: Streaming online videos, Latin SEO, Mobile Advertising, Leveraging
Social Networks and much more…

— The Power of Local News. Why being locally relevant is crucial for
National Advertisers.

— Analysis of why print media matters more than ever in order to reach
Spanish-speaking audiences

— Networking with new prospects, clients and peers in a friendly
environment in the heart of New York City.

— Recognition of industry pioneers, innovators and their campaigns at
the Hispanic Digital and Print Media Awards Luncheon.

— Advertiser Roundtables: Share intelligence and insights with major
clients and agencies. One major buy side executive will sit at each table
and attendees will rotate.

REGISTRATION: Looking forward to seeing you in NYC on September 24,
2009!

Secure your spot and your ticket at early bird price today, by visiting
this page: http://www.portada-online.com/conference/registration.aspx?cid=2

PREMIUM SPONSORS

The following Companies have already been confirmed as premium sponsors
of the Third Annual Hispanic Digital and Print Media Conference: Alloy
Access (http://www.alloy-access.com, Bronze Sponsor), Media Space Solutions
(http://www.mediaspacesolutions.com, Bronze Sponsor), NxtBookMedia
(http://www.nxtbookmedia.com/, Networking Function Sponsor).

For sponsorship opportunities, please call Marcos Baer at 1 212 685
4441.

Dallas-based Moroch announced the agreement on Monday.

The company’s work on the campaign, terms of which were not disclosed, will begin immediately and includes the creation of ads that are slated to run through various media outlets, including print, radio, television and the Web.

As part of the agreement, Moroch Partners said its Hispanic advertising division, iNSPIRE, has been slated to develop collateral for Spanish-language media outlets.

The Moroch account will be handled by Shelia Lemon and Jim Sykora, the company said.

Moroch, which is based in Dallas, is an independent marketing agency with 38 offices across the United States and Canada.

Source: The Dallas Business Journal

Both locations have high multigenerational Hispanic populations with real spending power. Arizona has around two million Hispanic consumers.

Wal-Mart wants to use the experience it gained in marketing to consumers in Latin America, and hopes to leverage it to boost sales to US Hispanics.

Hispanics already form a large proportion of Wal-Mart’s US customer base, but many often buy their groceries at Hispanic food-oriented outlets like Bashas’ Food City. Opening the Supermercado outlets has been Wal-Mart’s competitive response to this.

The 39,000 sq ft site in Phoenix is a former Wal-Mart Neighbourhood Market that has been remodelled and restocked to make it more relevant to Hispanic shoppers.

The stock strategically targets both US and Hispanic customers, including a mix of Spanish and U.S. products. Yoplait yogurt sits next to LaLa dairy products from Mexico. There is an expanded produce section, traditional Latin bakery, a baby section and expanded party aisle with piñatas and other accessories for celebrations.

The store features bright colors, Spanish signage and 120 bilingual employees. There is a pharmacy and a financial-services department for money orders and wire transfers of funds.

The stores reflect the unique characteristics of the Hispanic market. According to demographic research, Hispanics buy significantly more fresh produce, dairy and meat products than non-Hispanics, they have larger families with more children and honor family and public occasions with celebrations.

A study of Hispanic buying power by Oklahoma State University found that Hispanic households spend a larger portion of their household incomes on food - $128.50 per week compared with $91 for non-Hispanics. They also make considerably more trips to the grocery store - 4.7 per week, more than double non-Hispanics. The frequent trips provide retailers with more opportunities to sell.

Source: International Supermarket News

Terra will manage all ad sales and share exclusive content with MiGente.com — the Hispanic-American social network owned by Interactive One parent company Radio One. MiGente.com claims an audience of about 3.2 million U.S. users.

by Gavin O’Malley

Along with catering to core audiences, Terra is “providing advertisers with the opportunity to effectively access the second- and third-generation of bilingual U.S. Hispanics,” said Fernando Rodríguez, CEO for Terra USA.

Interactive One was launched two years ago by Radio One to complement its existing portfolio of media companies, which reach a mainly African-American audience.

Just last month, the interactive division named former Napster chief technology officer, David Wolfe, as its new chief product and operating officer.

