Essay 244

The article below appeared in the November 14, 2005 issue of Adweek. It is directly followed by the MultiCultClassics response.

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Crossing Borders
November 14, 2005
By JIM LOVEL

As the demand for advertising that reaches the nation’s burgeoning Hispanic population increases, Hispanic agencies are struggling to find enough qualified professionals. And now, some universities are trying to help fill the void.

Carolina Milner, who in August received the first graduate certificate in Hispanic marketing awarded by Florida State University, says the FSU program helped her land a job as a project manager at Ryan + Deslauriers in Orlando, Fla. “They had never interviewed anyone with a certificate in Hispanic marketing,” she says. “All the employers I talked to were impressed.” Milner, 23, was born in the U.S. to Colombian immigrants.

FSU’s communication department began offering a graduate certificate in Hispanic marketing last year. This fall, it opened the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication and began offering the nation’s first Hispanic marketing degree program, which allows undergraduates to obtain a minor in that subject.

“The U.S. is the second-largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world, and the pace of growth of this population far exceeds the base of true cultural knowledge and understanding of this population among marketing professionals,” says Felipe Korzenny, the center’s director.

A Mexico City native with a Ph.D. in communications research from Michigan State University, Korzenny left the private sector after two decades as a consultant on Hispanic and Asian marketing. He says he started the program in response to concerns Hispanic shops have about finding workers who understand the industry. At least two other universities—Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the University of California at Los Angeles—offer classes in Hispanic marketing, but nothing as comprehensive as FSU.

According to Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies statistics, Hispanic advertising is growing four times faster than other forms, and billings at Hispanic agencies will exceed $4 billion this year. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts Hispanics will comprise 24 percent of the U.S. population by 2050, up from its current 14 percent. The Selig Center at the University of Georgia estimates that the purchasing power of Hispanics will reach $1 trillion by 2008.

AHAA says it applauds the new program. “We welcome Felipe’s efforts with open arms,” says Jose Lopez-Varela, AHAA treasurer and managing director of Hill Holliday Hispanic in Miami. “It is key to our survival and growth.”

Lopez-Varela also is a founding member of the FSU center’s board of advisors. “It saves the agencies a couple of years in filling jobs,” he says.

Korzenny and wife Betty Ann, the center’s associate director, are the authors of Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, which was released in September. The book is being used in courses at FSU as well as SMU.

Fry Hammond Barr in Orlando, which employed Milner as an intern last summer, gave FSU the first scholarship for the center. Pete Barr Jr., president and CEO of the shop and a 1984 graduate of FSU, says he recognized the need for a program from his experience trying to produce Hispanic ads for several clients. In exchange for his annual $2,500 scholarship contribution, he gets an intern from the program each summer.

Training Hispanic marketing experts in the U.S. will be more effective than the current system of importing them from Latin America, Korzenny says. Advertisers there target their work at the economic elite, while advertisers in the U.S. target immigrants often occupying the lower economic class. Also, U.S. Hispanics differ because of the influence of U.S. culture.

About 50 percent of the students enrolled in FSU’s program are not Hispanic. About 40 percent are white and 10 percent are black, he says.

Korzenny says he is offering to sell the naming rights for the center and is soliciting endowed scholarships.

“Private industry can play an important role in the development of the center while raising its visibility within the Hispanic marketing community,” Korzenny says.

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The Adweek article presents provocative implications, while also spotlighting sobering realities. Consider the following semi-incoherent ramblings:

The advertising industry perpetually struggles with rampant restructuring, fragmented media, unconventional tactics, shifting budgets, revolutionary competitive forces, fickle clients and more. The overall trend is a reduction of jobs. Yet the demand for professionals with Hispanic capabilities greatly exceeds the supply. Imagine that.

It’s not like Hispanic marketing was invented yesterday. The late Luis Díaz Albertini is credited for launching the first Hispanic advertising agency in New York in 1962. Castor Fernández started Castor Spanish International in 1968. Alicia and Rafael Conill won the Hispanic account for Campbell’s Soup in 1972. Norma and Hector Orcí birthed La Agencia de Orcí in 1986.

While the U.S. Hispanic population has dramatically skyrocketed, it’s unlikely that people in the know — particularly the visionaries in Hispanic shops — were completely surprised by the growth.

Then again, the majority of inhabitants at mass market agencies were probably dumbstruck. In the desperate search for legitimate billable services, it apparently never occurred to anyone that the Hispanic market offered a veritable goldmine of opportunities. Yet now that the possibilities are revealed, industry leaders still can’t manage to capitalize on things.

The challenges are clear to some and tangible to all.

First, there are the nettlesome culture clashes. Because the advertising industry has been so resistant to diversity, Hispanic efforts (as well as Hispanics) remain literally segregated. Plus, mass market shops employ too few Hispanic professionals to position themselves as having any credibility to handle segmented initiatives. Factor in the cultural cluelessness exhibited by average White folks — who steadfastly rule the business — and you’ll see the marketing world’s melting pot is an empty crock.

Here’s another sticky bias. Being Hispanic doesn’t automatically translate to being an expert on Hispanic marketing. But it usually gives one the benefit of the doubt. Which occasionally leads to awarding positions to unqualified hucksters (as opposed to the seasoned hucksters infesting Madison Avenue).

Meanwhile, mergers have become the quick fix for big agencies. This mighty popular maneuver certainly appears to make sense. Buying bodies in bulk is incredibly convenient. However, there are political and professional hurdles involved too.

From a political standpoint, Hispanic shops typically enjoy the many benefits of minority status. To keep the privileges, most Hispanic shops hook up while maintaining a 51% minority ownership — an oxymoron and arguably sneaky legal stratagem. Agencies that abandon minority status may encounter the issues detailed in Essays 86 and 87.

Professionally, Hispanic shops tend to generate profits on a much different scale than their mass market counterparts. That is, Hispanic budgets suck compared to mass market budgets. Always have, in fact. So the holding companies quickly discover partnerships might not be so lucrative in the long run.

Heaven forbid anyone should suggest clients cough up the same amounts for Hispanic and mass market endeavors. Gee whiz, such an action might inevitably require paying Hispanic professionals like they were White folks.

Quiet as it’s kept, while most Hispanic shops have connected with the Big Boys, true integration remains a dream deferred. That’s why people persist in using terms like “The Hispanic Marketing Community.”

It’s interesting to see FSU and other universities promote Hispanic Marketing programs. But will anyone school the non-Hispanics currently in the business about multiculturalism? Or will folks stay confined to specific advertising neighborhoods?

There’s an advanced graduate degree awaiting the geniuses that deliver viable solutions here.