Posted by Elena del Valle on January 5, 2009
Gonzalo Yañez album cover
Photos: Nacional Records
When he was 10 years old Gonzalo Yañez had already recorded two children’s songs in Montevideo, Uruguay where he grew up. Several years later, his family relocated to Santiago, Chile and he became involved in the music scene there. By 2008, he had multiple hit singles topping the charts in South America. Recently one of his singles, Dispara, was selected Single of the Week on iTunes Latino. Scroll down to listen to Dispara, a song from the Gonzalo Yañez album.
Yañez is poised to make his success in North America following recent showcases at the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) in New York, LAMC Mexico and LAMC Argentina. He was invited to join Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros as the guitarist on the band’s last world tour and studio album.
Dispara was featured as iTunes Latino a week after the United States debut of his album. Described in promotional materials as a “rock troubadour with pop sensibilities,” Yañez found inspiration in 60s classics like the Beatles and Joni Mitchell. He picked up the guitar at an early age and discovered he enjoyed songwriting.
Gonzalo Yañez
“I don’t know how to play piano or read music but songs come to me very quickly,” said Yañez. “I know that in rock, the riff is always considered more important than the melody but I prefer the latter. For me, it’s the rhythm and melody, and then, the lyrics.”
In addition to his own solo releases, Yañez has produced and written songs for several Chilean pop stars. Some believe his melodies and massive choruses have helped his solo work shine. Click on the play button to listen to Dispara, a song from the Gonzalo Yañez album.
Click here to buy
A Mis Veinte
Sé
Vovlemos A Caer
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 15, 2008
Around the World, Señor Coconut’s new album
Photos, song: Nacional Records
Nacional Records released the latest Señor Coconut album Around the World along with a reissue of El Baile Alemán November 18. Señor Coconut, a German producer and DJ based in Santiago, Chile also known as Atom and Uwe Schmidt, produces Latin electronic music. Scroll down to listen to Corcovado from the Around the World album.
His first album, El Baile Alemán, was a Latin tribute to Kraftwerk, an electronica producer. The album was released for the first time at digital outlets and the physical disc is due to be re-issued in stores with bonus tracks.
The new album, Around the World, was designed to offer a virtual music global tour of Latin tributes to club hits. Señor Coconut reassembled and processed each track before recording with his preferred big band. Around the World features Daft Punk’s track by the same name as an intro, interlude and outro. According to promotional materials, Señor Cocount takes an original song “from the depths of a sweaty club and places it in a Latin dancehall with a multi-layered sound of brass, double bass and an orchestra of drummers.”
Uwe Schmidt is known by his artistic name Señor Coconut
“Once Around the World had been established as the theme and motto of the album, it was clear what the selection criteria for the songs had to be,” said Señor Coconut. “The first prerequisite was that every track had to come from a different country. One track which had been in my thoughts for years for a Señor Coconut production was Sweet Dreams, purely and simply because it is rhythmically and melodically a perfect Cha-Cha-Cha. I suddenly heard certain lines of the lyrics which I had not noticed at first, and which provided a curious cross-reference to Around the World: ‘I traveled the world and the seven seas… Everybody’s looking for something.'”
Sweet Dreams is a take on the Eurythmics classic, with vocals by Señor Coconut’s frontman Argenis Brito, a Venezuelan singer based in Berlin. Kiss by Prince was interpreted by Louie Austen. With El Baile Aleman, Señor Coconut’s idea was to transpose Kraftwerk byte-for-byte into a sound field of maracas, congas, shakers, and vibes-a-go-go.
El Baile Aleman includes takes on Kraftwerk classics Showroom Dummies, Trans Europe Express, The Robots, Autobahn and Tour de France with the percussion and effects of the originals replaced by Latin rhythms.
“I think that it’s not just a covers album,” said Coconut. “It also unveils quite a lot about the original compositions and their significance. Kraftwerk songs contain a strong musical content even if freed from their electronic arrangements. And I don’t think the band is as serious as people think they are.”
The album tracks are as follows: Around the World (Intro), Sweet Dreams, Da Da Da Ich Leib Dich Nicht du Liebst Mich, Kiss, Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars), Around the World (Interlude), Que Rico El Mambo, Pinball Chacha, White Horse, La Vida Es Llena de Cables, Moscow Discow, Around the World (Outro), Dreams Are My, and Voodoo Dreams (Atom Remix). Click on the play button to listen to Corcovado from the new album Around the World.
Click here to buy Around the World
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 11, 2008
Mixplay website page – click on image to enlarge
Photos: Mixplay
Mixplay, a video portal owned by Claxon and designed for Spanish speakers in Latin America, Spain and the United States, is 18 months old this month. Since it was established in May 2007 it has had a 250 percent growth in online traffic.
Mixplay users, who range in age between 17 and 35, rely on the website to complement their traditional television programming consumption. Mexico is the top country of origin for the portal followed by Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, United States, Brazil, Uruguay and Spain.
