HispanicTrending

Texas Companies Share Uses of Social Media in Brand Management at Interactive Austin 2009

April 16, 2009
Press Release

Austin, Texas - Growing participation from Houston, Dallas, San Antonio companies builds support for the second annual conference of Interactive Austin 2009 , "How Social Media Can Enhance Enterprise Profitability.” Recognized nationally as a growing social media center, Austin will be hosting companies from across the state as they gather to share their expertise in using social media for brand management.

Business District Magazine’s one-day conference is designed to bring the use of social web technologies down-to-earth. The event hosts compelling dialogues and case studies from prestigious speakers and panelists who are the thought leaders in the field of web marketing and social media.

Texas companies are being drawn to the event to hear globally-recognized business strategist and Web 2.0 architect, Dion Hinchcliffe open the conference with a keynote on “Reinventing Business with Web 2.0.” The theme of this year’s conference is to explore how social media expands business activities online, helping companies to survive and thrive during the current economic times.

BMC Software headquartered in Houston will be represented at the event by William Hurley (whurley) chief architect and chairman of the open management consortium, who will open the afternoon session with his keynote, “Future Technology Trends and their Impact on Business and Culture

Southwest Airlines’ Christi Day, emerging media specialist, will provide case studies on how the airline has learned to meet their consumers online through the use of social media. San Antonio Express-News columnist, Alan Weinkrantz, known for his expertise in using social media along with traditional public relations practices, will participate in the social media strategies panel at the event.

“With Texas so well represented at this year’s event”, states Jason Myers, editor of Business District Magazine, “we anticipate the Interactive Austin conference becoming of national interest next year. We welcome thought leadership from every city to meet with us in Austin annually to learn of global technologies that unite us all.”

Supporting Austin organizations include the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, the Austin Technology Council, the Austin Interactive Marketing Association, Bootstrap Austin, Leadership Austin and door64 encourage local businesses to attend the event to better understand how to grow their businesses online.

”FG SQUARED is committed in bringing the thought leadership together to maintain the sharing of knowledge at Interactive Austin,” states Steve Golab, president and CEO of FG SQUARED, the title sponsor and driver of the event, “The use of social media in brand management and web marketing can improve profitability for companies as they expand their business presence online.”

Program, speakers, sponsor packages, exhibit details and on-line registration – are available at www.InteractiveAustin2009.com.

Exclusive for Hispanic Trending Readers:
Use code JT100 to get $25 off online registration.

See you there!

A Wise Investment: Reach Out to Latino Speed Fans Through Rueda Racing’s Multimedia, Highly Interactive Strategy.

Since 2005, I’ve been telling you about my friend Ed Rueda and his dream of making NASCAR an important part of Latinos' sports realm. In 2006 I made my case on why that would be a wise investment. 2007 was the year when Ed’s Rueda Racing was born.

What was only a dream in one man’s mind back then, now in early 2009 has become a full fledged reality:

Rueda Racing is fully established and this year will field a team in the NASCAR Camping World West Series, the NASCAR Western States Late Model Series, and a satellite team in the USAC Western States Series.

Not only does Rueda Racing has a diverse roster of drivers in Carlos Contreras, Mike Gallegos, Quintin Crye and Darin Martinez-Stahl, but they have landed a deal with the producers behind Wife Swap and the Two Coreys (RDF USA) to air a docu-drama television show highlighting the behind the scenes of Rueda Racing (March – November , 2009).

Combine this with a road show that will put your brand face to face with hundreds of thousands of potential Hispanic customers, and tell me what is there not to like about this deal…

Interested? Email me for more information on how to get your brand on Ed’s Cars. You’ll see that ROIs like these are scarce, to say the least.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!!!

Last Call for Entries in the 2009 Ogilvy Awards!

Entry Deadline is January 12, 2009.

Don’t miss your final opportunity to submit an entry into the 2009 David Ogilvy Awards – the only advertising industry awards that recognize and celebrate the critical role of consumer research.
Remember, each entry should include:

1. Business Situation and Campaign Objectives
A summary of the business objectives, the marketing strategy, and budget.

2. Research Story
Explain how research was key to the campaign success, including the types of research, the analysis, and how the insights were used to create the campaign.

3. Campaign Description
Describe the campaign, including target audience(s), media plan, creative executions, and dates in-market. Campaign creative is required.

