17632: Got Multicultural? LERMA/ Wins Real California Milk.

MediaPost published unintentional Hispanic Heritage Month content by reporting LERMA/ gained AOR status for Real California Milk, the consumer-facing brand of the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB).

LERMA/ once served as a Latino-focused advertising agency alongside The Richards Group, eventually breaking away on its own around the time Stan Richards left the building.

Here’s hoping Real California Milk comes with more than real California crumbs.

LERMA/ Named AOR For Real California Milk

By Steve McClellan

Dallas-based full-service agency, LERMA/ has been named agency of record for Real California Milk, the consumer-facing brand of the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB), following a competitive review led by Mercer Island Group.  

The organization had previously worked with Deutsch LA for many years although it wasn’t immediately clear if that agency was still the incumbent when the review was called or if it participated in the review. 

The account encompasses creative, strategy, social, media, data and analytics, multicultural marketing and website responsibilities.  

LERMA/ is tasked with building greater meaning and relevance around the Real California Milk seal, with the goal of increasing consumer preference and purchase of seal-stamped dairy products at retail.  

“LERMA/ stood out from the beginning for the passion they brought to our business and their understanding of the opportunity ahead,” said Adrienne Daniels, Executive Vice President, Marketing at the CMAB. “Beyond the strength of the creative thinking, we felt an immediate cultural fit with the team.”  

The first work from the partnership is expected to launch in January 2027.  

The CMAB represents California dairy farmers, and its mission is to promote demand for milk and other dairy products made in the state. That’s a separate organization from the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB) which represents the companies that pasteurize, bottle, and distribute liquid milk. Their iconic “Got Milk?” campaign was created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners in the 1990’s. CMPB and Goodby parted ways in 2017 after 25 years.

17630: How To Partner With Non-White Advertising Agencies.

 

Advertising Age published probable Hispanic Heritage Month content providing pointers on partnering with multicrumbtual advertising agencies.

While the perspective spotlighted common mistakes, potential pitfalls, and marketing microaggressions, there were no blatant references to cultural cluelessness, crumbs, or Prime Redlining.

So, it sorta feels like whitewashing systemic racism.

When to partner with a multicultural agency—and how to structure the work

By Sabrina Sanchez

For many agencies, creating campaigns for multicultural audiences is a challenge. Some handle it in-house, translating existing work or trying to tack on cultural relevance at the end. But agencies that specialize in multicultural work say that approach leaves little room for cultural insight to shape the strategy. Ad Age asked three members of the Ad Age Small Agency Network with Hispanic and multicultural expertise—Cien+ (CulturePlus Group), BeautifulBeast and Macías Creative—when to call in a partner, how to divide the work and how to manage the client relationship. The following guide was assembled from their answers.

Step 1: Check when the work calls for a partner

Macías Creative leaders—Marcos Macias, founder and chief creative officer; Alex Macias, managing partner and chief operations officer; and Ernesto Ruiz, executive director of strategy and accounts—identified three situations that call for cultural expertise:

If the assignment explicitly targets Hispanic or multicultural audiences

Bring in a partner while developing the strategy.

If growth depends on a market where Hispanic consumers are a major economic force

Bring in cultural expertise, even if the brief does not explicitly name that audience. Macías Creative cited markets such as California, Texas, Florida, New York and the Southwest where winning with Hispanic consumers can be critical to growth.

If cultural nuance is central to the strategy or idea

Consider a multicultural agency partner, even if the brief does not name a particular audience. Macías Creative pointed to cultural spaces involving food, family, sports, music, identity and traditions—all of which are places where deeper fluency can help shape the work.

The agency also offered signs that a team may need outside expertise:

• If research is being used as a substitute for established cultural expertise.

• If a few Hispanic people on the team are being treated as proof of Hispanic marketing capability; that capability also requires dedicated expertise, experience, tools and processes.

• If the U.S. Hispanic market is being approached as one audience, without accounting for differences in country of origin, language preference or relationship to American culture.

Another sign, Macías Creative said, is asking someone at the end of the process whether the creative “feels right.” That person “probably needed a seat at the table much earlier.”

