March 27, 2025 • 46 mins
In an industry where authenticity is everything, Alex López Negrete and Marques E. Zak know what it takes to make an impact. From working with global brands to creating campaigns that truly resonate, they share their journeys, lessons, and predictions for the future of marketing. Hosted by Tim Natividad, this episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to understand the power of culture in advertising.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, Welcome to season three of the Future Legends of
Advertising podcast on iHeart, featuring the hottest up and coming
stars and advertising as well as the biggest legends in
the game. In this series, we explore the future of
the advertising industry through never before heard conversations between those
who created it and those who are shaping its future.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm your host Tim Natividad and I'm your host Christina
Pile and with that, let's meet the legends. Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I'd first like to introduce the renowned Alex Lopez Negrete.
Forty years ago, Alex co founded his own firm in Houston, Texas,
which he aptly named Lopez Negrete Communications. Alex and his
wife Kathy started the firm based on his vision to
launch his Spanish marketing into the stratosphere, and that they did.
(01:04):
After four years, he has never lost sight of his vision,
carrying the agency to the largest independently owned and operating marketing,
advertising and communications agency.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
In the entire country.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We are talking about clients in all industries from retail
to automotive and hundreds of awards collected along the way
leading up to this seminal moment when Alex is inducted
into the Advertising Hall of Fame. Alex, I think your
team has even collected a Billboard Latin Music Award.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yes, we have, we have. It really has been quite
a quite a road. But if you're going to do
what we set out to do, you know, the road
is not necessarily a straight line. You really have to
find very unique ways to connect and be relevant. And
so yeah, there's some there's some I would say weird,
but really very cool paths like that.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
We I mean we seek to impact culture and so
getting recognized by the the Build Awards is just awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Congrats Alex, and welcome to the pod.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Thank you, Christina.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
How are you feeling. Have you warmed up from the
snow in Houston?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Well? Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know in Houston, Texas,
when it snows, it's kind of like a freak out moment.
Everybody kind of loses their mind, even though there's really
all you have to do is be careful on the
road if you're not used to it. But it's a
it was a this time. It was nice. It was
very different than the freeze we had in twenty twenty one,
which really did cause tremendous havoc. We lost power for days,
(02:32):
and I mean it was really something. So this one
was like, oh, well this is kind of cool. Let's
let's go out and you know, build a snowman.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I'm glad people are safe and getting to enjoy it.
And you and I have the connection because my family
is Histonians. So I spent a lot of time in
the year in Houston.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It's a great city. I love the city.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah. The Beyonce Bowl that the ratings on that crazy
huh was just incredible.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
She's our girl, that's for sure. She is all ours.
We claim her well.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Marcus e Zach is also joining today's episode, who most
recently was the head of Multicultural Marketing with American Express,
where he led the development and the execution of integrated
multicultural marketing campaigns. Marcus is an award winning multicultural strategist
and brand builder who operates at the intersection of creativity, culture,
(03:24):
and commerce. He is a master at building meaningful relationships
and partnerships with orgs like Art Basel Bet, the Essence
Festival of Culture, the US Chamber of Commerce, Ebscene, Marcus
in a room and that tracks for me. Marcus is
no stranger to the world of podcasting, so this should
be interesting folks. During his time in AMAX, he produced
(03:46):
a podcast series that showcase black owned small businesses, and
Marcus was recently inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement
as a member of the twenty twenty four class. His
speech and his suit had the audience. It's captivated and moved.
I'm so excited to be in this discussion with you
both and have our guests here today. Marcus, how you feeling.
(04:11):
You got family in Houston. How are you feeling? Where
are you joining us from?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
I am feeling great, Christina, thank you for the introduction.
I'm glad my suit made it in. I probably tried
on four or five suits, but that one definitely won out.
Appreciate it. Pleasure to be on the podcast, especially with Alex,
who's my family's from Houston. They're making it quite well
(04:35):
in the snow this time is around as well. Thankfully
it wasn't that hard freeze. I mean they probably didn't
have power for five to seven days, maybe a little
bit more during that last time as well, so they
have been out enjoying building snowman as well. And I'm
reporting to you live from Harlem, New York. City.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Wow, Alex, you have a little bit of time before
April and you step on that stage. But it is
people bring looks onto that stage.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That's what I'm gathering. I mean, the pressure is on,
and you know, I mean, unfortunately a few years ago
my color scheme changed. I had black hair, a thick
black beard, and then all of a sudden, everything like changed.
I mean, what am I going to do? I'm Marcus,
I may I may have to call you for some advice.
Here you and Aaron Walton, I think have to be
in my fashion since.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Here, I love Aaron Walton. He's hard to outdress. Oh
my gosh. Well we'll be able to figure something out
for you.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Alan. Oh he is he is a he is a
sweetheart of a gentleman. I just really really love him
and he is uh he is very deserved of his
his induction as well. But but I am here with
two Houstonians what uh? I feel so at home. This
is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I think it's amazing Alex that you chose you chose
Houston when other companies were saying New York or nothing.
You have made it work in Houston and you have
stayed committed to and I think that's very cool.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Well, you know, I was raised in Mexico City and
my my love affair with Houston started as a as
a young boy. My grandmother lived here. We were very,
very very close, and it was always and I actually
came to Houston to be a musician. I've played keys
and guitar and bass, and I thought, I'm going to
go find rock and roll in the US, and Houston's
(06:22):
going to be where I start. And then I got
here and I could get the gig, but couldn't keep
the gig. So I thought, well, maybe I'll just I'll
stay in school and and and and and give this
a different angle. Uh still very evolved in music. We
have one of our affiliates is a recording studio that
we that's called Zat Boom Bang. And so every now
and then I'll sneak into a session and you know, say, hey,
(06:43):
my rate's really good for guitar player. Uh uh So.
But you know, Houston I think gave us, gave Kathy
and I an advantage in that when we opened the agency,
we decided to follow no rules really, rather follow the
rules of what we set out to do, follow the
rules of business and client needs and so we didn't
(07:06):
necessarily come at it from it has to have this,
it has to be shaped like this, it has to
do that. And actually I'll share this podcast to give
a little bit of an unknown fact here, which is
we actually opened our doors under the name of Third
Coast Marketing and are. One of our very, very first
clients was the Houston Rockets, and so we were we
really set out to be a sports, real estate and
(07:29):
entertainment agency. And I had the luxury of having Ray Patterson,
who was the president general manager of the of the
Rockets at the time, as my client and mentor. And
I also I also had the press lounge gig during
the games, and Ray would come into the press lounge
and we just talked. And I mean, it was such
(07:50):
a great opportunity to hear somebody like Ray Patterson comment
on a game. I mean, he is, my goodness, he
just an end be a scholar. And one day he
asked me, so Alex, and by then we had the account.
He says, does the world need another advertising agency? And
(08:11):
I went, oh, my gosh, Well, you know, started mumbling
and going, well, Ray, are you getting second thoughts about us?
You know where present He goes, oh my god, you
guys are so paranoid. Just answer the question. And I said, well,
in all truth, no, there's some there's plenty of very
very good agencies. Why are you asking the question? He
had a very socratic way of teaching you and mentoring you,
(08:35):
and he said, well, that's my point. Make sure the
world needs yours. And boy, I mean I went home
that night and just went everything. Everything's changed, you know,
the thinking changed. And in those days, we were already
getting involved with a what I think was one of
the great multicultural retailers or grocers in the nation, Fiesta Supermarkets.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Oh, and I had put together a marriage between Metro
Transit Authority and Fiesta. You know, the Metro challenge at
the time was they had no Hispanic writership at all.
And you know, so it's funny. I'll talk a little
bit about that later. How I put those two things
together and I realized, Alex, this is what we need
(09:21):
to do. You have a community, and need a community
that's not being spoken to, addressed, or invited with any
kind of consistency or dignity. This is the community that
you come from. This is the community you represent. Time
to really change, change things, and so we changed our name.
We changed our name to Lopez the Communications, and we
made that our Alpha and Oro Omega and I was
(09:43):
lucky enough that Ray. You know, sometimes when you make
those kinds of pivots in a business, you might shed
the businesses that you have because you're changing your your
your vantage point, or your focus. Quite the contrary, Ray
doubled down and the Rockets doubled down. They said, okay,
so how do we go get this audience? And it
was just really amazing because it wasn't something that you
could do through advertising. You had to bring the game
(10:05):
closer to the audience, closer to the community. So the
first thing we did is that we created a deal
with Infinity Radio, which was k XYZ thirteen twenty am,
and we started broadcasting home and away games immediately. And
then we had Carl Loretta, who was Ben Lano at
the time, on our roster and took him out to
the community and meet folks. And of course we had
(10:26):
Calvin who would at the drop of a hat do
whatever you needed to do to build the franchise. And
Ray of course turns around and goes, okay, so we've
got a we got a play by play guy, but
we need a color announcer. We can't find one. And
he basically said, tag, you're it. You have a summer
(10:47):
to figure out how to do it.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
So I was.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I was the Spanish Boys color voice for the Rockets
from eighty nine to ninety five. But again, that's an
example how sometimes when you really want to set this
to create a conversation and then be a relationship between
a brand and a community, it has to be organic
and you sometimes can't. You can't do it all through advertising,
(11:09):
your messaging. You have to create that relationship, those venues,
those situations to make that happen. And Marcus, I mean,
some of the things that you've done are just amazing
and very much along those lines.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Well, Alex, I'm going to take you back even a
little bit further. You launched Lopez in the Great Day
communications with your wife Kathy, which we'll get to that
from your kitchen table in nineteen eighty five. That's a
year of good music, great movies in my opinion, awesome fashion,
some good hair. What was your hope for the agency then?
