Think Multicultural

CNNMoney.com has an article about the new ad network that Forbes announced recently. The article discusses how Forbes’ effort is an attempt by a traditional media company to compete with the online advertising clout wielded by the big guys such as Yahoo and Google.

It also discusses how some of the “ad networks” created by traditional media companies are pretty much just a collection of a few sites that will have a hard time competing with the large collections of inventory and data that the ad networks possess.

Also last week, it was announced that Apple passed Wal-Mart in music sales to become the biggest US music retailer. This despite the fact that the labels have done everything they can to break Apple’s stranglehold on online music sales and explosive growth, including teaming with Wal-Mart to launch a rival online music store.

To paraphrase what a venture capitalist friend of mine said on a panel last Friday, innovation rarely takes place in big companies. Despite the wealth of capital they possess, they just don’t have the creativity.

Way back sometime in September, the New York times did a profile of John Gallegos from Grupo Gallegos.

The article does a decent job of talking about the attractiveness of the Hispanic market overall and the Hispanic ad market in particular.

The story includes this quote by Gallegos on why anyone would advertise to the low-income Hispanic demographic, which makes the case for the Hispanic market as well as any I’ve heard:

“You ask: the guy who just came across the border with a coyote, do I want to go after him, too? Well, he’s going to get a job. He’s going to work. He’s going to start buying products and contributing to the economy. So while he might not be viable for a Mercedes today, I can introduce you to people who came here illegally or legally, with nothing, and are now driving a Mercedes. Advertising is aspirational. I want to aim ahead of where my audience is. Unless it’s the equivalent of beef to Hindus, I always say, any product and any service should be sold to Latinos in this country.”

He’s right. Although not all Hispanics drive new cars and buy Playstations right now, one of the reasons that many Hispanics immigrate to the US is because it gives them the opportunity to aspire to those things.

There’s a funny part later in the article where, although the article is ostensibly about how the Hispanic market is maturing and Hispanics are a growing sector of the US economy, the NYTimes reporter still feels the need to phonetically spell out how to say “Gallegos.” Pretty funny.

The end of the article is by far the strongest part. The reporter asks whether bilingualism and biculturalism in the Hispanic market will disappear the way it has in other American cultures and subcultures. The example she uses is that of Yiddish print ads from the early 20th century that were in both English and Yiddish, similar to a lot of the Spanglish ads you see today. As Hispanics become a larger and more mainstream part of the US economy and culture, will the Spanish language come with them into the mainstream? Will Spanish-speaking Hispanics become the norm in the US and spread to the rest of the country, or will today’s Hispanic children and their children after them embrace English and leave their Spanish roots behind them? What then of Hispanic advertising? The same fate as Yiddish ads for Woodbury’s Hair Tonic?

Today I feel like I’m 23 again. Today feels a lot like September 29, 1999. On that day, I was caught up in all of the excitement, nervousness, and anticipation tied to the launch of my first business. The company was called TuRumbo.com - a bilingual network of online Hispanic city guides. The company was the brainchild of me and a group of college friends who were all passionate about Hispanic culture and excited to jump on the Internet startup bandwagon.

Today, I got the chance to do that all over again - sort of. Today I launched Sensis - a new name and identity for the interactive agency I have been running for the last 8 years (Focus Multimedia). I know - it’s not the same, but it sure feels similar. The launch revolves around a new Web site - sensisagency.com - and an exciting new brand our agency has been working on for almost 6 months.

Man, this feeling is intoxicating. There is nothing quite like it.

First, the satisfaction after having worked so hard for so long. We first decided to change our name back in April. Since then, we have gone through an exhaustive series of steps, starting with selecting a name, then a logo, and a business system. Then came the Web site - the creative concepts, the site maps, the mockups, the copy plan. Then the thousands of little things - ranging from our new emails to changing the caller ID on our phones!

Then there is the anticipation factor. What will people think about the new name, the new logo, the new Web site? Will the Web site track a lot of page views. How many people will check out the blogs (and this read this blog?) How many people will read the Press Release?

Lastly, the excitement about the future. A launch signals the beginning of a journey. In our case a new beginning. What will the agency look like a year from today? The client list? The employees? So much to look forward to…

Don’t get me wrong - when we launch a big campaign for a client or a major Web site redesign, it’s extremely exciting and fulfulling. But it’s different. The emotions are stronger. It’s just a more intense experience.

It’s also nice to have a few years of experience under my belt this time around. I may not know much, but I know a lot more than I did back in 1999.

Most importantly, it’s nice to know that I haven’t lost the optimistic enthusiasm of a naive entrepreneur. I need to do this more often…