Flor Leibaschoff, BeautifulBeast’s co-founder and CCO, said general-market agencies should not wait for a sign; they should already be working with Hispanic and multicultural agencies. To her, a plan built around translating general-market work, rather than developing a strategy for the audience, already shows the need for a different approach.

Claudia Avans of Cien+ posed a broader question: “Do we have the right perspectives at the table for this opportunity?” Cultural insight can help an agency understand a particular audience, she said, and it can reveal shifts that matter to the wider market.

Step 2: Decide whether you’re creating or adapting

How an agency approaches its creative determines when a multicultural partner needs to join and what they can contribute.

If the work needs a new strategy, platform or idea that will resonate with Hispanic audiences

Bring the partner in from the beginning while the insight and creative direction are still being developed. “If a perspective could change the strategy, give it a chance to shape the strategy,” Avans said.

If the assignment involves adapting an existing idea

For an assignment focused on adapting an existing idea for a specific audience or market, bringing in that expertise later can sometimes make sense, Macías Creative said. Even then, Macías Creative said both agencies should discuss the audience’s needs and agree on their approach at the outset. The partner should help determine whether adaptation is the right assignment.

Joining early lets a partner help shape the insight, idea and plan. Once creative is underway, their role can narrow to changing what has already been decided. “They become translators and fixers instead of strategists,” Leibaschoff said. If collaboration cannot begin at the pitch or strategy stage, she said, bringing the partner in for the brief is the minimum.

Step 3: Agree on how the agencies will work together

The next decision is what expertise the assignment needs, and how each agency will contribute.

If the assignment calls for several kinds of expertise

Avans described several ways to assemble a team: a lead agency can bring a cultural partner into the strategy phase; two agencies can build the brief together and split leadership by expertise; a partner agency can join for a few critical sessions; or different partners can lead at different stages. A cultural agency might also bring in a technology, data, creator or community partner when the work calls for it.

If the question is who works directly with the client

Leibaschoff named three arrangements she has seen work: an introduction, where the general-market agency connects the partner agency with the client and lets it work with them directly on that part of the business; white-label work, where the partner agency works behind the scenes under the lead agency’s name; or a hybrid, where the partner meets the client but the lead agency keeps the relationship. Any arrangement can work “as long as it’s agreed on from the start,” she said. Cien+ has also worked both behind the scenes and directly with clients, depending on the assignment.

Macías Creative draws a different line. It will not take an assignment where its team has no direct client contact, at least for key meetings. The agency says passing cultural insights through another team can weaken the collaboration and reduce the partner agency to an execution role. One setup Macías Creative described involves a small senior team working alongside the lead agency from the strategy stage.

Before work begins, agree on who owns the client relationship, who presents the cultural insight, who makes decisions, how feedback and approvals move, how the work is credited, and how fees and billing will work.

Those choices can lead to different arrangements. In a healthcare partnership described by Cien+, the agencies led the general and Hispanic market work respectively and shared the client relationship. On a consumer goods launch described by Macías Creative, the lead agency kept the client relationship and led strategy, creative and execution, while a senior Macías team contributed cultural insight from the strategy stage.

Step 4: Avoid the mistakes that weaken partnerships

The agencies pointed to five recurring problems:

1. Bringing in expertise too late—or giving it too little time. Once strategy and creative are set, a cultural partner has little room to shape either.

2. Leaving roles and fees unclear. Responsibilities, decisions, client contact and billing need to be settled before work begins.

3. Falling back on translation under deadline pressure. Even with a partner agency involved, a team may revert to translating general-market work, reducing that partner to a translation role.

4. Creating a one-person department. A single Hispanic employee is expected to cover strategy, creative, media and social listening. “That’s a lot of hats for one head,” Leibaschoff said, “and it’s not fair to them or to the work.”

5. Treating the partner as competition or as an execution vendor. “If you value the expertise enough to bring in a partner, give them a real seat at the table,” Macías Creative said.