4. Business Results
Quantitative evidence that the objectives of the campaign were achieved (proprietary data can be disguised).

Enter now »

The Awards

The 2009 winners will be honored at our 55th Annual ARF Convention + Expo on March 31st at the David Ogilvy Awards Gala to be held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square, New York. Register now and save.

Companies eye Hispanic market with holiday-season campaigns

December 5, 2008
By Kimberly Maul
 
A number of companies are reaching out to Hispanics with tailored campaigns this holiday season.

 
Holiday campaigns that tap into family togetherness and culture are a strong way to attract Hispanic consumers, said Armando Azarloza, president of The Axis Agency, a Los Angeles-based multicultural agency which focuses on Hispanic PR.
 
“Given the fact that a large number of Hispanics are Catholic or Christian, and Christmas being a Christian holiday, it gives tremendous opportunity for companies to connect from a cultural perspective,” he added. “The dollar-and-cents piece is that Hispanics tend to have larger families and there are gifts that have to be bought.”
 
Among the companies is Western Union, which is encouraging consumers to send money, rather than spend it.
 
Working with Hispanic AOR The Jeffrey Group for its “Cash is King” year-end campaign, Western Union's effort includes a microsite, media outreach, and radio spots with spokeswoman Ana Maria Canseco, of Univision's morning show Despierta America.
 
Canseco made an appearance at a Los Angeles event on December 4, which launched the Hispanic holiday campaign and wrapped up another Western Union Hispanic program, Project Roots.
 
Western Union decided to execute specific Hispanic outreach as a part of this campaign “because there is high loyalty to the brand and there is a long relationship,” with its Hispanic customers, said Raul Duany, the company's director of communications for Latin America and the Caribbean. He explained that many Hispanic families send money to those outside of the US.
 
And, by pitching cash as the perfect gift, Western Union is expanding its reach beyond “migrant workers or people who have an emergency,” added Duany.
 
“We continue to be fortunate enough to rely on loyal consumers,” he said. “So what we're trying to do is expand that to consumers who may not otherwise use [Western Union to send money].”
 
Coca-Cola also tapped into Hispanic culture for its Live Positively Holiday Parade. Based on a program the company has been running in Mexico for ten years, the US event will take place in Los Angeles on December 13.
 
Working with Atlanta-based Precise Communications on the project, Coca-Cola is reaching out to LA-area print, broadcast, and online media in both Spanish and English, said Gorki De Los Santos, a Hispanic and multicultural PR coordinator at Coca-Cola.
 
“The Hispanic community is a very important market for Coca-Cola North America,” he noted. “We wanted to give the city of Los Angeles a gift during the holidays.”
 
Price messaging is also important for the Hispanic community, especially during this time, because it will drive loyalty, said Sonia Sroka, VP of Hispanic marketing at Porter Novelli. Companies can then tap into the “Hispanic spending power [that] continues to grow year over year,” she added.
 
“In the long run, Hispanics will develop a sense of loyalty to the brands that have helped them out,” Sroka said.
 
JCPenney combined messaging of affordable gifts and spending time with loved ones in its “Joy of Giving” campaign, which includes a specific Hispanic component.
 
The Vidal Partnership, JCPenney's US Hispanic AOR, worked to create Spanish-language vignettes, which will air on Univision and Telemundo, as well as the “Joy Cartoons,” which focus on a family's joy as they exchange gifts and will appear on several Spanish-language Hispanic networks.

“Particularly this year, we all know that it's tough for everybody,” said Olivia Vela, multicultural marketing director at JCPenney, “[The campaign] really gets at what the season should be all about: the joy of being able to give to the people who are a part of your life.”

Source: PR Week

Hispanic Marketing Trends: 2009 and Beyond

November 23, 2008
By Felipe Korzenny, Ph.D.

An interesting future for Hispanic marketing in the United States, full of "dualities" and opportunities. The future is indeed bright. While the media propagates bad news as their way of attracting attention, they ignore the positive trends in the economy. Hispanic marketing is one of them.