(11:45):
And then what did you want to accomplish? What did
you set out to accomplish? In that kitchen in nineteen
eighty five, well, you.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Know, it was if you're familiar with Houston, which both
of you are, those were the bust days. We were
going through an oil bust. Houston was going through a
really Yes we had great hair grading, music, great fashion,
but boy, Houston was really in trouble. The rig count dropped.
We were really in oil town in those days. Today
it's very, very different, and you know, as the years
(12:16):
have gone on, certainly our vision has matured crystallized. But
in those days, it was Okay, what can we do,
what do we know how to do, and how can
we survive? And so really it was like a lot
of times, I'll tell people, it wasn't far to fall.
It was just one of those situations where we love advertising,
(12:36):
we love marketing, this is what we know how to do.
I was blessed with two languages and coming from two communities,
and so we I'm being very, very blunt and honest here.
The very impetus at the very beginning was survival. It
was just survival, and there was a hole in the market.
There was not a good sports marketing focused agency. There
was not an entertainment focused agency. The real estate we
(13:00):
had a client that really had a lot of faith
in us, and we just opened the doors and said
here we go. But very very quickly, as I mentioned
earlier that relationship between Fiesta and Metro, you know, we
started adding staff and it just crystallized. It just it
just hit us, this is what we're meant to do.
And you know, those were the nascent days of hispantic
(13:20):
marketing and multicultural marketing as a whole. So we were
blazing new paths a lot of people. You know, in Houston, Texas,
it was like, all right, Sean, so you're gonna you've
opened an aptasement agency to talk to who for what? What?
Speaker 4 (13:36):
Are you crazy?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
You know? And we were far from crazy. Even with
the census numbers forty years ago, we already knew where
this nation was going. It's just it's still going. I mean,
it has surpassed expectations and projections every single ten years.
But yeah, Kathy and I really we just set out
into the wild blue yonder and we held hands, you know,
(14:00):
and I'm so proud because we all three of us
come from our world and you know that partnerships and
advertising the name may last, but the actual partnership may
be fleeting. Yeah, and we're still at it. We're still
at it together. We run the house together. We are
proudly a family owned Latino owned business. That is that's
(14:23):
our stripes, and we're very proud of those stripes. And
I couldn't have had a better partner every step of
the way. She is intuitive, and she's smart, she's gutsy.
I'm very very proud of what we've built together and
the fact that we've built it together.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I'm coming back to Kathy, But Marcus, I want to
take you back to nineteen eight Five'm not sure, not
sure what you're doing. I mean, your face is so fresh.
I'm not sure where you were in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
I was at least around so, but.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Can you share something like similar in your experience on
the brand side. Do you recall something early in your
career in marketing that would be considered obsolete by today's standards,
because I think we move at the pace of culture.
So is there something that you've done now that just
doesn't hold weight, doesn't hold water, or maybe even conversely,
(15:16):
something you've done that's just ephemeral work and it will
resonate for generations to come.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Yeah, so for me, I think what a lot of
people don't know about my career is that post NBA,
I actually started in finance, and so that was where
I really cut my teeth and learned really about business. Honestly,
there was a partner I was at Deloitte Consulting prior
to business school, and there was a partner back then
who actually was based in Houston, and he told me
(15:44):
that finance was the language of business, and that really
stuck with me very early on, even prior to business school.
And so when I went to business school, I studied
finance as a way to really understand a P and L.
How does a business make money? Right? What are all
the levers from a revenue cost site right of course
down to profit. And so when I first started at PepsiCo,
(16:07):
I was in finance roles, really supporting around innovation, helping
us build new products, working with my sales and marketing
and already counterparts, and so a lot of that was
again the foundational skills around how do you build a brand?
What is executive leadership thinking about from a strategic position, branding, messaging,
(16:30):
all those things, and so that is really kind of
what helped catapult me into marketing when I made the
transition into brand marketing at American Express to really build
out our multicultural marketing practice.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Makes sense that you would take that financial services background
and then go work for an iconic brand like American Express,
but not in finance at all. So that's a big
that's a big pivot, and you were able to cultivate
some amazing external relationships. Tell us about building and collecting
and making sure it's a two way partnership.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Yeah. Absolutely. Business is really all about relationships, right, and
the more that you can make it relational versus transactional,
I think you get the best out of both parties.
I will say that working in finance and having to
really build kind of you know, marketing programs with my
sales team, I kind of really learned that sales component
(17:28):
without being in sales, and so moving into marketing, most
of the programs that you build again are in partnership, media,
partners and otherwise, and so it is really important to
understand what's the value proposition, right, how can we both win?
What are you know, our strategic comparatives or priorities, and
(17:49):
then how do we build that potentially into a road
map maybe year one We're not able to get everything,
but maybe by year three again hopefully it's a long
standing partnership. How do we get to bright? Really what
is the north star or kind of what we would
say in our organization kind of what is the point
of arrival? Right, So, like what are we really trying
to get to? And then how do we put those
(18:11):
milestones in place to get there? And that's really I
think how a lot of the partnerships that I was
able to build that American Express were so successful because
it really was that equal value exchange and being very
transparent around what our key goals and priorities were.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Well, the audience wants to know, since you worked for
the NBA, and since Alex also did work for the
NBA with the Rockets, who's your team?
Speaker 4 (18:37):
I go for the Rockets because I'm from Houston. But
I will say that I'm a bigger NFL guy, So
I'm one of probably the few guys who literally will
watch football Sunday, Monday, Thursday of every week every week
and college football on Saturday. So I really love the NFL.
And then I ran track in college, so I'm also
(18:59):
a big Olympic guy and really excited about how the
investment continues to increase supporting our Olympic athletes.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
And Alex, your team is the Rockets.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yes, proudly, deeply, deeply. I bleed rocket read pretty hard.
And you know I didn't grow up with the NFL.
You know, I've obviously I claimed the Texans as my
home team. I grew up more with soccer and with
F one racing, so those are my two other sports.
But my first love is my Rockets.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I'm a next fan. If anybody is tracking, we got
a solid, solid team this year. You do, Alex.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you also the
question about the work and thinking back on some campaign
work that has just lasted the test of time. I
think we all seek to make work that's going to
resonate now and then also particularly multicultural marketing. We make
work and we designed it around a certain audience, but
(19:59):
we know that it has it's like implications and broader culture.
Can you think of that piece of work?
Speaker 3 (20:04):
I think there's there's several. I mean, my favorite bodies
of work that I've worked on are those that take
a little bit of an unexpected path, that have an
insight that's like, oh wow, that's that's special. And obviously
there are foundational pieces not just in the Latino world,
but also in the history of the agency. I mean,
(20:26):
I think that some of our work for Walmart, that
we did over that twenty eight year relationship is some
of that. When we started working for Walmart, they were
not even on the radar, they were not even on
the retail consideration set for latinos and you know, having
and it took a while, but we gotten from zeros
to heroes with just a great deal of consistency. The
(20:46):
very first campaign was, you know, we went into Walmart
and they hadn't really stepped in it. They hadn't they
hadn't made any mistakes, so we didn't have anything to
clean up. They had that campaign that was always at
the time, and I think that one of the things
that we tried to set out was that EDLP. Since
you were at PepsiCo, you understand that, and you negotiated
(21:08):
to that as well.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Absolutely every day low price.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Exactly, and it was that constancy and that ever present
promise that Walmart could deliver. And so we built on
that always, but we added a spin to it which
was by us so Familias on four year, family from
the heart, and we had a client that really believed
in what the customer had to say about that. And
I think that one of the things that made me
(21:32):
so proud of that work is that they were brave
enough to allow the customer voice to shine through. It's
when Walmart did a lot of real people's stories. And
you know, after about ten or twelve years of doing
that campaign consistently, I realized what an absolute luxury it
was to having had a chance to meet Hispanic America personally.
(21:54):
We had a production team on the road fifty weeks
a year uncovered stories, and we realized that the best
Walmart stories were not coming from Walmart, that were coming
from churches and town halls and schools, and so being
able to go in and meet Hispanic America personally across
the entire nation, I think is a was a gift
(22:16):
that not a lot of people have, so that we're
very proud of that. I think the work that we
did for Go Yeah Foods, a brand that was so
Eastern Seaboard and Caribbean based, and introducing that that brand
to the rest of the nation was such an incredible
experiment and it worked. It was just just really really wonderful.