Step 5: Consider what the partnership can add

Sharing work with another agency may raise concerns about revenue and the client relationship. Leibaschoff argued that the greater risk is failing to help a client pursue the opportunity: the client may eventually find someone else who will. “It’s not about splitting the pie; it’s about making the pie bigger,” she said.

Macías Creative made a similar point: work that initially looks like shared revenue may lead to additional, dedicated budget for multicultural efforts.

Avans framed the benefit in terms of what the lead agency can solve for its client: “The lead agency becomes even more valuable because of the ecosystem it can bring together.”

This story used AI-assisted tools to summarize and structure insights from Ad Age’s original reporting. It is based solely on the responses Ad Age received for this story, and was reviewed by editors and reporters to ensure accuracy, clarity and context.

17626: On The New Age Of Abuelas.

 

Advertising Age published a Hispanic Heritage Month perspective on giving a multicultural marketing makeover to abuelas.

The new abuelas—it’s time for Hispanic marketing to retire an outdated archetype

By Jorge Becerra

Few characters are as familiar in Hispanic advertising as the abuela. For decades, she has been one of the most heavily used creative shortcuts for signaling family, tradition and cultural authenticity.

But while longevity has changed what later life looks like, advertising’s version of the abuela has barely changed at all. In fact, the abuela that advertising keeps putting on screen increasingly bears little resemblance to today’s abuelas.

Recently, I started reading Andrew Scott’s The Longevity Imperative, and it got me thinking about how our idea of later life is changing dramatically, and how slowly advertising has changed with it. People are living longer, but culturally we still compress older people into a remarkably narrow set of roles.

For Latina women, that disconnect is especially striking.

According to the CDC, a Hispanic woman who reaches 65 can expect, on average, another 23 years of life. In other words, 65 is not the beginning of the epilogue. It can be the beginning of another two-decade chapter.

And those years are not necessarily being spent withdrawing from the world. According to AARP research, 62% of Hispanic adults 50-plus say they maintain a healthy, active lifestyle. And 34% are focused on learning new skills.

We are comfortable showing abuela teaching. Why not show her learning?

Working life also deserves a place in the frame. Hispanic adults have higher labor force participation than white and Black adults across the 55-plus, 65-plus and 75-plus age groups. Working longer is not necessarily a choice, but it certainly challenges the image of later life as a permanent retreat from the world.

And yes, there is also life beyond giving romantic advice to grandchildren. Among Americans 65-80, 40% report being sexually active, and nearly three-quarters of those say they are very satisfied with their sex lives. Research also suggests older Hispanic adults are having even more sex than non-Hispanic white people the same age.

That probably isn’t the abuela most advertising has been showing us.

This is a new generation of abuelas: women who are living longer, working longer, traveling, exercising, dating, creating, spending, caring for multiple generations and continuing to reinvent themselves well into what we once considered “old age.”

Yet our cultural image of them hasn’t caught up.

In AARP research, 76% of Hispanics 50-plus said older people are underrepresented in advertising, and 84% said they would be more likely to buy from a brand featuring people their age. Perhaps even more revealing, 60% said they try to keep up with trends, compared with just 24% of the general 50-plus population surveyed.

That is a very different consumer from the one much of Hispanic advertising keeps casting.

For U.S. marketers, this represents more than an opportunity for better representation. It is a challenge to rethink one of Hispanic marketing’s most persistent cultural archetypes.

The abuela can still represent family, wisdom and tradition. But she can also represent ambition, independence, vitality and possibility.

The opportunity is to give abuelas the same dimensionality we increasingly demand for every other audience.

Marcelo Arango, founder and CEO of Young Aurelius, a strategic consultancy focused on helping companies navigate demographic change, foster intergenerational collaboration and better understand older generations, believes the shift requires marketers to rethink the assumptions they have long made about aging.

“We are long overdue for a new playbook. Longevity didn’t just add years to the end of life. It created an entirely new stage of adulthood. The demographics have changed, but we are still marketing to a world that no longer exists,” said Arango.

For our industry, that should force a creative reset.

Abuela has long been one of Hispanic marketing’s most efficient cultural shortcuts. Put her in an ad, and within seconds we communicate heritage, family, care and authenticity.