1. Economic crises are not new to Hispanics… Hispanics should be more optimistic in comparison to other cultural groups, thus leading the recovery with optimism

2. On the other hand migration misinformation and increasing discrimination are setting a negative tone for the role of Hispanics in the US

3. As a consequence of the above marketers should emphasize achievements and contributions of Hispanics to raise self esteem and build brand equity

4. Faster acculturation. Marketers should place more emphasis on what unites Hispanics beyond language. More leadership potential and higher aspirations for the future can mean a major transformation

5. Identifying the core of the new and emergent multicultural society… third culture…

6. A growing emphasis in communicating in Culture, while communicating in language will stabilize

7. A stronger emphasis on lifestyle segmentation as opposed to sheer acculturation

8. Increasing cross-over from Hispanic products and brands to the overall population… the Hispanization of America

9. Increased used of technology, particularly the Internet… over indexing in several categories… and this goes for all emerging minorities--- Hispanics are leading in the use of social media, and social media marketing is a great vehicle for incorporating Hispanic sensitive brands in the culture

10. Better appreciation of the consumer bicultural chemistry in the home… English and Spanish incorporated in the decision making… more collective than individual decision making

11. Almost 2 million Hispanic owned businesses… more of a focus on BtoB

12. Integrating marketing efforts in corporations and avoiding the marginalization of ethnic marketing… targeting needs to be more inclusive and precise

13. More cause marketing… as these consumers are increasingly green and socially aware

14. The future is in grassroots and high-touch marketing

Source: Marketing Trends in a New Multicultural Society

Five Lessons I Learned at Starbucks

November 24, 2008
By Mark Tewart

I just finished speaking at a conference in San Francisco and I find myself writing this article sitting by a window next to the street in a busy Starbucks close to Union Square. It’s funny what you can learn when you take the time to really observe and listen. I would like to share the five lessons I learned at Starbucks.

Lesson #1 – Make sure you ask for the business. I have just watched a beggar collect at least $5 worth of donations in the last half hour with a sign that says – “I am saving up for a hooker, weed, wine and a steak dinner.” Not one of the people bothered to read his sign and know what they were even donating for. Not the family man with his wife and children, not the group of older people probably in their 80s, not the business man in the suit, nobody. The beggar obviously learned the power of asking, no matter what.

Lesson #2 – It’s not the money. People pile into Starbucks one after another spending three and four bucks on of a cup coffee. Obviously you can get a cup of coffee at a diner down the street for a lot less money. But yet, people willingly spend a $100 per month or more at Starbucks. Why?

People are buying the experience and the perception of the brand. I am sitting here writing this article in a busy Starbucks and people watching when I could be in the quiet and seclusion of my nice hotel room. The person in the seat next to me is listening to music on an iPod when they could obviously do it for free in the Square with a less expensive cup of coffee. The gentleman in the big living room type chair is reading a novel. People want the experience. Understand your customer and the value they want and the money will become less important. The big three U.S. auto manufacturers give huge rebates, and imports are still kicking their butts. It’s not about the money.

Lesson #3 – Change the process to win. I am watching out the window as people scurry on the streets. The whole world is moving faster today; the Internet, news, businesses and people in general are moving faster and faster.

People will willingly pay lots of money for a process that either speeds things up or slows things down. Although many people want things and processes that speed things up, just as many are fighting brain drain because of all the speed and want to slow things down. Change your process with your customers in mind, sell your unique advantage and experience to the customer and they will pay for the process.

Lesson #4 – Change the wrapping. I am staying at a smaller but kind of funky and cool hotel here in San Francisco. Because I travel so much and stay in so many look-a-like chain hotels, it’s a treat to stay somewhere unique. In the last several years there has been a big push towards dealers upgrading and improving their facilities.

Because I am in and out of so many dealerships it’s nice when you see a dealership that has tried to put a unique touch to their dealership.

Have you ever visited a McDonalds in a city with strict requirements that made McDonalds change their normal outside appearance to be in tune with the local environment and culture? Chances are it made you look twice and say “Oh that’s cool, a Non-McDonalds McDonalds.” It does not have to cost a lot of money to be unique and appealing in your environment. Although the manufacturers have their requirements and would like every dealership to be the same, manufacturers don’t sell vehicles and they don’t always understand retailing. You are a local or regional brand more than a national brand.

Lesson #5 – The money is in the niche. Watching traffic go by in San Francisco makes you understand the wide array of cultures, diversity and multitude of options people desire in their choices. I often watch in amazement as many dealers are lead by advertising agencies to spend vast sums of money trying to be everything to everyone with a generic non-benefit driven message.

