Think Multicultural

Today we have a special guest blogger, Diane Salcido from Admixture:

I was having breakfast in a Cuban restaurant on Calle Ocho and overheard a conversation involving three people, all Hispanic, in the booth next to mine.

There was an older gentleman – gray hair, wire frame glasses, bow tie, probably seventy-something – and a woman maybe in her 40’s facing me. It sounded as if they were trying to recruit a younger man (his back was to me) for a mid or upper level job.

The young recruit seemed to have some reservations regarding a man already with the organization.

The older gentleman responded in Spanish, “No, no, you will not have to worry about him. He will be gone soon. He does not want to move forward or go with new ideas.” “For instance, let me read you this email he sent me this morning”, said the older gentleman as he pulled out his blackberry…

I sure wished I would have had a camera at that moment! I spend a lot of time convincing people that Hispanics are online. This abuelito with his white hair and bow-tie is definitely proof that Hispanics, of every age, are online.

Diane Salcido is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Admixture. She can be reached at diane [at] admixturenetwork [dot] com

The Tribble Ad Agency (it’s a blog, not a real agency) did a nice job of trying to break down the difference between all the fancy new kinds of advertising that everybody wants to get into. I don’t entirely agree with some of their definitions, but applaud the effort.

As a practicing professional in the Hispanic digital media industry I’m really excited to see significant participation of digital companies in the upcoming AHAA conference. This makes perfect sense given that Hispanic digital advertising continues to establish its importance in the industry… Hell, even the title of this year’s conference (:CTRL/ALT/DEL_reboot for the future) makes a reference to the use of computers!

However, I’m very disappointed to see that the list of nominees for the “Media Planning Executive” award does not include any individuals that focus on interactive work. In fact, with the possible exception of Caleb Windover, none of the nominees can be considered an expert in the Hispanic digital space (which by the way means more than doing a CPM buy on Univision.com).
Given that last year’s AHAA conference in Chicago was all about interactive, I find this to be a tremendous setback for the Hispanic digital advertising industry.

Are there really no digital media planners worthy of a nomination? With a list of nominees that is made up of leaders in the traditional advertising space (congratulations by the way!), it seems to me like the “reboot” theme didn’t take at least when it came to the “Media Planning Executive” award nominations. I urge executives in the digital media planning industry to come forward and get noticed, you deserve it.

On a happier note, I want to congratulate Rafael Urbina for being nominated under the “Media Executive” category. Batanga is a great example of a digital property that has certainly made more than a splash in the Hispanic advertising industry.