(22:37):
So there's I would say that also the work we
did for Doctor Pepper when we had Vida Albititre's Life
to the twenty third, when we brought Pitbull on, that
was also really foundational. That was that I think that
one that one still has lasting power. People still associate
him with the brand, the brand with him. Every time
(22:58):
you go into an arena you hear don't stop the party.
People don't realize that song was commissioned by Dr Pepper.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
And was your firm commission because of the Texas connection.
We know doctor Pepper is in Waco.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yes, yes, well we you know. It's interesting because we
brought we brought Pitbull to Doctor Pepper and they were
they were like, okay, you've got he's a little edgy.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
What are we going to do?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
They were a little scared. But he is a really
hard working, smart artist and once you sign him, he
will give you one hundred and twenty percent and he
went to work immediately, and he was willing to break
some rules like, for example, we would commission songs that
he was that he put on the record and agreed
to make them. The first single we opened the Latin
(23:43):
Grammys with one of our songs, and so it was
it was just it just got a lot of traction.
And it was a moment where Hispanic America really started
getting its identity together, you know, because before then we
were kind of fractured. We were you know, you had
the Tejano, you had the the you know, the Eastern
(24:05):
Seaboard Latinobo. Yeah, we we had a lot of fragmentation.
But over the forty years that I've had the agency,
I've witnessed an American Latino identity form and become uh
and and that's been a beautiful thing. And it was
that that was kind of the moment where that was
really starting to come about. And it was pretty magic.
(24:25):
It was really magic. So that's that's just three of
the ones that that we're proud of. But I mean,
my goodness, uh we right now we're working on some
stuff with Hondai. That's just wow. And you know that
my my entire leadership team on Hondai is multicultural.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I saw your numbers on your site. They're impressive.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah no, and then they're they're an inspiring client. I
don't have anybody to convince on the value of our audience.
I don't have anybody to convince on the insight. It's like,
let's just do great work and let's push it out
and let's push it out with with integrity and with
constancy and with authenticity. And that's a that's a gift there.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Marcus, You've gotten to work with great brands. Have you
gotten to work with artists that you admire and that
kind of say, vein.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
Yeah, I've been able to work with quite a few
artists that are just really exceptional partners. I think the
one artist or creative that I worked with most has
been Isa Ray, who just so happened to be inducted
into the Advertising Hall of Achievement class with me as well.
You know, really one of my very first projects was
(25:30):
with her, Christina. You alluded to the Built to Last
podcast that my team created back in twenty twenty, and
so that was really just an opportunity to see her
creativity come to life, and we probably worked on three
or four other projects. I Mean, what I really love
about the work with these creators is allowing them to
bring their creativity to bear as well. Again, this kind
(25:52):
of equal value exchange, right, Like, let's not be over prescriptive.
Of course, there's we deliver a brief, but let's not
be over prescriptive. Let the creator really come into the
room and help us co create. I think that's where
you really have the best types of partnerships that come
to life. And so I would say Issa really has
been really just a great partner for a lot of
(26:13):
the work that we were able to bring a bear.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
She's amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
What a full circle moment in November too. I think
she came on just before you. This is almost like
she handed it off to you. Amazing, absolutely, absolutely absolutely.
I had a question Alex, what you've really talked about.
I really love how you've talked through really the forty
year history of success for your agency, and we've really
(26:37):
spoken to in language and in culture as kind of
key communication or winning strategies that resonate with the Hispanic market.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
How has maybe your vision evolved over the last four
decades of being in the industry and what are some
core principles that remain the same.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Marcus, you bring up a really good point. And this
whole inc culture thing is not new. I mean I
know that it's been really written up in the media
and it's all the rave and you know, Spanglish and
all that. It's not new. We have had an English
dominant Latino community for half a century or more really,
(27:21):
going back to eighteen fifty four in the in the
Battle of I mean, this is not new. It's just
that the media has just finally gone, oh, how cool.
But we did our first campaign in English targeting Latinos
in nineteen eighty seven. It was the agare Ride campaign
(27:42):
for Metro, you know. So it's not new. I think
what is new is marketers level of comfort with it.
I think realizing, you know, my business card never said
Spanish language, marketer. I mean, it was always my promise
was to deliver you the entirety of the Latino opportunity,
which came in English and Spanish, and in both. But
(28:03):
I think marketers comfort level with saying okay, so we're
getting into the gray here, yes you must, with media
being more comfortable with that. Early in the days of
the agency, you know, Telebisa, I mean, Unibcio would not
accept a word of English in their communications, you know,
(28:24):
and so what general market media would not accept a
word of Spanish. So I think that these worlds are converging.
Now you've got a new generation of Latinos that are
expecting you to be fluent in all three. They're really
expecting that. One of the things that is multicultural marketing, Marcus,
I know, I know you you'll agree to when I
(28:45):
say this is as corporate America gets better at communicating
with what I call the new American mainstream and understanding
that communities, whether it's Black, Latino, LGBTQ, Asian. Now that
we're taking center stage, there is a new American mainstream,
(29:06):
and as marketers hopefully get better at that, the signal
you're sending to our communities is okay, so you're inviting
me to the party and you see me. But now
when I engage with initiatives that are truly designed for
me and for my community, I'm expecting you to be
even better at it. And I think that that's one
(29:27):
of the areas that concerned me a little bit about
where corporate America is right now. There's a big play
for efficiency, and I think that a lot. I see
a lot of marketers getting much better at their mainstream messaging,
but they're taking that mainstream messaging and carrying it over
to segment and it needs to be deeper. It needs
to be better and it needs to be more committed.
(29:47):
So right now I'm a little concerned there because I'm saying,
let's keep going, let's get better at this.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, I was not going to touch the third rail
of multicultural marketing versus total market.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
You went there, Alex, I did.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
I did well. You know, total market was not designed
by people like us. Total market was really designed as
an efficiency play to say, hey, if we reach everybody
at once, isn't that the total market? We're not leaving
anybody out, But it left out the realities that our
communities want and deserve to be spoken to, directly, invited to,
(30:24):
directly that there has to be an investment in time
and effort and mind space and budget to do that really,
really well. And those are the brave brands that the
ones that succeed Marcus. I would consider American Express one
of those, you know. They they gave you a great
runway to do amazing things and never sacrifice their brand.
(30:47):
Quite the contrary, you know. So, I think that we
see that with certain brands P and G et cetera,
et cetera, that are saying, okay, let's let's go there.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Yeah, I think what you speak to, Alex earlier is
around cultural competency, right, and how our brand is able
to build that muscle internal understanding that, of course you
can speak to everyone, but there's gonna be cultural nuances, right,
So how do you bring that cultural competency really through
your campaigns to ensure that you're speaking the language or
(31:16):
you're bringing in the right partners right, because sometimes you
have to either buy or build if you don't have
it internally. Are you partnering with the right agencies right,
such as yours that can bring that expertise into the building.
Something that I've seen that's been really important as I've
been working with different teams over the years is how
(31:39):
can we build in cultural immersions if you will, right,
to get a little bit smarter. Is it a museum trip?
Is it going to a concert? I went to a
Maluma concert. I didn't understand anything he said all night,
but I understood the energy, right. I looked around and
saw the crowd and the audience, and then therefore these
(31:59):
are different things. I'm now able to bring that external
perspective into the work. I'm able to ask different questions
maybe that I wasn't asking before, And I think that's
really important for any marketer, not just a multicultural marketer.
But if you're a marketer these days and you're not
bringing a multicultural perspective or lens of the work, you're
actually not doing great marketing. I truly believe that.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
I think you're so right. And then also having respect
for the tactic. We talk a lot about strategy, we
talk a lot about the insights, but I think that
we have to give space and pay homage to the
tactic because it's how these strategies and how these insights
are actually reflected and how they're taking the market. The
tactic is so important because that's where our audiences will go,
(32:46):
oh they got it, Oh they got it. Yeah, yeah
that's me, or that's something I'm interested in, or that's
something I care about, as opposed to that somebody else
trying to be reflective, you know, And I think reflective
is such a I have three favorite words in my vernacular.
I think reflective or reflection is one of them. Impact
(33:07):
is another. And intent what's the intent behind the work,
what's the intent behind the initiative? You know? And then
if you can't have if you don't have an impact,
then as we say back, you know what four and
so those are my three three favorite words, and that's
kind of what we what we rule the agency by,
(33:27):
you know, to be reflective, to make sure that we
have to have we have a pure and clear intent,
and that we are effective and have an impact.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
I love those three really, really great, especially around the
intent and the impact. I think that impact is very
very important as I think about my career and what
do I even want to do next. The impact is
really more and more important as we spend so much
time at work, making sure that you're doing thoughtful, impactful work,
(34:00):
the at least to me, becomes even more and more important,
especially as you know, you start leading larger and larger
teams or you have your own agency. Think that really
really is important.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Marcus, we were talking about the new American mainstream and
you seem to be able to tap into highly elusive,
highly sought after gen Z and marketing really to the future.
