On June 10th, NYC celebrated the much famed (remember that Seinfeld episode) National Puerto Rican Day Parade. Here’s some great video I found on youtube. Although I stand to give Latinos a bad name for helping popularize this content, I just couldn’t help the pop culture appeal this has.It’s funny and explores the creativity that the Newyoricans experience come parade day.
What I found the most intriguing was the fact that even Old Navy has gotten “local” and supports the event by selling PR flagged t-shirts much like the ones they made famous for July 4th. That’s a statement or is that left over inventory from the island?
It speaks for itself.Viva Puerto Rico! However, this parade is considered the most destructive the city sees. Is that a shocker?
In a move that hopefully won’t land the movie in a vault like Song of the South, Disney has announced it’s next Latino surprise and new animated feature titled “South of the Border”. The movie is about a little Chihuahua from Beverly Hills that gets lost while traveling south of the Rio Grande set to star none other than Drew Barrymore.
Its Latino counterparts include another Chihuahua played by comedian George Lopez; a ‘spirit guide’ that helps Barrymore’s character find her Latino roots played by Salma Hayek; an ex K-9 german sheperd played by Andy Garcia, and other unidentified breeds played by Cheech Marin, opera singer Plácido Domingo among others. Some already holding Disney contracts…others, like Lopez, having just lost one. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a really cool presentation that a friend found and shared regarding social media. I think it should serve as a wake up call to the Hispanic market although the learnings are from the general market. It should serve as a roadmap of what is to come. However, we are obviously not as jaded as the general market when it comes to trust and messaging as stated in the presentation. As our market remains mostly traditional in its approach, the evolution will occur fast and furious so it will be survival of the fittest. I call it the global warming of the Hispanic market.
Well, the future is here. These social trends and technologies are affecting the more acculturated portions of our market; starting with our youth. In order to communicate with them, we will need to begin to acknowledge these mediums as viable marketing channels. Will you (agency or advertiser) be a fossil or a survivor?
Here is a nice historical overview and some nice comments from the red carpet at the 2007 Alma Awards hosted by none other than Latina sweetheart Eva Longoria.
They are really making a big effort to make this a big event, another surprise Disney has in store for the Hispanic market. Although the event went dark for 2004/2005 as it tried to reinvent and define itself and seems to have come back for the second year with more star power than ever. It has even returned with a major automotive sponsor - none other than my former client General Motors’ Chevrolet division. Read the rest of this entry »
I normally don’t cover international ads; however, since Matt Lauer and the Today Show went to Cuba this week and we had the posting on Cane (the new Cuban CBS Show) I figured I would keep the spirit and end the week the same. I was also reading Latin-know and Mi blog es tu blog by a fellow Hispanic bloggers and found their posts about the controversy over an Iberia spot from Spain not only insightful and comical, but very fitting to the theme.
If any of you in the industry have ever tried to make the crossover from Hispanic marketing to the general market you’ll know that it’s not very easy. Many general market agencies see Hispanic marketing and agencies as a nuisance often having to compete for budgets, production money and creative control.
Often, you hear Clients telling their general market agencies they should plan and implement diversity in their agencies so that it may be reflected in their work product (strategy & creative) - as standard operating procedure. For years, the ad world has ignored these requests. This, in turn, has made Hispanic agency growth prolific, but integration far from reality.
Personally, I am a HUGE Food Network junkie.And although Latinos have been represented on the network by Venezuelan-born Ham on the Street host George Duran, the themes have never really been Latino focused.Aside from the occasional “taco dinner night” by Paula Deen or a “paella with a twist” by Giada De Laurentiis, there has never been any real “home cooked” Hispanic meals.Until Colombian-born and Miami-transplant Ingrid Hoffman was signed on. They recently showcased her at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in February; which has become a huge and pricey celeb-fest here in Miami.It’s amazing to see how many shows they shot here that week.
Her new show “Simply Delicioso,” will be airing Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. beginning July 14, Hoffman will take her place as the network’s first Latina host.She comes to the Food Network from a cable show Delicioso on Galavision and segments on Univision’s Despierta America.There are many Spanish-language stars who have tried to cross over to English but have not always successfully.But media experts think Hoffmann, 42, has a shot. For starters, food is common ground for all cultures.Now that’s very insightful…NOT!
According to Bob Tuschman, the Food Network’s senior vice-president for programming and production, Hoffmann’s success in Spanish underscores her appeal. He said the network was impressed by her take on Latin food. “Ingrid has a sparkling personality, a breezy way of making cooking approachable and a passion to take classics and give them a Latin twist,” he wrote in an e-mail. Read the rest of this entry »
This blog was developed to discuss issues affecting Hispanic marketing today. It is also intended to offer a fresh perspective different from the scripted media coverage currently being offered in the industry.