While the Terra partnership was in the works prior to Wolfe’s appointment, he has been tasked with creating “innovative Web products,” and driving the strategy of the company’s portfolio, which also includes the social-networking site BlackPlanet, news site NewsOne, and the entertainment site Urban Daily.

Terra Latin America, the parent of Terra USA, claims roughly 60 million unique monthly visitors worldwide.

source: MediaPost

Published: March 30, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Mired in debt and falling ad sales, Univision Communications posted a 7.8% drop in net revenue, to $502.1 million, for the fourth quarter of 2008 and a net loss of $1.99 billion, compared with a net loss of $201.5 million for the same period in 2007.

For the full year, the Spanish-language media company reported a 2.5% decline in 2008 net revenue to $2 million. Univision’s full-year net loss for 2008 was $5.1 billion, compared with $314.9 million in 2007.

For Univision, the recession is not only slashing ad revenue but also making it harder for the company to pay back the enormous debt load it took on when a consortium of investors bought Univision for $12.3 billion in 2007 at the height of the highly leveraged private-equity boom.

On a conference call to discuss the company’s results with analysts, Andrew Hobson, Univision’s chief financial officer, said several times that the company had made a $385 million debt repayment today. At the end of 2008, Univision’s long-term debt stood at just more than $10 billion.

Accounting for the loss
The 2008 net loss came largely from impairments the company took on assets and $610.8 million from settling a lawsuit in January 2009 with Univision’s main program provider, Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa. Most of the charge for the settlement relates to the free airtime Univision will provide Televisa for the next nine years, until the long-term programming agreement between the two companies ends in 2017. Other charges included investment losses of $162.9 million and restructuring charges of $45 million, including the most recent round of layoffs, in early 2009, when the post of chief marketing officer was eliminated.

Asked about the first quarter, which ends today, Mr. Hobson said, “The first quarter has been tough, and we expect the year to be tough, with weakness to be driven by auto and retail.”

Auto advertising was Univision’s biggest-spending category last year but had fallen to fourth by the last quarter of 2008, trailing retail, telecommunications and consumer package goods, he said. In the fourth quarter, Univision’s car advertising fell 41%, he said.

“In some of our markets, as many as 40% of local dealers have closed down,” he said.

In retail, among the best-performing categories in the fourth quarter, advertisers spent 3% more, and telecommunications and fast-food restaurants, the fifth-biggest-spending category, were both up 8%, Mr. Hobson said.

Getting ready for round two
Round two of the battle between Univision and Televisa will begin later this month. The two companies are still squabbling over who should get the U.S. digital-media rights to the Televisa programming Univision airs in the U.S. Since digital media didn’t really exist when the long-term programming agreement was signed in the 1990s, both companies claim the rights should belong to them. Unless they can resolve the issue out of court in the next three weeks, a trial will start April 21 in a Los Angeles court in front of the same judge, Philip Gutierrez, who presided over the January court case that was settled in mid-trial.

During the call with analysts, Univision’s chief operating officer, Ray Rodriguez, emphasized that Univision continues to add viewers, unlike the English-language TV networks.

“Univision was the only network to grow among adults 18 to 49 during the fourth quarter,” he said. For the first time, Univision became the fourth network among the 18-to-34 segment in 2007, ahead of CBS, he said.

“We’ve been told by advertisers that the Hispanic population is one of the few bright spots, and we continue to see growth in viewership,” he said.

The business, which will not launch with a founding client, will offer integrated advertising as well as traditional above-the-line creative.

Geoffrey Hamilton-Jones, the managing director of the Ogilvy Group in Sao Paulo, will launch the agency as its president.

The creative department will be run by Virgilio Neves, the former executive creative director at Ogilvy, and Lilian Lovisi, the creative director from Ogilvy’s 141.

Patricia Weiss, who has also worked at the Ogilvy Group, will take over the agency’s new-business duties.

Moray MacLennan, the chief executive of M&C Saatchi Worldwide, who spearheaded the launch, said: “We admire the creativity found in Brazilian ad agencies. Obviously, having a presence in Latin America’s target market considerably improves our chances of working on international and global business.”