But shortcuts become stereotypes when we stop updating them.

In recent years, we have become much better at questioning one-dimensional representations of Latinas, or younger generations. Yet somehow, abuela remains stuck in an outdated script.

The next generation of abuelas can still embody wisdom, tradition and connection. Those qualities have not disappeared. What has expanded is everything around them: their economic lives, ambitions, relationships, identities and sense of what is still possible.

Perhaps the most respectful thing Hispanic marketing can do is stop treating older Latinas primarily as custodians of the past.

They are also participants in the present and, most importantly, authors of the future.

17611: On Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Pleas.

Advertising Age published the obligatory annual Hispanic Heritage Month perspective titled, “Hispanic growth is reshaping America—is your brand keeping up?”

Answer: ¡No!

Hispanic growth is reshaping America—is your brand keeping up?

By Flor Leibaschoff

This Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re happy to report that the stereotypes are finally moving out. We’re not just your gardener anymore. We’re your next-door neighbor now, too.

In 2025, Hispanic households accounted for essentially all of the net homeownership growth in the U.S. And a handful of brands have already figured out what that means for them.

Census data compiled by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals shows Hispanic households added 441,000 net new owner-households last year, the largest single-year gain on record. Strip out Hispanic buyers and the country ends 2025 with roughly 125,000 fewer homeowners than it started with. Hispanics now represent 10.2 million homeowners nationally, an all-time high, and drove 92.6% of all new household formation.

The other half of the story is who’s building the homes: 18.8% of Hispanic-owned businesses are construction businesses, more than any other industry. Those businesses have grown by 75% in five years, while Hispanic-owned employer businesses overall grew 44.4%. That’s compared to 0.46% for all U.S. employer businesses.

The Home Depot, a brand I had the honor of working with for over eight years, already built its playbook around that overlap: Hispanics make up roughly 30% of the construction workforce and a “good majority” of its pro customer base, per the company. Its “Latina Doers” campaign and 15 years investing in this audience just earned The Home Depot the 2026 HMC Marketer of the Year. Molly Battin, chief marketing officer, put it plainly: “The Hispanic customer is not a segment for us; it’s central to how we think about growth.”

Ikea also moved on the Hispanic buyer. It launched a full Spanish-language e-commerce experience in the U.S. in July 2024, not as a campaign moment but as a permanent shopping infrastructure, with bilingual customer service built in. That’s a global furniture brand betting on Latino household formation well before this year’s numbers confirmed it was right to.

On the building side of the business, CertainTeed, a Saint-Gobain brand, runs a national program that provides Hispanic contractors with bilingual business training, credentialing and warranty benefits, helping the pros keep building, not just houses but their legacy. “We love helping our contractors build more than trust with homeowners; we help them build their legacy,” says Ana María Pulido, senior manager of CertainTeed, who leads the company’s Latino contractor initiative.

Sherwin-Williams is doing something similar for painters: its 2026 Leagues Cup push, “Gana con los Pros,” pairs sweepstakes and in-store activation with an existing platform, Acá Entre Pros, built specifically for Hispanic paint professionals.

That’s four categories moving forward:

• General retail

• Furniture

• Roofing and building materials

• Paint

Someone, please tell the Wayfairs of the world, they’re leaving money on the table.

Speaking of money, banks and mortgage lenders should be paying attention, too. Hispanic buyers are twice as likely as non-Hispanic buyers to use FHA financing, the exact product D.R. Horton, Lennar, Rocket Mortgage and United Wholesale Mortgage all sell at scale.

The data’s out there: Brands treating this as core infrastructure are naming it as their growth strategy in public, and watching their ROI move because of it. The ones still treating it as a seasonal moment are standing next to competitors who already made their move.

Speaking of moving, it’s time to move on this trend and start investing in the Hispanic market, vecino.

17217: Closing Out 2025 Hispanic Heritage Month.

17201: Underrepresented Voices Having Their Say.

Advertising Age published another Hispanic Heritage Month perspective, imploring brands to engage underrepresented voices.

 

This op-ed comes from the CEO of Lerma Advertising, a multicultural marketing shop with historical ties to The Richards Group—now known as TRG.

