I am extremely proud and excited to announce that our agency ranked No. 2 on Hispanic Business magazine’s list of the fastest growing Hispanic-owned businesses and earned a spot at No. 448 on the HB500, a list of top Hispanic-owned companies in the nation.

While our growth has been fueled by multiple internal and external factors (not the least of which is our amazing team of professionals), I think the trend in multicultural marketing towards digital platforms has helped validate our business model and provide us with some nice tailwinds to help spur our growth.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

So I did what any new media geek would do, I started an online ad campaign.

From Lost Cat in Austin

First , I put up a free website on Blogger with a picture of the kitty and a contact phone number and email address. Think of it as the new media version of the lost-kitty flyer that you see taped to telephone poles and mailboxes.

Second, I logged into my Google Adwords account*and bought a bunch of keywords such as cat, lost cat, gato, and so on. I created an ad saying that I had lost a cat and describing the neighborhood in Austin where the cat should be. I linked that to the website.

From Lost Cat in Austin

Finally, I logged into my Facbook Ads account**and created an ad with a little picture of the cat and a short description. I also linked that to the website.

From Lost Cat in Austin

The only problem was geotargeting. The most granular geotargeting that either Google or Facebook allowed was to “Austin.” If you’re not from Austin, it’s a pretty big town. My niece lives down in South Austin near Zilker park, so I didn’t want to advertise way up in the North Austin suburban sprawl. Zip code targeting would have been perfect. A couple of zip codes could have completely covered the possible range of a small gray cat.

When I was at Admixture, clients frequently demanded, and we delivered, zip code level targeting. Instead, the coverage I got from Google and Facebook was a couple of hundred square miles. Granular geotargeting is not technically difficult. They could do it if they wanted, but for some unknown business reason they don’t.

As it was, I burned through my small Facebook budget in about an hour without a single lead. Google performed better, as I didn’t burn up my budget and got one decent lead.

So for now, Facebook and Google aren’t granular enough for really easy, good local advertising. They will be someday, but not yet.

And Juliette eventually came home on her own, limping on a broken leg. She’s now on bed rest at the vet.

* Yes, I am a big enough nerd that I have a personal Adwords account.
** Yes, I am a big enough nerd that I have a personal Facebook Ads account.

Still not a journalist.

For me, this is a reaffirmation of two facts that I have always believed – that anything is possible and that anyone can achieve their dreams in this great country

I hope we as a country can ride this unprecedented wave of optimism to solve the many problems we face.

For those of us in the marketing and advertising industry, particularly within multicultural advertising, I hope you all are inspired by today’s events to face the challenges to our industry head-on, not lose faith, and believe firmly that we will achieve our goals this year!

God Bless America.

May the force be with you this Christmas!

We’ll be back to posting next week as we get ready for an exciting 2009!

Feliz Navidad,

Jose

On the other hand, we’ve discussed blog comment spam before. Lately, there is a Hispanic social network that is leaving a lot of comment spam on our site. Do you really think that a blog about interactive marketing is going to be dumb enough to let you get away with that?

It’s our policy to avoid naming names in these kinds of situations, but please stop.

Thanks

The movie is almost 100% in Spanish (with subtitles), while set in Los Angeles, CA. The cast included some very recognizable telenovela stars (even for a guy who hasn’t watched a novela since he moved out of his parents house). The cast includes Fernando Colunga (one of the biggest telenovela actors on Univision), Miguel Varoni (a leading telenovela and TV actor from Columbia), Julie Gonzalo (an Argentinean actress who has been in many U.S. films), Gabriel Soto (a popular Mexico telenovela star), and Saul Lisazo (another powerhouse telenovela actor from Mexico).

The movie is a basically a heist film, in the Ocean’s 11 tradition, set on the canvas of Latino immigrant life.

Now don’t worry, ThinkMulticultural is becoming a Latino movie review Web site! The reason I am talking about the film is that I think the producers of this film have figured out a formula to create a successful film targeted to U.S. Hispanics. This formula has some lessons that can be applied to Hispanic marketing and product development.

Here are some key things that made the film work:
- The producers used very popular telenovela stars – this made the movie look big budget (even though it wasn’t) and attractive to older Hispanic audiences (and their children, i.e. me) who enjoy or have seen popular telenovelas
- The film was set in Los Angeles, CA, not some village in Mexico or Buenos Aires – this made the plot more relevant to U.S. Hispanics
- The film portrays Latino immigrants in a very favorable light – even going so far as to make the immigrants the heroes of the film
- The movie is essentially an action film – which is always a big draw for guys
- The film had a very Latin beat and feel – the humor and sensibilities were very Hispanic
- “Ladron” utilized a pan-Latin American cast that included stars from Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela and Cuba (I know I really enjoyed the Cuban refugee character) – a small gesture to reach out the multitude of groups that make up the U.S. Hispanic market

I know a lot of people in Hollywood have been trying to crack the Latino market for years now – with little success. While this movie wasn’t a blockbuster (I read it made around $4 million and cost around $2 million to make), it did do well and I think the producers created a recipe that can be refined for future success.

I’m personally looking forward to more movies like “Ladron Que Roba Ladron.”

I’ll be back in July.

DA

“Man, I wish I had your job!”

I looked out the door and saw a regular looking guy standing there smiling at me. “You do?” I asked. I was about ready to give it to him.

“Yeah, man, it’s hot out there. I work on the roof. I’m fixing the roof.”

I realized that although I thought I was miserable and stressed and stewing, he saw me sitting in a comfortable chair with my feet up on the desk in an air conditioned office. Which was a pretty accurate description, it turns out.

Suddenly I wasn’t so miserable. Although the guy’s English wasn’t perfect, he was clearly a sharp guy and not so different from me, except that he was putting tar on the roof in hot, humid weather, and I was sitting in my comfy chair in my office.

Kind of made it hard to feel sorry for myself.

I work in advertising. Although the clients are occasionally annoying and there are some tight deadlines, it’s not life or death. It’s advertising.

It’s also not laying tar on the roof. Next time you’re having a bad day at work, remember the roof guy and smile a little.

Happy Memorial Day. Have a good weekend.