Social media as a way into Latin America?

By Ivonne Kinser

Go back in time to 1990, and think for a minute about conducting a marketing effort to promote your product or service abroad. What would you be doing? Got the picture?

Now come back to 2010, type a 140-character message in your brand’s Twitter page, and within seconds your message can be all over the globe, depending on how well you did your networking homework. Let’s be realistic, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube are not going to close the sale for you, however, they can create awareness and get the word out about your products or services.In other words, social media is the brand’s voice that reaches your target audiences and leads them to your brand’s hub (website, blog, etc.) 

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Breaking News: Crosscultural Marketing has another one in the fold

This is very exciting news for those of us who are strong believers and supporters of Crosscultural Marketing. Ogilvy is the most recent advertising agency to embrace the Crosscultural Model within the last several months, which is helping to pioneer the paradigm shift that will transform the U.S. advertising industry.

Contrary to what the detractors of the model might say, we are not talking about Anglo marketers  experimenting with multicultural audiences. Rather, all these shops (Draftfcb, Richards/Lerma, Crispin Porter, 22squared, etc) have recruited truly multicultural experts with years of solid experience in ethnic markets to manage the multicultural business of their clients.

It seems like it is just a matter of time for the entire U.S. advertising landscape to evolve into a multicultural industry, which would be a true reflection of today's U.S. society. And to be fair, the evolution should include Hispanic agencies managing the Anglo business of their clients as well. I'm personally hoping to see that happen soon.

Stay tuned because this process has just begun, and like many of you, I can't wait to see which advertising agency will be next.