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HISPANIC MARKET OVERVIEW 2019 Powered by HispanicAd.com
‘CULTURE DRIVEN’: THE NEW HISPANIC PROMISE
In February 2018, a big-name change was seen for an organization that cut its teeth on serving as the Voice of Hispanic Marketing.
That’s still an integral part of the mission statement of what is now the Culture Marketing Council, which professes to be the only national trade organization representing the entire Hispanic marketing, communications and media industry.
Have there been any tangible results seen by the name change from AHAA, originally known as the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies?
You bet, says Horacio Gavilán, the CMC’s Executive Director.
He’s had a front seat to the changes that driven the Council; these changes are also highly impacting veteran Hispanic market pros, who are rapidly adapting to the ever-morphing ways clients wish to reach the Latino consumer.
On the surface, the change to Culture Marketing Council was done,
Gavilán says, “to get people to better understand who we were and understand that the industry was changing. But, still using AHAA, it was hard to get people to think differently.”
Thus, Gavilán and AHAA embarked on a three-year journey that eventually resulted in the rebranding of the group formed in 1996.
“We wanted to make sure people didn’t think we were just about advertising agencies,” Gavilán says. “Now, it includes agencies, media companies, research companies and consultants.”
It makes sense. As the 2010s nears its conclusion, one can look back at a decade that saw massive modifications – largely thanks to “total market” buying, planning, creative and similar moves that in many cases were done out of efficiencies, rather than a boldly new effective marketing opportunity.
As far as the use of the word Culture, this goes far in demonstrating how Hispanic marketing is no longer about language. The marketplace has evolved.
“With culture, it is about insights, and getting to the heart of this consumer,” Gavilán says.
Industry cognoscenti who first learned of the 2018 name change of AHAA to CMC had no objections, based on a similar belief.
“The moment I told people this is the new name, the result was ‘oooh I get it,’” Gavilán notes. “That’s when I knew we chose the right name and it exactly what we needed to be. Changing names is hard – you have a legacy. People know who you were. But it was old and dated and not where the industry is today. The change allowed us to get a more diverse membership.”
And, in a testament to just how different the marketplace is today, “general market” agencies are members.