I often think dealers would be better served to park their car across the street from their dealership and just watch for an hour. Next, I think dealers would be well served to drive the streets of where their customers live and just look at what they buy, what they do and who your customers really are.

Who knew you could learn so much at Starbucks?

Mark Tewart’s websites include: www.marktewartlive.com, www.marktewart.com and www.howtobeasalessuperstar.info

To read the first chapter of How to be a Sales Superstar and to receive several FREE bonuses from Mark Tewart, visit www.marktewartlive.com.

Convergence 2008: The roundtables Speaker Spotlight

November 5, 2008

Lisa Witter, of Fenton Communications, will be one of the roundtable speakers at the “Convergence 2008: The Roundtables” taking place in the CUNY Graduate Center on Wednesday, November 12, 2008.  Business Development Institute and PR Newswire have partnered together to organize this half day conference, which will highlight a number of speakers and roundtable discussions throughout the morning.

Lisa Witter serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Fenton Communications, the largest public interest communications firm in the country.  She is co-founder of SheSource.org, an organization of women experts striving to minimize the gender gap among commentators in the news media, and was honored as an expert on women’s issues by Oxygen.com.  As a blogger and political commentator, her work has appeared on MSNBC and FOX News, as well as in The New York Times.  She serves on the boards of Climate Counts, MomsRising.org, and Women for Women International.

Lisa is recognized as co-author of The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them, which will be the focus of her roundtable discussion. 

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.  For more information about Convergence 2008: The Roundtables, or to register, please visit: http://www.bdionline.com/convergence2008.

Plan To Live

My good friends from Red Square Agency have launched their first work for Stewart Enterprises a couple of days ago. (FYI: Stewart is the world's second largest provider of funerals and funeral services. They operate in 62 US markets and Puerto Rico.)

This first push is a promotion. Yes, you read that correctly. Red Square's Rich Sullivan & friends thought, "what if there was a funeral services company that focused on helping people live life to its fullest?"

"A concept focused on life is contrarian in the death care industry, for sure", says Sullivan. "We're counting on turning heads with all of our work for Stewart. The category is ripe for creativity".

The "Plan to Live Giveaway" asks people to ponder this: Life is short. What would make yours sweeter?

Red Square is asking people to tell them the one thing they want to do before they die (not quite so bluntly). All participants who share their dream of a lifetime have a chance to win $10,000 to use toward making that dream come true.

Visitors can also read what others would do, and some of the entries are pretty fascinating.

Have a look and share what you'd do: http://www.PlanToLiveGiveaway.com

Brand Tags' Noah Brier: How My Website Took Off

Note: Great article by my friend Noah!

From Late-Night Idea to 3 Million Page Views, Some Tips for Agencies and Clients

September 08, 2008
By Noah Brier

About six months ago, in the middle of the night, I had a very simple idea: If brands exist in people's heads, as I believe they do, then shouldn't you be able to ask a whole bunch of people what they think of a brand and then use tag clouds to display the results? After flipping the idea around in my brain for a few minutes, I decided it was a good enough reason to jump out of bed and make it happen.

Now, it should be noted that I'm no programming wizard. Only a few weeks before, I had started to teach myself PHP, a not-quite-programming language that allows you to build web applications, and MySQL, an open-source database software. What I did not have is years of building websites and apps, though that didn't matter much, as I quickly discovered through the rapid growth of Brand Tags, as this site would be called.

An hour and a half after buying the domain BrandTags.net (the dot-com version was taken), I had a working prototype with nine brands loaded in. It worked just as I had planned: A random logo popped up on the screen and asked you to type in the first word or phrase that popped into your head. After you hit submit, another logo would pop onscreen.

Quiet before the storm
I showed a few people, but mostly I let it sit collecting digital dust. I talked to a few folks about doing some design work on it or adding features, but mostly it simply sat there in its lonely corner of cyberspace, an idea that might or might not see the light of day.

Then May rolled around, and I was feeling guilty for not having written anything on my blog for a while. Rather than spend time finding something to write about, I decided I would release this little experiment as is. I wrote up a post in about five minutes and followed it by sending the brandtags.net link to a few friends as well. And, of course, I announced it on Twitter. This was all on a Friday.