And so how did you harness that and do you
have any advice for us for Alex on the marketing
to this gen Z audience.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
Yeah, that's such a great question, and of course we
know a lot of organizations are thinking about how they
tap into in how I say it, is engage with
gen Z right, So not just marketing, but how are
you really building a relationship for me? It comes around
in maybe two different ways. One is I try to
have a lot of conversations with gen z Ers. I've
(34:55):
been in many different rooms or meetings and people are
talking about but there's not a gen Z in the room, right,
So how are we actually and you know, I will
also say a gen Zer in the room and or
not saying well, I have a gen Z R at home.
To me, that's not one of the same. We need
people at work who have the expertise right in the
(35:18):
background to really be able to bring their own personal perspective,
of course, not being a monolith, not being able to
speak for all audiences, but there is some richness right
in having that perspective in the room. I think the
other piece as well is then going out, right, are
(35:38):
you going to gen Z conferences? Again? How are you
building the muscle if you don't have it? And I
think so that's really important around how do you engage
with when gen Zers and build programs that are authentic
to them, that's in their voice. It could be as
simple as I remember I was building a program for
Art Buzzle a few years back, and it was really
(36:00):
kind of the first year that we were bringing in
gen Z along with millennials from an audience targeting perspective,
and so I ensured that as we were finding the
right partners within the experience, that the DJ was a
gen Z er who probably even at that time, probably
had half a million followers on Instagram alone. So then
(36:21):
that allows you, right, you're bringing in the right partners
who were speaking to the audience that you want to
speak to then help you amplify the programs that you're building.
I think that's really important, right, Like what is this
around sound programming that you're doing, and it really is
around finding the right partners to help you speak to
the audience wherever they are.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
I love that point about make sure there's gen Z
in the room if we're talking about marketing to them.
This is the same conversation I think we all fought for.
If you're talking about different consumer segments, who's in the
room to speak to their lived experience and their cultural nuance.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
What Marcus was saying kind of took me back to
one of the earlier questions about what's what's changed? You
know there was a time there, I would say, at
the midpoint of the agency, we were we were really
getting our growth on and the market was really was
really growing as an industry. And there were a lot
of people that said, hey, if what's going to happen is,
(37:21):
you know, Latinos are going to become just like anybody else,
and this is going to become the dominant language, and
it's just not going to matter you. Y'all are going
to be just like anybody else. And obviously I didn't
believe that, but this, this gen z is really demonstrating
how wrong they were. Because language and culture are their currency.
(37:45):
Gen zs have a real desire to say, I am me,
this is what makes me me, This is what makes
me a two hundred percent or three hundred percenter, you know,
it's that desire to say and so language and culture
have never been more alive, and they are welcoming these
signals from the previous generations. It's like they first to
(38:07):
understand what makes them them and then they're recreating it
and pushing it out. I mean, you look at Bad
Bunny's last record. I mean, he's going back home hard
on this. Nobody expected him to do that, and it
is a major hit. You've got Maluma. You mentioned Maluma.
Maluma just finished doing a duet with forts A Rechira,
which is one of the Corrido Toumbao's band. That's you
(38:31):
could pseudo classify it as regional Mexicans. So here you
have my Luma doing duets with them, giving them the
creative I mean, it's like the mashups are insane, and
they're so rich, and they're so grounded in culture. So
I think that's what excites me about this next generation.
They are appreciative of what makes them then, and part
(38:55):
of that is language, culture and history. And it's just
for me, it's I have such I'm so excited about
this generation, you know. And yes, you have to have
gen zers create for gen zers, they'll sniff you out
like that.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
I have one final question for each of you, and
it's a big one.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
We're just getting started.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I could copper you with more. I could copper you more. Well,
it's a big one.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
What is the future of multicultural marketing and where do
you see us headed? What new obstacles can you foresee
presenting themselves in the coming years beyond this current climate?
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Oh boy, yeah, that's a big one man man. Well,
you know what I guess from my perspective, I think I,
at least Kathy and I were stubborn enough, and we
have enough belief in the communities that we come from
and represent to know that the future is still bright.
We have headwinds, no question. But as long as we
(39:57):
keep this about growth, as long as we keep this
about being reflective of the real America out there, and
as long as our hardest pure meaning the intent, and
as long as we can tell our clients and marketers
we will deliver, we will deliver. And as we say
at the Agency, maximum return on cultural Intelligence, we will
(40:20):
use culture and cultural intelligence to drive the business, to
steer the brand and drive the business. I think will
be okay, but we're going to have to have more
unity between our segments than ever before. We're going to
have to lock elbows like never before, and we have
to stay steady and true with each other to each other.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
A well said marcyes.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
I love that, Alex. I'm gonna double down on growth.
That I think is really the most important piece. When
we talk about multiculture and marketing. The industry is going
to continue to change and evolve and there's going to
be a dish segments. But as long as we're focused
on growth and driving exponential growth, which is going to
(41:09):
come from these audiences, especially as we think about again
gen z gen Alpha being fifty percent plus, right, like
multicultural audiences. I think that's what's really going to be important,
and focus on again the measurement of it all. We
really didn't talk about measurement. I don't know how we
got through a podcast around marketing and didn't say ROI,
(41:30):
So I'm just going to like throw it in there, right,
But I think that's really important, right, the metrics, the measurement,
and as we think about how do we really continue
to drive again incremental growth for our businesses, it's going
to come from these multicultural audiences, and so that's really
important to really embed that really into the framework of
(41:51):
the business, put it on rails, bring in additional cultural
competency if it's not already there at your brand, and
then think through again, how do you bring these insights
really into the baseline of all work that is taking place.
I think that's really the next frontier.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Yeah, I do think we one of the things that
we're going to have to really be mindful of is
the composition of client of marketers teams also has to
be reflective, and that's one of the areas that I
think we have to continue to push for as all
things DEI come under threat because I know that we
(42:33):
do our best work when we have representation in the
halls of the client's headquarters, when there is investment that
is aligned. When we lose that representation and when we
lose the budgets, that becomes a real issue. So I
think we're going to have to be really, really stubborn
about that. Continue to preach growth. If you want growth,
(42:57):
you've got to be reflective, and that means insight and out.
You know, in twenty twenty when we UH, when our
communities all went through what we know they went through,
and DEEI became a buzzword, I said, you know, I'm
glad that we're going there, and I'm glad that corporate
America is finally waking up to this. But it should
(43:17):
have been table stakes thirty years ago. Absolutely, it should
have been table steaks. So here we are. You know
now DEI, those three little letters are becoming demonized, But
there's one word that will never be demonized in that's growth.
And that's where I'm with you, Marcus, because I think
when we go and talk to clients and say, okay,
what does your internal structure look like? Are you set
(43:38):
up for success? Which is one of the things that
really hasn't changed for us. You know, I mentioned how
Kathy and I opened the agency and we had no rules.
We would never go into a client and say, Okay,
what's your next campaign going to be? What's the next
set of pretty pictures a pretty film? We never did that.
We always went and saying, how's business? Can it be better?
(44:00):
You thought about this audience if yes, do you have
a proper invitation? Do you have the right set of tools,
do you have the right products, do you have the
right sales teams? Do you have bump up, bup up? Uh?
And you know so many times, you know, we worked
for Walmart and for Fiesta for almost two years each
without ever going to advertising. First, we help them with
(44:21):
their infrastructure, We help them with their product, we help
them with their internal messaging, we help them with their
teams before we even rolled one second film, you know.
And it's when a client, when you can engage a
client in that conversation, good things happen.
Speaker 4 (44:38):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, one last ding. I know we're closing.
But what I love about that is something that I
learned in my CpG days, and we would call it
points of interruption. Right, So think about your local grocery store.
There's chips right in the lobby before you even enter
the store. There's chips in the chip aisle, maybe by
(44:59):
your wine there's some chips that are maybe a bit healthier.
And then right before you check out, there's chips right there,
right at the register. So hopefully right through one of
these points, you're gonna say, oh, I need some chips.
I'm gonna pick them up and put it into my basket.
And I think that's some of the work still to
be done as we think about multicultural marketing and really
(45:21):
these growth audiences around it's a full three sixty. There
has to be multiple points. It starts internally, it's externally.
It's your sales team, it's your acquisition team. How are
you programming from an experiential perspective like all of these
different areas, right, do you have the right media plan?
Is there equity in that media plan with the right
(45:42):
partners all of these different things. It's not just one thing,
but really this full three sixty I think that's how
you build a winning strategy for the future.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Well, I clearly need to invite you back, or you
two need to connect and partner offline, but you both
our masterclass and a roadmap for the way forward. Alex,
thanks for reminding us it's not new, and Marcus, thank
you for reminding us that it will last. This has
(46:13):
been reflective, it's been impactful, and it's been intentional.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Thank you both, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
I'm Christina Pile. Thank you for listening. We'll be back
with another episode before you know it. And for more
information on the American Advertising Federation, go to AAF dot org.
