Miami multicultural conference to focus on Hispanic markets
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 25, 2006
Summit speakers Otilia Barrett, Nancy Lopez Pedrosa and Selma Bouhl
Photos: Geoscape International
Experts from leading marketing corporations and research firms will share insights with attendees on how they can better serve growing ethnic groups, including Hispanics, in this year’s Multicultural Intelligence Summit. Presented by Geoscape International, the event will be held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami, Florida from October 25-27 and will include keynote presentations, workshops, case studies, and entertainment. Ethnic marketing experts, mostly Geoscape staff, clients and partners, will discuss Hispanic, Asian, African American, Middle-Easterner, and Eastern European markets in the U.S. during the event.
“Participants are CEOs (chief executive officers) and vice presidents of marketing that want to understand and have major access and data,” said Smilka Valenzuela, director of the summit. “That way, they can do a benchmark on how many customers they have. For example, if a company comes and understands total population of Hispanics, then they can do a benchmark of analysis and that’s a benefit of data.”
Some of the experts will focus on reaching the ever-growing Hispanic market. Carl Kravetz, chairman of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies and chairman/chief strategic officer of cruz/kravetz:Ideas, will present the workshop “Hispanic in New Economy: Growing and Thriving” on October 26. He is expected to discuss the latest trends and issues in the market and present information and projections for 2007.
“Hispanics form about fifteen percent of the population,” said Valenzuela. “In terms of multicultural markets, the case studies deal more with Hispanic markets than Asians and African Americans due to the population [size].”
The case studies scheduled for discussion during the three-day summit are “Insurance and Financial Services,” presented by Selma Bouhl, marketing manager of Allstate Insurance; “Consumer Packaged Goods,” presented by Nancy Lopez Pedroza, Foreign Trade Brand marketing manager of Nestlé; “Telecommunications,” presented by Anderson Hernandez, sales director of Americate; and “Pharmaceutical and Health Care,” presented by Otilia Barrett, vice president of Latino Health Solutions, United Healthcare.
Additional experts giving presentations include Jo Muse, chairman/CEO of Muse Communications, Julia Huang, president of the Asian American Advertising Federation and CEO of InterTrend Communications, and Cesar Melgoza, CEO of Geoscape International. Other activities offered to attendees are yoga and live music, including a performance by Javier Garcia of Latin Fusion. –Sergio Carmona
