• Ken Muench says:

  August 19, 2010 at 8:34 pm

  Adrenalina was “absorbed” by Kirshenbaum (spelling?), which leaves cpb without an Hispanic arm. And these last 2 weeks, cpb has been calling up every Hispanic creative at good shops trying to recruit them for the Denver office. Which to me sounds like BK simply folded Hispanic and AA into cpb based on promises that they could at least handle some level of work. Doesn’t seem like a recipe for success. I would have to guess that multicultural has probably been de-prioritized.

  And furthermore, I’m guessing that this was the case because among BK’s core target (High Frequency Users), only 50% are white…while another 40%+ are English speakers (Hispanic, AA, Asian), leading cpb to come up with some sort of holistic approach to the market (vs a “white” approach). But sounds like smoke and mirrors if they don’t have the creative/planners etc to back up the (supposed) claim that they have a holistic approach.

  But…I guess we’ll see…!

  Not a good harbinger for the industry though…
• Jose Villa says:

  August 20, 2010 at 11:05 am

  Thanks for the intel and perspective Ken… The value of a brilliant planner cannot be measured!

  Saludos,
• Somebody says:

  August 20, 2010 at 9:19 pm

  The Hispanic market is no longer that important to Burger King? I don’t think so. Hispanic agencies are folding into the GM agencies because it makes more sense. Why pay two agencies where you can have it all in one? Why advertising is the one industry that segregation is still a fact? Hispanics are mainstream, they don’t have to work in ghettos. If your work is word-class, it will cross culture barriers. It’s time for the melting pot to melt. Sorry for all the mediocre Hispanic agency types who are going to lose their job over this. Besides, Hispanic creative was never up to par with neither GM nor other Latin American markets.
• MC says:

  August 26, 2010 at 1:12 pm

  There are a lot of people working in the hispanic market who got their experience in countries where there is great creativity like Argentina and Spain, not all spanish speaking countries have mediocre creative. And there is also people that has worked as planners in other regions than Latin America, people that has worked in Europe, they will certainly not lose jobs, specially if they speak three or four languages, they will get jobs in those GM agencies going for the Hispanic market.
• AM says:

  August 30, 2010 at 5:49 pm

  Its incredible how people really still associate Hispanic and Multicultural work/agencies as “mediocre” or sub par. I can assure you that some of the best talent and work is being produced by 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanics (along with others of course), and this doesnt mean their work cant live in today’s general market either. I do agree that there is a huge crossover potential when developing well thought out communication strategies (its what we do), but Hispanic roots and true insights are very valuable, and not easily just replaced with one “do-it-all” voice. Just because Hispanics dont all live in ghettos, doesnt mean they are not Hispanic. Tell that to the majority of BK restaurants owners and operators, many which are 1st generation and 2nd generation Hispanics themselves (along with a huge chunk of their costumers). I just find it ironic how “somebody” can mention how progressive this consolidation act may be, when their comments are so cliche in many aspects. And by the way, world class doesnt always translate into results, many times it just means it cost you a lot of money!
• Tito Zamalloa says:

  September 9, 2010 at 1:08 pm

  Beyond the rhetorical integrated and segregated topics, the ultimate measure of effective agency partnership will be how strategic and important the HCM is to the companies pursuing it. ALL Latinos are not absolutely integrated into mainstream nor are they just recent immigrants, so yes, it depends. Let’s stop the cop outs on both ends and look at the biz from a strategic POV where the resources will be most efficiently used.
• Lou Lozada says:

  September 23, 2010 at 3:16 pm

  Dear Somebody,

  What is a “mainstream hispanic?” Is it me – a surfing, ice hockey playing, rock musician who knows next to nothing about soccer or salsa dancing – cause I know plenty of people like me and also plenty who are my polar opposites?

  AM touches on an interesting point – that a lot of good work is being done by 2nd and 3rd generation hispanics. This may be true – it certainly is in my case – but it also forms the basis of my primary criticism of the HCM agencies: there are not ENOUGH true hispanics (meaning latinos raised as U.S. hispanics) in the HCM agencies.

  All the talent is imported from somewhere else – Colombia, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, etc.

  I’m not going to say that there aren’t some VERY good creatives from these countries – I myself have worked with a few of them during my time in the HCM – but what does someone from Argentina know about the U.S. hispanic market?

  As I child, I grew up watching not just “Sesame Street,” but also “Villa Alegre” (hell, I can still SING the theme song, to this day) and later on, “Que Pasa, U.S.A.?” All very insightful shows about their respective cultures.

  Insight like this cannot be extracted from a brief. It has to be lived.

  So while I would love to agree with you – you’re wrong. World-class work will NOT cross all cultural barriers.

  And as far as the mediocre work – I can think of several campaigns that started off as HCM work, but the client loved so much, they replaced GCM work to run the hispanic spots/ads in their place.

  The truth is that until we treat a very dynamic market with the respect and HONESTY it deserves (cause I don’t know anything about the life of the 20-something-year-old raised in Hialeah, which is only minutes from where I live – much less a Chicago hispanic or a West Coast latino), things like this will continue to happen.

  And I’m not even going to condemn it. We all need to adapt to the needs of the market and the needs of corporate America.

  But hey – maybe you want to start by using your real name next time.

You must be logged in to post a comment.