Hello, Welcome to season three of the Future Legends of
Advertising podcast on iHeart, featuring the hottest up and coming
stars and advertising as well as the biggest legends in
the game. In this series, we explore the future of
the advertising industry through never before heard conversations between those
who created it and those who are shaping its future.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm your host Tim Natividad and I'm your host Christina
Pile and with that, let's meet the legends. Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I'd first like to introduce the renowned Alex Lopez Negrete.
Forty years ago, Alex co founded his own firm in Houston, Texas,
which he aptly named Lopez Negrete Communications. Alex and his
wife Kathy started the firm based on his vision to
launch his Spanish marketing into the stratosphere, and that they did.
(01:04):
After four years, he has never lost sight of his vision,
carrying the agency to the largest independently owned and operating marketing,
advertising and communications agency.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
In the entire country.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We are talking about clients in all industries from retail
to automotive and hundreds of awards collected along the way
leading up to this seminal moment when Alex is inducted
into the Advertising Hall of Fame. Alex, I think your
team has even collected a Billboard Latin Music Award.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yes, we have, we have. It really has been quite
a quite a road. But if you're going to do
what we set out to do, you know, the road
is not necessarily a straight line. You really have to
find very unique ways to connect and be relevant. And
so yeah, there's some there's some I would say weird,
but really very cool paths like that.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
We I mean we seek to impact culture and so
getting recognized by the the Build Awards is just awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Congrats Alex, and welcome to the pod.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Thank you, Christina.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
How are you feeling. Have you warmed up from the
snow in Houston?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Well? Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know in Houston, Texas,
when it snows, it's kind of like a freak out moment.
Everybody kind of loses their mind, even though there's really
all you have to do is be careful on the
road if you're not used to it. But it's a
it was a this time. It was nice. It was
very different than the freeze we had in twenty twenty one,
which really did cause tremendous havoc. We lost power for days,
(02:32):
and I mean it was really something. So this one
was like, oh, well this is kind of cool. Let's
let's go out and you know, build a snowman.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I'm glad people are safe and getting to enjoy it.
And you and I have the connection because my family
is Histonians. So I spent a lot of time in
the year in Houston.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It's a great city. I love the city.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah. The Beyonce Bowl that the ratings on that crazy
huh was just incredible.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
She's our girl, that's for sure. She is all ours.
We claim her well.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Marcus e Zach is also joining today's episode, who most
recently was the head of Multicultural Marketing with American Express,
where he led the development and the execution of integrated
multicultural marketing campaigns. Marcus is an award winning multicultural strategist
and brand builder who operates at the intersection of creativity, culture,
(03:24):
and commerce. He is a master at building meaningful relationships
and partnerships with orgs like Art Basel Bet, the Essence
Festival of Culture, the US Chamber of Commerce, Ebscene, Marcus
in a room and that tracks for me. Marcus is
no stranger to the world of podcasting, so this should
be interesting folks. During his time in AMAX, he produced
(03:46):
a podcast series that showcase black owned small businesses, and
Marcus was recently inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement
as a member of the twenty twenty four class. His
speech and his suit had the audience. It's captivated and moved.
I'm so excited to be in this discussion with you
both and have our guests here today. Marcus, how you feeling.
(04:11):
You got family in Houston. How are you feeling? Where
are you joining us from?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
I am feeling great, Christina, thank you for the introduction.
I'm glad my suit made it in. I probably tried
on four or five suits, but that one definitely won out.
Appreciate it. Pleasure to be on the podcast, especially with Alex,
who's my family's from Houston. They're making it quite well
(04:35):
in the snow this time is around as well. Thankfully
it wasn't that hard freeze. I mean they probably didn't
have power for five to seven days, maybe a little
bit more during that last time as well, so they
have been out enjoying building snowman as well. And I'm
reporting to you live from Harlem, New York. City.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Wow, Alex, you have a little bit of time before
April and you step on that stage. But it is
people bring looks onto that stage.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That's what I'm gathering. I mean, the pressure is on,
and you know, I mean, unfortunately a few years ago
my color scheme changed. I had black hair, a thick
black beard, and then all of a sudden, everything like changed.
I mean, what am I going to do? I'm Marcus,
I may I may have to call you for some advice.
Here you and Aaron Walton, I think have to be
in my fashion since.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Here, I love Aaron Walton. He's hard to outdress. Oh
my gosh. Well we'll be able to figure something out
for you.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Alan. Oh he is he is a he is a
sweetheart of a gentleman. I just really really love him
and he is uh he is very deserved of his
his induction as well. But but I am here with
two Houstonians what uh? I feel so at home. This
is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I think it's amazing Alex that you chose you chose
Houston when other companies were saying New York or nothing.
You have made it work in Houston and you have
stayed committed to and I think that's very cool.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Well, you know, I was raised in Mexico City and
my my love affair with Houston started as a as
a young boy. My grandmother lived here. We were very,
very very close, and it was always and I actually
came to Houston to be a musician. I've played keys
and guitar and bass, and I thought, I'm going to
go find rock and roll in the US, and Houston's
(06:22):
going to be where I start. And then I got
here and I could get the gig, but couldn't keep
the gig. So I thought, well, maybe I'll just I'll
stay in school and and and and and give this
a different angle. Uh still very evolved in music. We
have one of our affiliates is a recording studio that
we that's called Zat Boom Bang. And so every now
and then I'll sneak into a session and you know, say, hey,
(06:43):
my rate's really good for guitar player. Uh uh So.
But you know, Houston I think gave us, gave Kathy
and I an advantage in that when we opened the agency,
we decided to follow no rules really, rather follow the
rules of what we set out to do, follow the
rules of business and client needs and so we didn't
(07:06):
necessarily come at it from it has to have this,
it has to be shaped like this, it has to
do that. And actually I'll share this podcast to give
a little bit of an unknown fact here, which is
we actually opened our doors under the name of Third
Coast Marketing and are. One of our very, very first
clients was the Houston Rockets, and so we were we
really set out to be a sports, real estate and
(07:29):
entertainment agency. And I had the luxury of having Ray Patterson,
who was the president general manager of the of the
Rockets at the time, as my client and mentor. And
I also I also had the press lounge gig during
the games, and Ray would come into the press lounge
and we just talked. And I mean, it was such
(07:50):
a great opportunity to hear somebody like Ray Patterson comment
on a game. I mean, he is, my goodness, he
just an end be a scholar. And one day he
asked me, so Alex, and by then we had the account.
He says, does the world need another advertising agency? And
(08:11):
I went, oh, my gosh, Well, you know, started mumbling
and going, well, Ray, are you getting second thoughts about us?
You know where present He goes, oh my god, you
guys are so paranoid. Just answer the question. And I said, well,
in all truth, no, there's some there's plenty of very
very good agencies. Why are you asking the question? He
had a very socratic way of teaching you and mentoring you,
(08:35):
and he said, well, that's my point. Make sure the
world needs yours. And boy, I mean I went home
that night and just went everything. Everything's changed, you know,
the thinking changed. And in those days, we were already
getting involved with a what I think was one of
the great multicultural retailers or grocers in the nation, Fiesta Supermarkets.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Oh, and I had put together a marriage between Metro
Transit Authority and Fiesta. You know, the Metro challenge at
the time was they had no Hispanic writership at all.
And you know, so it's funny. I'll talk a little
bit about that later. How I put those two things
together and I realized, Alex, this is what we need
(09:21):
to do. You have a community, and need a community
that's not being spoken to, addressed, or invited with any
kind of consistency or dignity. This is the community that
you come from. This is the community you represent. Time
to really change, change things, and so we changed our name.
We changed our name to Lopez the Communications, and we
made that our Alpha and Oro Omega and I was
(09:43):
lucky enough that Ray. You know, sometimes when you make
those kinds of pivots in a business, you might shed
the businesses that you have because you're changing your your
your vantage point, or your focus. Quite the contrary, Ray
doubled down and the Rockets doubled down. They said, okay,
so how do we go get this audience? And it
was just really amazing because it wasn't something that you
could do through advertising. You had to bring the game
(10:05):
closer to the audience, closer to the community. So the
first thing we did is that we created a deal
with Infinity Radio, which was k XYZ thirteen twenty am,
and we started broadcasting home and away games immediately. And
then we had Carl Loretta, who was Ben Lano at
the time, on our roster and took him out to
the community and meet folks. And of course we had
(10:26):
Calvin who would at the drop of a hat do
whatever you needed to do to build the franchise. And
Ray of course turns around and goes, okay, so we've
got a we got a play by play guy, but
we need a color announcer. We can't find one. And
he basically said, tag, you're it. You have a summer
(10:47):
to figure out how to do it.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
So I was.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I was the Spanish Boys color voice for the Rockets
from eighty nine to ninety five. But again, that's an
example how sometimes when you really want to set this
to create a conversation and then be a relationship between
a brand and a community, it has to be organic
and you sometimes can't. You can't do it all through advertising,
(11:09):
your messaging. You have to create that relationship, those venues,
those situations to make that happen. And Marcus, I mean,
some of the things that you've done are just amazing
and very much along those lines.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Well, Alex, I'm going to take you back even a
little bit further. You launched Lopez in the Great Day
communications with your wife Kathy, which we'll get to that
from your kitchen table in nineteen eighty five. That's a
year of good music, great movies in my opinion, awesome fashion,
some good hair. What was your hope for the agency then?