 

Don’t expect any color commentary from Stan Richards.

 

Why brands must lead with underrepresented voices to grow

 

By Pedro Lerma

 

I’ve been in this business long enough to know one thing: The future doesn’t look like the past. Too many marketers are clinging to what they believe is the “mainstream,” afraid that if they lean into underrepresented voices, they’ll lose their base. But here’s the truth: The mainstream doesn’t look like it used to. America doesn’t look like it used to. And neither do the audiences driving growth. So, what to do?

 

The case for the underrepresented

 

First, we need to get real. The “underrepresented” aren’t niche audiences. They are cultural powerhouses who represent enormous growth opportunities. And the underrepresented are different for each brand.

 

Whether it’s Hispanic Americans, Black Americans, Asian Americans, women, LGBTQ+ communities or people with disabilities, they aren’t sitting on the sidelines. They’re creating businesses that drive our economy, the music we dance to, the books we read, the shows we binge, the fashion we wear, the food we crave, the podcasts we stream, the slang we speak and the movements we follow.

 

Kantar research shows that 75% of all consumers say a brand’s degree of representation influences their purchase decisions. That means when you lead with underrepresented voices, you have an opportunity for “positive spillover.” In leading with the underrepresented in stories based on universal human truths, you’re not just talking to the underrepresented—you’re deepening your connection with your legacy customers, too.

 

What holds brands back?

 

I get it; it’s not easy. In today’s environment, every campaign lives in a political context. And that makes brands and agencies nervous. But here’s the reality: staying homogeneous doesn’t protect you; it exposes you. Playing it safe is a mirage and a one-way ticket to irrelevance.

 

Some brands worry they’ll alienate their core audience. My experience? The opposite happens. When you tell a story with empathy, nuance and cultural fluency, it resonates universally. You don’t lose people; you pull them in.

 

Here’s how brands have succeeded:

 

Earn the right to tell the story

 

First, don’t fake it. I once pitched a concept about gender pay equity to an automotive client. They loved it, but believed they still had work to do internally before they could authentically tell that story. It was a humble and wise move on their part because audiences can smell performative behavior from a mile away.

 

Invite them to the table

 

Include people from the community you’re representing in your creative development and validation process. The right voices early on make all the difference.

 

Start with the story, not the segment

 

I loved this Amazon ad featuring and narrated by a user experience designer who is deaf. While I have not experienced hearing loss, Brendan’s story still moved me deeply and made me feel better about the brand. I also expect that people who are deaf or have experienced hearing loss feel seen in a deeper, more personal way.

 

Make underrepresented audiences the hero—not the afterthought

 

When Modelo celebrated Hispanic NFL players and mentorship, it wasn’t about being political. It was about empowerment.

 

Design for cultural relevance, then scale universally

 

Cheerios once told a story about an interracial family. It meant a lot to that specific audience, but it also appealed to any parent of a precocious kid.

 

Use cultural catalysts

 

With the World Cup and Olympics on the horizon, brands have the chance to consider important questions like “Will our communications follow past recipes?” or “Will we use these massive moments to feature new heroes in our storytelling?”

 

Be humble

 

Get ready for feedback—and listen. If you miss the mark, own it. Respond with humility and a willingness to grow. That’s how you build trust that lasts.

 

Leading with underrepresented audiences is a superpower, and the choice is clear: Cling to yesterday’s assumptions, or embrace tomorrow’s audiences. Those who do the latter will not only grow their revenue—they’ll be shaping the future.

 

When brands make space for everyone, everyone shows up.

17196: All Multicultural Marketer Pitches Look Alike.

 

Advertising Age published a perspective titled, “Why Hispanic Heritage Month must be more than a marketing campaign”—supporting the observation of an earlier post.

 

That is, multicultural marketers deliver cookie-cutter commentary before, during, and after every Fill-In-The-Minority Heritage Month.

 

The content in Ad Age opened by declaring, “It’s that time of the year again.”

 

Then the author regurgitated the routine plea for billable business throughout the entire year—which brands ultimately ignore every year, again and again.

