Mendoza Dillon Pitches to Hershey; SCP Readies Bridge Bash
More than 300 marketing professionals are expected to attend this week’s Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies’ semi-annual conference, being held in Newport Beach for the first time.
The event kicks off Thursday, Sept. 14, and culminates Saturday night with the second annual Hispanic Creative Awards Gala sponsored by Advertising Age and the AHAA at the Sun Theater in Anaheim.
The Hispanic marketing industry event features creative workshops, the executive of the year award, the latest Hispanic trends, consumer insights and roundtables with agency executives.
The national organization specializes in marketing to the nation’s 31 million Hispanic consumers, whose estimated buying power is roughly $458 billion, equivalent in size to the 11th-largest economy in the world, according to the association.
Members of the Hispanic advertising organization are required to be full-service agencies that have 75% of billings from the Hispanic market and an acceptable level of Hispanic-competent staff.
There are four local member agencies in the McLean, Va.-based association: Al Punto Advertising in Tustin; Anita Santiago Advertising Inc., Santa Ana; Casanova Pendrill Publicidad Inc., Irvine; and Mendoza Dillon & Asociados Inc., Newport Beach.
The Hispanic market is one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. consumers and local Hispanic agencies are approaching the $200 million mark in combined annual billings.
For more information about national Hispanic agencies, the association released its first reference resource of agencies in August called the Standard Directory of Hispanic Red Book,Advertising Agencies.
Mendoza Dillon Goes After Hershey
Meanwhile, Mendoza Dillon is pitching with several undisclosed agencies for Hershey Foods Corp.’s Hispanic advertising account. The outcome of the shootout was not known at press time. The Hershey, Pa.-based candy maker would be one of the agency’s biggest accounts, along with Kraft Foods North America and Sears Roebuck & Co.
Mendoza Dillon, a division of Worldwide Partnership Program Group of Companies, is the third-largest Hispanic agency in the country, with $90 million in annual billings and field offices in Chicago and New Jersey.
The agency recently launched its first TV spots targeting the Hispanic population for Kraft’s Philadelphia Cream Cheese products. The commercial, called “Heaven,” debuted Aug. 21 and will run through the end of the year. It features a celestial family of angels eating toast with cream cheese on it. The 30-second spot will be run in the Los Angeles market on Univision KMEX Channel 34, Telemundo Channel 52, KWHY Channel 22.
The agency also handles Hispanic marketing for other Kraft brands, including Oscar Meyer, Kraft Singles cheese, Knudsen, Velveeta and Lunchables.
Span Plan
South Coast Plaza will follow up the Sept. 28 opening its new Bridge of Gardens and Garden Terrace featuring Caf & #233; Pascal with a 10-day celebration throughout the center featuring live music, store savings, fashion shows and contests. The 600-foot pedestrian bridge, which links the main shopping center with the former Crystal Court section, is a key part of the center’s $120 million renovations.
Shoppers will be handed a “bridge key” card listing stores on the west side of the bridge offering incentives ranging from gifts with purchases to special reductions. Forty new stores have opened in the past year on both sides of the street, including the 180,000-square-foot Macy’s Home.
The bridge festivities also will include a contest for more than a dozen prizes, including $500 shopping sprees at New Man and Villereroy & Boch; $100 gift certificates for Crate & Barrel and Borders Books & Music; and his and hers sport watches by Fossil. The promotion, which will be supported by advertising in local and regional newspapers and magazines such as 714 and Coast magazine, was developed by the regional center’s in-house marketing team headed by Debra Gunn Downing.
Rodheim Adds Clients
Rodheim Marketing Group, Costa Mesa, has added four PR clients to its roster in the past few months. The list includes Forward Planning Associates LLC, a real estate service business in San Bernardino; TSI Inc., Westlake Village, telecommunications solution provider; OCT Group, a sales and marketing research business in Irvine; and Labeltronix, a commercial labeling system company based in Orange.
Bits and Pieces:
Web site specialist Fuse Interactive, Laguna Beach, is building a Web site for David Kelley’s new show, “Boston Public,” and the corporate Web site for EncrypTix, and is redesigning Hewlett-Packard’s HP-At-Home Web site GreenLight Communications, Newport Beach, recently picked up marketing and branding duties for computer monitor manufacturer iiYAMA in Santa Ana and PR duties for Buffalo Technology USA, the Torrance-based subsidiary of Japan-based Melco Inc. The agency plans to use its recently developed StepOne Program with its new clients, allowing them to stay abreast of the firm’s marketing efforts online Morgan Marketing and Public Relations, Irvine, is launching a new campaign to promote the diabetes center for its latest client Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange.