(11:45):
And then what did you want to accomplish? What did
you set out to accomplish? In that kitchen in nineteen
eighty five, well, you.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Know, it was if you're familiar with Houston, which both
of you are, those were the bust days. We were
going through an oil bust. Houston was going through a
really Yes we had great hair grading, music, great fashion,
but boy, Houston was really in trouble. The rig count dropped.
We were really in oil town in those days. Today
it's very, very different, and you know, as the years
(12:16):
have gone on, certainly our vision has matured crystallized. But
in those days, it was Okay, what can we do,
what do we know how to do, and how can
we survive? And so really it was like a lot
of times, I'll tell people, it wasn't far to fall.
It was just one of those situations where we love advertising,
(12:36):
we love marketing, this is what we know how to do.
I was blessed with two languages and coming from two communities,
and so we I'm being very, very blunt and honest here.
The very impetus at the very beginning was survival. It
was just survival, and there was a hole in the market.
There was not a good sports marketing focused agency. There
was not an entertainment focused agency. The real estate we
(13:00):
had a client that really had a lot of faith
in us, and we just opened the doors and said
here we go. But very very quickly, as I mentioned
earlier that relationship between Fiesta and Metro, you know, we
started adding staff and it just crystallized. It just it
just hit us, this is what we're meant to do.
And you know, those were the nascent days of hispantic
(13:20):
marketing and multicultural marketing as a whole. So we were
blazing new paths a lot of people. You know, in Houston, Texas,
it was like, all right, Sean, so you're gonna you've
opened an aptasement agency to talk to who for what? What?
Speaker 4 (13:36):
Are you crazy?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
You know? And we were far from crazy. Even with
the census numbers forty years ago, we already knew where
this nation was going. It's just it's still going. I mean,
it has surpassed expectations and projections every single ten years.
But yeah, Kathy and I really we just set out
into the wild blue yonder and we held hands, you know,
(14:00):
and I'm so proud because we all three of us
come from our world and you know that partnerships and
advertising the name may last, but the actual partnership may
be fleeting. Yeah, and we're still at it. We're still
at it together. We run the house together. We are
proudly a family owned Latino owned business. That is that's
(14:23):
our stripes, and we're very proud of those stripes. And
I couldn't have had a better partner every step of
the way. She is intuitive, and she's smart, she's gutsy.
I'm very very proud of what we've built together and
the fact that we've built it together.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I'm coming back to Kathy, But Marcus, I want to
take you back to nineteen eight Five'm not sure, not
sure what you're doing. I mean, your face is so fresh.
I'm not sure where you were in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
I was at least around so, but.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Can you share something like similar in your experience on
the brand side. Do you recall something early in your
career in marketing that would be considered obsolete by today's standards,
because I think we move at the pace of culture.
So is there something that you've done now that just
doesn't hold weight, doesn't hold water, or maybe even conversely,
(15:16):
something you've done that's just ephemeral work and it will
resonate for generations to come.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Yeah, so for me, I think what a lot of
people don't know about my career is that post NBA,
I actually started in finance, and so that was where
I really cut my teeth and learned really about business. Honestly,
there was a partner I was at Deloitte Consulting prior
to business school, and there was a partner back then
who actually was based in Houston, and he told me
(15:44):
that finance was the language of business, and that really
stuck with me very early on, even prior to business school.
And so when I went to business school, I studied
finance as a way to really understand a P and L.
How does a business make money? Right? What are all
the levers from a revenue cost site right of course
down to profit. And so when I first started at PepsiCo,
(16:07):
I was in finance roles, really supporting around innovation, helping
us build new products, working with my sales and marketing
and already counterparts, and so a lot of that was
again the foundational skills around how do you build a brand?
What is executive leadership thinking about from a strategic position, branding, messaging,
(16:30):
all those things, and so that is really kind of
what helped catapult me into marketing when I made the
transition into brand marketing at American Express to really build
out our multicultural marketing practice.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Makes sense that you would take that financial services background
and then go work for an iconic brand like American Express,
but not in finance at all. So that's a big
that's a big pivot, and you were able to cultivate
some amazing external relationships. Tell us about building and collecting
and making sure it's a two way partnership.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Yeah. Absolutely. Business is really all about relationships, right, and
the more that you can make it relational versus transactional,
I think you get the best out of both parties.
I will say that working in finance and having to
really build kind of you know, marketing programs with my
sales team, I kind of really learned that sales component
(17:28):
without being in sales, and so moving into marketing, most
of the programs that you build again are in partnership, media,
partners and otherwise, and so it is really important to
understand what's the value proposition, right, how can we both win?
What are you know, our strategic comparatives or priorities, and
(17:49):
then how do we build that potentially into a road
map maybe year one We're not able to get everything,
but maybe by year three again hopefully it's a long
standing partnership. How do we get to bright? Really what
is the north star or kind of what we would
say in our organization kind of what is the point
of arrival? Right, So, like what are we really trying
to get to? And then how do we put those
(18:11):
milestones in place to get there? And that's really I
think how a lot of the partnerships that I was
able to build that American Express were so successful because
it really was that equal value exchange and being very
transparent around what our key goals and priorities were.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Well, the audience wants to know, since you worked for
the NBA, and since Alex also did work for the
NBA with the Rockets, who's your team?
Speaker 4 (18:37):
I go for the Rockets because I'm from Houston. But
I will say that I'm a bigger NFL guy, So
I'm one of probably the few guys who literally will
watch football Sunday, Monday, Thursday of every week every week
and college football on Saturday. So I really love the NFL.
And then I ran track in college, so I'm also
(18:59):
a big Olympic guy and really excited about how the
investment continues to increase supporting our Olympic athletes.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
And Alex, your team is the Rockets.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yes, proudly, deeply, deeply. I bleed rocket read pretty hard.
And you know I didn't grow up with the NFL.
You know, I've obviously I claimed the Texans as my
home team. I grew up more with soccer and with
F one racing, so those are my two other sports.
But my first love is my Rockets.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I'm a next fan. If anybody is tracking, we got
a solid, solid team this year. You do, Alex.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you also the
question about the work and thinking back on some campaign
work that has just lasted the test of time. I
think we all seek to make work that's going to
resonate now and then also particularly multicultural marketing. We make
work and we designed it around a certain audience, but
(19:59):
we know that it has it's like implications and broader culture.
Can you think of that piece of work?
Speaker 3 (20:04):
I think there's there's several. I mean, my favorite bodies
of work that I've worked on are those that take
a little bit of an unexpected path, that have an
insight that's like, oh wow, that's that's special. And obviously
there are foundational pieces not just in the Latino world,
but also in the history of the agency. I mean,
(20:26):
I think that some of our work for Walmart, that
we did over that twenty eight year relationship is some
of that. When we started working for Walmart, they were
not even on the radar, they were not even on
the retail consideration set for latinos and you know, having
and it took a while, but we gotten from zeros
to heroes with just a great deal of consistency. The
(20:46):
very first campaign was, you know, we went into Walmart
and they hadn't really stepped in it. They hadn't they
hadn't made any mistakes, so we didn't have anything to
clean up. They had that campaign that was always at
the time, and I think that one of the things
that we tried to set out was that EDLP. Since
you were at PepsiCo, you understand that, and you negotiated
(21:08):
to that as well.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Absolutely every day low price.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Exactly, and it was that constancy and that ever present
promise that Walmart could deliver. And so we built on
that always, but we added a spin to it which
was by us so Familias on four year, family from
the heart, and we had a client that really believed
in what the customer had to say about that. And
I think that one of the things that made me
(21:32):
so proud of that work is that they were brave
enough to allow the customer voice to shine through. It's
when Walmart did a lot of real people's stories. And
you know, after about ten or twelve years of doing
that campaign consistently, I realized what an absolute luxury it
was to having had a chance to meet Hispanic America personally.
(21:54):
We had a production team on the road fifty weeks
a year uncovered stories, and we realized that the best
Walmart stories were not coming from Walmart, that were coming
from churches and town halls and schools, and so being
able to go in and meet Hispanic America personally across
the entire nation, I think is a was a gift
(22:16):
that not a lot of people have, so that we're
very proud of that. I think the work that we
did for Go Yeah Foods, a brand that was so
Eastern Seaboard and Caribbean based, and introducing that that brand
to the rest of the nation was such an incredible
experiment and it worked. It was just just really really wonderful.