 

It’s time to write a fresh brief to inspire more convincing calls for cultural commitment and crumbs.

 

Why Hispanic Heritage Month must be more than a marketing campaign

 

By Fran Leibaschoff

 

It’s that time of year again. The moment when brands suddenly remember how much they supposedly value the Hispanic community.

 

The volume goes up. Bad Bunny, Shakira, Maluma. The parrilladas light up. The sobremesas get longer. Everyone’s ready to celebrate.

 

But this year, the vibe feels different. While some are putting on their fiesta faces, others are quietly shrinking back, feeling invisible, left out or altogether forgotten.

 

And no, this isn’t about being overly sensitive or playing the novela card. This is about the very real cultural and business moment we’re in. It’s a moment when the lines between DEI and Hispanic marketing are blurred, and not in a good way. And while some brands are doubling down, others are quietly pulling back just when they should be leaning in.

 

Let’s pause for a quick reality check.

 

There are more than 60 million Hispanics in the U.S. We’re not a niche. We’re not a trend. We’re not going anywhere.

 

We’re raising families, building businesses, shaping culture and driving economic growth. We’re the youngest and fastest-growing demographic in the country, with a median age of 30 and more than 75% U.S.-born.

 

The latest data we have indicates that we are now contributing more than $ 4.1 trillion to the U.S. economy (growing at 4.4% annually). U.S. Latinos would rank as the fifth-largest economy in the world.

 

And yet, too often, we’re treated like an afterthought.

 

Hispanic marketing isn’t about checking a box or filling a quota. It’s not a seasonal campaign. It’s not charity work. It’s smart business. It’s a strategy. It’s about understanding culture, nuance, values and building authentic relationships that last.

 

Let’s also be clear. DEI is about equity and inclusion within organizations. Hispanic marketing is about connecting with real people in the real world in ways that resonate and convert.

 

They are not the same. And when budgets get tight or DEI becomes politically uncomfortable, guess which investment usually disappears first? Bingo. We’ve seen it time and again. And it sends a message, even if it’s unintentional.

 

During Hispanic Heritage Month, brands face a choice. They can show up meaningfully, not just with maracas and hashtags, but with a long-term vision.

 

Or they can sit it out. But understand what that signals to a community that shows up every single day, to work, to build, to buy, to lead, and yes, to celebrate.

 

I’ve spent more than two decades working with this audience. One thing I can tell you: Latinos are incredibly loyal. But we also notice who’s there for the long haul and who shows up only for the party.

 

So, if you’re asking what’s the right way to show up, here’s a start. Let Hispanic Heritage Month be the kickoff, not the culmination. Make it the start of a deeper commitment. Not a one-month campaign but a lasting relationship.

 

If Latinos already account for approximately $4 trillion in U.S. purchasing power in 2024, wouldn’t it make sense to allocate a proportionate share of your marketing budget?

 

After all, much of your Gen Z audience is Hispanic-born and represents the future. Hispanics are significantly overrepresented in younger demographics.

 

Yes, we know how to throw a party. But even more, we know how to build. We bring creativity, resilience, pride, and passion to everything we do. And we’re ready to stand with brands that stand with us, not just in September, but always.

17191: Microaggressions, Microcelebrations, Mariachis.

Campaign published a perspective titled and subtitled, “What brands still miss about Hispanic audiences beyond Hispanic Heritage Month—There’s a huge opportunity for brands willing to see past the characterizations and tired tropes.”

 

Admittedly didn’t bother to read beyond the headline and subhead, as viewing the content requires a paid subscription.

 

Besides, perusing the piece in its entirety is not necessary, as the viewpoint has been delivered regularly before, during, and after every Fill-In-The-Minority Heritage Month for decades.

 

The wrap-up usually implores, “Celebrate Fill-In-The-Minority culture during Fill-In-The-Minority Heritage Month—and all year long!”

 

Then brands respond by ignoring Fill-In-The-Minorities for the other eleven months or tossing them occasional crumbs.

 

And in these anti-DEIBA+ times, feigning interest for even a single month—or single day—rarely happens.

 

Adios.