Within minutes, the comments started to roll in. Over the weekend, I followed the momentum and continued to make adjustments and add features (including a backward guessing game dreamed up by my girlfriend and user profiles so that I could capture e-mail addresses for follow-up contact). The site was seeing some good traffic, and the tags were piling up. Then, late on Sunday evening, MetaFilter, a super-geeky community/group blog I'm a member of, picked it up. From there it spread quickly, getting picked up by big-time bloggers like Seth Godin and Kottke (the latter of which had always been a kind of secret nerd goal of mine) as well as the ad press. Even the mainstream press got in on the action, with one of the very first mentions showing up on a blog on the Wall Street Journal's website.

The momentum only continued from there. Over a single month, the site attracted about 200,000 visitors, totaling around 3 million page views and 1 million tags. For an idea that took me an hour and a half to build, it was an unmitigated success, and I have some fun plans for where to take it moving forward.

With that way-more-lengthy-than-I-originally-planned intro behind me, here are a few things I've learned, in no specific order:

It's a lot of work: I don't think people realize just how much work it is to actually live the launch-and-iterate mentality. Over the course of a month and a half, I have probably answered 5,000 Brand Tags-related e-mails, made hundreds of small and large changes to the site and commented on about a hundred blogs that wrote about the site. If I didn't have complete autonomy to make any changes or to represent the brand on a moment's notice, I have no idea if the site would have been as successful as it has been. In other words, if you're planning something like this, make sure you and your client have clear communication lines.

Nothing beats personal contact: I don't have any proof at all to back this up, but I believe in my heart that Brand Tags wouldn't have taken off if I hadn't responded to each and every e-mail I got. Those e-mails have been from people at agencies, brands, media outlets and everywhere else under the sun. They have been requests to add logos, ideas for new features or just friendly congratulations. My attitude is that if someone takes the time to e-mail me, I should take the time to e-mail them back. It's not always timely and it's definitely not scalable, but it just feels right. After all, without these people I wouldn't have gotten more than 1,000 blog links, nor would I have more than 600 brands in the system (most of them were sent in by people from brands or agencies who found the site).

Teach yourself some code: I recently read an article that suggested knowledge of code would be the literacy of the 21st century. I agree. Being able to get a computer to do what you want it to is an amazing strength. All of a sudden you're not reliant on others to bring your ideas to life. And it's really not that hard -- I taught myself in a few weeks without the help of books. As a friend of mine said to me a few years ago, if there's one thing the web knows, it's how to make the web. Any question you have has likely been answered and well documented on one of the thousands (millions?) of sites by and for the people who make the web. Plus, you don't have to be an expert, you just have to be able to bring your ideas to life.

Be ready for spam: If there's a way to game the system, people will find it. In the case of Brand Tags, spam is not that big a deal because at the moment it's just for fun (and in a way, tag clouds handle spam very well, because the things said most seldom appear the smallest). However, as I have moved forward I've had to work hard to think about ways to keep the results in as good shape as possible. If you're a brand, this should definitely be something you're considering. What are your contingency plans?

Source: AdAge

2nd Annual ADEx 2008 Advertising Industry Experienced Hire Diversity Recruiting Program

August 29, 2008

Are you an Experienced Professional in the Advertising and Communications Industry looking to advance your career?

Advertising Week, Business Development Institute, and Adrants, have once again partnered to produce AdEx: The Advertising Industry Experienced Hire Diversity Recruiting Program. This event will connect top agencies and marketers with experienced candidates from diverse backgrounds. Applicants will be pre-selected by leading agencies and brands to receive private invitations for informational recruiting sessions that will reveal career opportunities within the organizations.  Please note this is NOT a job fair but rather an opportunity for you to connect with individual employers in a private setting throughout Advertising Week 2008.

    * Apply to be recruited to attend the Advertising Industry Experienced Hire Diversity Recruiting program today free of charge.
    * Have the chance to meet with executive leadership from recruiting companies in discreet intimate groups.
    * Discover opportunities in leading agencies and marketers not available through posted job sites.
    * Be recruited by multiple employers in an efficient and confidential manner. Applicants will be pre-selected by recruiting companies to receive private invitations to attend informational recruiting sessions that will reveal career opportunities within the organizations.

** Please note that all applications will remain confidential For additional information and to apply for this event, please visit the website at: http://www.bdionline.com/adex2008

Date: September 22 - 26, 2008

Location:
World Wide Business Centres
575 Madison Avenue, New York, NY