(22:37):
So there's I would say that also the work we
did for Doctor Pepper when we had Vida Albititre's Life
to the twenty third, when we brought Pitbull on, that
was also really foundational. That was that I think that
one that one still has lasting power. People still associate
him with the brand, the brand with him. Every time
(22:58):
you go into an arena you hear don't stop the party.
People don't realize that song was commissioned by Dr Pepper.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
And was your firm commission because of the Texas connection.
We know doctor Pepper is in Waco.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yes, yes, well we you know. It's interesting because we
brought we brought Pitbull to Doctor Pepper and they were
they were like, okay, you've got he's a little edgy.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
What are we going to do?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
They were a little scared. But he is a really
hard working, smart artist and once you sign him, he
will give you one hundred and twenty percent and he
went to work immediately, and he was willing to break
some rules like, for example, we would commission songs that
he was that he put on the record and agreed
to make them. The first single we opened the Latin
(23:43):
Grammys with one of our songs, and so it was
it was just it just got a lot of traction.
And it was a moment where Hispanic America really started
getting its identity together, you know, because before then we
were kind of fractured. We were you know, you had
the Tejano, you had the the you know, the Eastern
(24:05):
Seaboard Latinobo. Yeah, we we had a lot of fragmentation.
But over the forty years that I've had the agency,
I've witnessed an American Latino identity form and become uh
and and that's been a beautiful thing. And it was
that that was kind of the moment where that was
really starting to come about. And it was pretty magic.
(24:25):
It was really magic. So that's that's just three of
the ones that that we're proud of. But I mean,
my goodness, uh we right now we're working on some
stuff with Hondai. That's just wow. And you know that
my my entire leadership team on Hondai is multicultural.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I saw your numbers on your site. They're impressive.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah no, and then they're they're an inspiring client. I
don't have anybody to convince on the value of our audience.
I don't have anybody to convince on the insight. It's like,
let's just do great work and let's push it out
and let's push it out with with integrity and with
constancy and with authenticity. And that's a that's a gift there.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Marcus, You've gotten to work with great brands. Have you
gotten to work with artists that you admire and that
kind of say, vein.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
Yeah, I've been able to work with quite a few
artists that are just really exceptional partners. I think the
one artist or creative that I worked with most has
been Isa Ray, who just so happened to be inducted
into the Advertising Hall of Achievement class with me as well.
You know, really one of my very first projects was
(25:30):
with her, Christina. You alluded to the Built to Last
podcast that my team created back in twenty twenty, and
so that was really just an opportunity to see her
creativity come to life, and we probably worked on three
or four other projects. I Mean, what I really love
about the work with these creators is allowing them to
bring their creativity to bear as well. Again, this kind
(25:52):
of equal value exchange, right, Like, let's not be over prescriptive.
Of course, there's we deliver a brief, but let's not
be over prescriptive. Let the creator really come into the
room and help us co create. I think that's where
you really have the best types of partnerships that come
to life. And so I would say Issa really has
been really just a great partner for a lot of
(26:13):
the work that we were able to bring a bear.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
She's amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
What a full circle moment in November too. I think
she came on just before you. This is almost like
she handed it off to you. Amazing, absolutely, absolutely absolutely.
I had a question Alex, what you've really talked about.
I really love how you've talked through really the forty
year history of success for your agency, and we've really
(26:37):
spoken to in language and in culture as kind of
key communication or winning strategies that resonate with the Hispanic market.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
How has maybe your vision evolved over the last four
decades of being in the industry and what are some
core principles that remain the same.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Marcus, you bring up a really good point. And this
whole inc culture thing is not new. I mean I
know that it's been really written up in the media
and it's all the rave and you know, Spanglish and
all that. It's not new. We have had an English
dominant Latino community for half a century or more really,
(27:21):
going back to eighteen fifty four in the in the
Battle of I mean, this is not new. It's just
that the media has just finally gone, oh, how cool.
But we did our first campaign in English targeting Latinos
in nineteen eighty seven. It was the agare Ride campaign
(27:42):
for Metro, you know. So it's not new. I think
what is new is marketers level of comfort with it.
I think realizing, you know, my business card never said
Spanish language, marketer. I mean, it was always my promise
was to deliver you the entirety of the Latino opportunity,
which came in English and Spanish, and in both. But
(28:03):
I think marketers comfort level with saying okay, so we're
getting into the gray here, yes you must, with media
being more comfortable with that. Early in the days of
the agency, you know, Telebisa, I mean, Unibcio would not
accept a word of English in their communications, you know,
(28:24):
and so what general market media would not accept a
word of Spanish. So I think that these worlds are converging.
Now you've got a new generation of Latinos that are
expecting you to be fluent in all three. They're really
expecting that. One of the things that is multicultural marketing, Marcus,
I know, I know you you'll agree to when I
(28:45):
say this is as corporate America gets better at communicating
with what I call the new American mainstream and understanding
that communities, whether it's Black, Latino, LGBTQ, Asian. Now that
we're taking center stage, there is a new American mainstream,
(29:06):
and as marketers hopefully get better at that, the signal
you're sending to our communities is okay, so you're inviting
me to the party and you see me. But now
when I engage with initiatives that are truly designed for
me and for my community, I'm expecting you to be
even better at it. And I think that that's one
(29:27):
of the areas that concerned me a little bit about
where corporate America is right now. There's a big play
for efficiency, and I think that a lot. I see
a lot of marketers getting much better at their mainstream messaging,
but they're taking that mainstream messaging and carrying it over
to segment and it needs to be deeper. It needs
to be better and it needs to be more committed.
(29:47):
So right now I'm a little concerned there because I'm saying,
let's keep going, let's get better at this.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, I was not going to touch the third rail
of multicultural marketing versus total market.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
You went there, Alex, I did.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
I did well. You know, total market was not designed
by people like us. Total market was really designed as
an efficiency play to say, hey, if we reach everybody
at once, isn't that the total market? We're not leaving
anybody out, But it left out the realities that our
communities want and deserve to be spoken to, directly, invited to,
(30:24):
directly that there has to be an investment in time
and effort and mind space and budget to do that really,
really well. And those are the brave brands that the
ones that succeed Marcus. I would consider American Express one
of those, you know. They they gave you a great
runway to do amazing things and never sacrifice their brand.
(30:47):
Quite the contrary, you know. So, I think that we
see that with certain brands P and G et cetera,
et cetera, that are saying, okay, let's let's go there.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Yeah, I think what you speak to, Alex earlier is
around cultural competency, right, and how our brand is able
to build that muscle internal understanding that, of course you
can speak to everyone, but there's gonna be cultural nuances, right,
So how do you bring that cultural competency really through
your campaigns to ensure that you're speaking the language or
(31:16):
you're bringing in the right partners right, because sometimes you
have to either buy or build if you don't have
it internally. Are you partnering with the right agencies right,
such as yours that can bring that expertise into the building.
Something that I've seen that's been really important as I've
been working with different teams over the years is how
(31:39):
can we build in cultural immersions if you will, right,
to get a little bit smarter. Is it a museum trip?
Is it going to a concert? I went to a
Maluma concert. I didn't understand anything he said all night,
but I understood the energy, right. I looked around and
saw the crowd and the audience, and then therefore these
(31:59):
are different things. I'm now able to bring that external
perspective into the work. I'm able to ask different questions
maybe that I wasn't asking before, And I think that's
really important for any marketer, not just a multicultural marketer.
But if you're a marketer these days and you're not
bringing a multicultural perspective or lens of the work, you're
actually not doing great marketing. I truly believe that.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
I think you're so right. And then also having respect
for the tactic. We talk a lot about strategy, we
talk a lot about the insights, but I think that
we have to give space and pay homage to the
tactic because it's how these strategies and how these insights
are actually reflected and how they're taking the market. The
tactic is so important because that's where our audiences will go,
(32:46):
oh they got it, Oh they got it. Yeah, yeah
that's me, or that's something I'm interested in, or that's
something I care about, as opposed to that somebody else
trying to be reflective, you know, And I think reflective
is such a I have three favorite words in my vernacular.
I think reflective or reflection is one of them. Impact
(33:07):
is another. And intent what's the intent behind the work,
what's the intent behind the initiative? You know? And then
if you can't have if you don't have an impact,
then as we say back, you know what four and
so those are my three three favorite words, and that's
kind of what we what we rule the agency by,
(33:27):
you know, to be reflective, to make sure that we
have to have we have a pure and clear intent,
and that we are effective and have an impact.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
I love those three really, really great, especially around the
intent and the impact. I think that impact is very
very important as I think about my career and what
do I even want to do next. The impact is
really more and more important as we spend so much
time at work, making sure that you're doing thoughtful, impactful work,
(34:00):
the at least to me, becomes even more and more important,
especially as you know, you start leading larger and larger
teams or you have your own agency. Think that really
really is important.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Marcus, we were talking about the new American mainstream and
you seem to be able to tap into highly elusive,
highly sought after gen Z and marketing really to the future.
And so how did you harness that and do you
have any advice for us for Alex on the marketing
to this gen Z audience.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
Yeah, that's such a great question, and of course we
know a lot of organizations are thinking about how they
tap into in how I say it, is engage with
gen Z right, So not just marketing, but how are
you really building a relationship for me? It comes around
in maybe two different ways. One is I try to
have a lot of conversations with gen z Ers. I've
(34:55):
been in many different rooms or meetings and people are
talking about but there's not a gen Z in the room, right,
So how are we actually and you know, I will
also say a gen Zer in the room and or
not saying well, I have a gen Z R at home.
To me, that's not one of the same. We need
people at work who have the expertise right in the
(35:18):
background to really be able to bring their own personal perspective,
of course, not being a monolith, not being able to
speak for all audiences, but there is some richness right
in having that perspective in the room. I think the
other piece as well is then going out, right, are
(35:38):
you going to gen Z conferences? Again? How are you
building the muscle if you don't have it? And I
think so that's really important around how do you engage
with when gen Zers and build programs that are authentic
to them, that's in their voice. It could be as
simple as I remember I was building a program for
Art Buzzle a few years back, and it was really
(36:00):
kind of the first year that we were bringing in
gen Z along with millennials from an audience targeting perspective,
and so I ensured that as we were finding the
right partners within the experience, that the DJ was a
gen Z er who probably even at that time, probably
had half a million followers on Instagram alone. So then
(36:21):
that allows you, right, you're bringing in the right partners
who were speaking to the audience that you want to
speak to then help you amplify the programs that you're building.
I think that's really important, right, Like what is this
around sound programming that you're doing, and it really is
around finding the right partners to help you speak to
the audience wherever they are.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
I love that point about make sure there's gen Z
in the room if we're talking about marketing to them.
This is the same conversation I think we all fought for.
If you're talking about different consumer segments, who's in the
room to speak to their lived experience and their cultural nuance.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
What Marcus was saying kind of took me back to
one of the earlier questions about what's what's changed? You
know there was a time there, I would say, at
the midpoint of the agency, we were we were really
getting our growth on and the market was really was
really growing as an industry. And there were a lot
of people that said, hey, if what's going to happen is,
(37:21):
you know, Latinos are going to become just like anybody else,
and this is going to become the dominant language, and
it's just not going to matter you. Y'all are going
to be just like anybody else. And obviously I didn't
believe that, but this, this gen z is really demonstrating
how wrong they were. Because language and culture are their currency.
(37:45):
Gen zs have a real desire to say, I am me,
this is what makes me me, This is what makes
me a two hundred percent or three hundred percenter, you know,
it's that desire to say and so language and culture
have never been more alive, and they are welcoming these
signals from the previous generations. It's like they first to
(38:07):
understand what makes them them and then they're recreating it
and pushing it out. I mean, you look at Bad
Bunny's last record. I mean, he's going back home hard
on this. Nobody expected him to do that, and it
is a major hit. You've got Maluma. You mentioned Maluma.
Maluma just finished doing a duet with forts A Rechira,
which is one of the Corrido Toumbao's band. That's you
(38:31):
could pseudo classify it as regional Mexicans. So here you
have my Luma doing duets with them, giving them the
creative I mean, it's like the mashups are insane, and
they're so rich, and they're so grounded in culture. So
I think that's what excites me about this next generation.
They are appreciative of what makes them then, and part
(38:55):
of that is language, culture and history. And it's just
for me, it's I have such I'm so excited about
this generation, you know. And yes, you have to have
gen zers create for gen zers, they'll sniff you out
like that.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
I have one final question for each of you, and
it's a big one.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
We're just getting started.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I could copper you with more. I could copper you more. Well,
it's a big one.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
What is the future of multicultural marketing and where do
you see us headed? What new obstacles can you foresee
presenting themselves in the coming years beyond this current climate?
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Oh boy, yeah, that's a big one man man. Well,
you know what I guess from my perspective, I think I,
at least Kathy and I were stubborn enough, and we
have enough belief in the communities that we come from
and represent to know that the future is still bright.
We have headwinds, no question. But as long as we
(39:57):
keep this about growth, as long as we keep this
about being reflective of the real America out there, and
as long as our hardest pure meaning the intent, and
as long as we can tell our clients and marketers
we will deliver, we will deliver. And as we say
at the Agency, maximum return on cultural Intelligence, we will
(40:20):
use culture and cultural intelligence to drive the business, to
steer the brand and drive the business. I think will
be okay, but we're going to have to have more
unity between our segments than ever before. We're going to
have to lock elbows like never before, and we have
to stay steady and true with each other to each other.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
A well said marcyes.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
I love that, Alex. I'm gonna double down on growth.
That I think is really the most important piece. When
we talk about multiculture and marketing. The industry is going
to continue to change and evolve and there's going to
be a dish segments. But as long as we're focused
on growth and driving exponential growth, which is going to
(41:09):
come from these audiences, especially as we think about again
gen z gen Alpha being fifty percent plus, right, like
multicultural audiences. I think that's what's really going to be important,
and focus on again the measurement of it all. We
really didn't talk about measurement. I don't know how we
got through a podcast around marketing and didn't say ROI,
(41:30):
So I'm just going to like throw it in there, right,
But I think that's really important, right, the metrics, the measurement,
and as we think about how do we really continue
to drive again incremental growth for our businesses, it's going
to come from these multicultural audiences, and so that's really
important to really embed that really into the framework of
(41:51):
the business, put it on rails, bring in additional cultural
competency if it's not already there at your brand, and
then think through again, how do you bring these insights
really into the baseline of all work that is taking place.
I think that's really the next frontier.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Yeah, I do think we one of the things that
we're going to have to really be mindful of is
the composition of client of marketers teams also has to
be reflective, and that's one of the areas that I
think we have to continue to push for as all
things DEI come under threat because I know that we
(42:33):
do our best work when we have representation in the
halls of the client's headquarters, when there is investment that
is aligned. When we lose that representation and when we
lose the budgets, that becomes a real issue. So I
think we're going to have to be really, really stubborn
about that. Continue to preach growth. If you want growth,
(42:57):
you've got to be reflective, and that means insight and out.
You know, in twenty twenty when we UH, when our
communities all went through what we know they went through,
and DEEI became a buzzword, I said, you know, I'm
glad that we're going there, and I'm glad that corporate
America is finally waking up to this. But it should
(43:17):
have been table stakes thirty years ago. Absolutely, it should
have been table steaks. So here we are. You know
now DEI, those three little letters are becoming demonized, But
there's one word that will never be demonized in that's growth.
And that's where I'm with you, Marcus, because I think
when we go and talk to clients and say, okay,
what does your internal structure look like? Are you set
(43:38):
up for success? Which is one of the things that
really hasn't changed for us. You know, I mentioned how
Kathy and I opened the agency and we had no rules.
We would never go into a client and say, Okay,
what's your next campaign going to be? What's the next
set of pretty pictures a pretty film? We never did that.
We always went and saying, how's business? Can it be better?
(44:00):
You thought about this audience if yes, do you have
a proper invitation? Do you have the right set of tools,
do you have the right products, do you have the
right sales teams? Do you have bump up, bup up? Uh?
And you know so many times, you know, we worked
for Walmart and for Fiesta for almost two years each
without ever going to advertising. First, we help them with
(44:21):
their infrastructure, We help them with their product, we help
them with their internal messaging, we help them with their
teams before we even rolled one second film, you know.
And it's when a client, when you can engage a
client in that conversation, good things happen.
Speaker 4 (44:38):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, one last ding. I know we're closing.
But what I love about that is something that I
learned in my CpG days, and we would call it
points of interruption. Right, So think about your local grocery store.
There's chips right in the lobby before you even enter
the store. There's chips in the chip aisle, maybe by
(44:59):
your wine there's some chips that are maybe a bit healthier.
And then right before you check out, there's chips right there,
right at the register. So hopefully right through one of
these points, you're gonna say, oh, I need some chips.
I'm gonna pick them up and put it into my basket.
And I think that's some of the work still to
be done as we think about multicultural marketing and really
(45:21):
these growth audiences around it's a full three sixty. There
has to be multiple points. It starts internally, it's externally.
It's your sales team, it's your acquisition team. How are
you programming from an experiential perspective like all of these
different areas, right, do you have the right media plan?
Is there equity in that media plan with the right
(45:42):
partners all of these different things. It's not just one thing,
but really this full three sixty I think that's how
you build a winning strategy for the future.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Well, I clearly need to invite you back, or you
two need to connect and partner offline, but you both
our masterclass and a roadmap for the way forward. Alex,
thanks for reminding us it's not new, and Marcus, thank
you for reminding us that it will last. This has
(46:13):
been reflective, it's been impactful, and it's been intentional.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Thank you both, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
I'm Christina Pile. Thank you for listening. We'll be back
with another episode before you know it. And for more
information on the American Advertising Federation, go to AAF dot org.
Hosts And Creators
Ross Martin
Hayley Romer
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