According to a press release, the website is developed 100 percent in Latin America. It is especially designed for new devices and users that want complete control of what, when and where to enjoy the portal’s professionally produced video content.
Mixplay offers visitors videos in the following categories: Music, Prediction, Women, Children, Men, Entertainment, Sports and TV Channels (mainly those produced by Argentinian company Cuatro Cabezas and BBC documentaries).
There are also in-house productions of guitar workshops, video horoscopes and tarot, stories, magic tricks, experiments for kids, as well as exclusive interviews, show coverage, and how to apply make up videos. The programs are produced with Studio Web TV, a 360 degree format that is compatible with Internet requirements as well as digital TV and mobile devices.
A Mate.ar representative with Mixplay staff members Patricia Tomasini and Cristian Betti
“The video content industry evolves alongside new media offering a publicity evolution,” said Patricia Tomasini, marketing and content manager of Mixplay. “Our growth demonstrates that Spanish speaking users incorporates multimedia content as a new entertainment format that, unlike traditional media, allows users to decide the best time and place to consume it.”
Launched in May 2007, Mixplay offers an online forum for the distribution of in-house and third party audiovisual content in the region. It is backed by Microsoft and Intel. Ad revenue provides financial support for the website, allowing visitors subscription free access to the portal. Company executives plan Video On Demand (VOD) and Pay Per View (PPV) subscriptions and packages for the future.
Mate.ar recently recognized the company with an award for innovative technology and audiovisual content. More than 3,000 websites were considered as part of the awards process. Mixplay was recently redesigned with Microsoft Silverlight technology and now offers a new user inter phase format.
Find out what multicultural kids across America think
Listen to Michele Valdovinos, SVP, Phoenix Multicultural in
“Marketing to Multicultural Kids” audio recording
Michele Valdovinos gives a presentation and participates in an extended Q&A discussion about multicultural children based on a Phoenix Multicultural and Nickelodeon study of 1,300 multicultural children in 16 United States markets.
Find out about
• The Phoenix Multicultural Kids Study
• Relationship between children and their context
• Issues relating to family, technology and media, diversity, buying power, relationships in household, self perception, values, acculturation, cultural heritage, frequency of media activity, income and spending, brand preferences, the American Dream
• How many billions of dollars buying power multicultural kids children have
• Children’s spending attitudes, habits by ethnicity
• How much money a year Hispanic kids have available to spend
• Types of products Hispanic kids buy
Click here for information on “Marketing to Multicultural Kids” audio recording
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 10, 2008
Publicity poster for Nothing Like the Holidays – click on image to enlarge
Photos: Overture Films
Nothing Like the Holidays, a 90-minute feature in English about a Puerto Rican family in Chicago, opens this Friday December 12 in theaters nationwide. The film’s producers hope that if the movie is well liked Hollywood studios will increase their support of Latino-themed films and hire Latino writers in the future.
Overture Films owns the rights to the film and is responsible for its distribution. Directed by Alfredo de Villa and written by Rick Najera, Nothing Like the Holidays stars John Leguizamo, Debra Messing, Alfred Molina, Freddy Rodriguez and Elizabeth Peña.
Debra Messing, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Peña, and Freddy Rodriguez
A scene from Nothing Like the Holidays
According to Internet sources, the film is a typical holiday comedy story with a couple of twists to make it current. Alfred Molina plays the patriarch and Elizabeth Peña plays the matriarch of the Rodriguez family. John Leguizamo plays the big brother married to an executive (Debra Messing).
His middle brother (Freddy Rodriguez) just returned from the war and hopes to get together with his former girlfriend (Melonie Diaz) who now has a new life. The brothers’ cousin (Luz Gusman) has an eating disorder and spends all her time talking about everyone’s life.
According to the company website, Overture Films, owned by Starz Media, produces, buys and distributes feature length movies. Starz Media is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation and part of the Liberty Capital Group, a publicly traded company.
Find out what multicultural kids across America think
Listen to Michele Valdovinos, SVP, Phoenix Multicultural in
“Marketing to Multicultural Kids” audio recording
Michele Valdovinos gives a presentation and participates in an extended Q&A discussion about multicultural children based on a Phoenix Multicultural and Nickelodeon study of 1,300 multicultural children in 16 United States markets.
Find out about
• The Phoenix Multicultural Kids Study
• Relationship between children and their context
• Issues relating to family, technology and media, diversity, buying power, relationships in household, self perception, values, acculturation, cultural heritage, frequency of media activity, income and spending, brand preferences, the American Dream
• How many billions of dollars buying power multicultural kids children have
• Children’s spending attitudes, habits by ethnicity
• How much money a year Hispanic kids have available to spend
• Types of products Hispanic kids buy
Click here for information on “Marketing to Multicultural Kids” audio recording
Posted by Elena del Valle on November 20, 2008
Shoot Down DVD
Photos: Rogues Harbor Studios
On February 24, 1996, four members of the Miami based Brothers to the Rescue volunteer group were shot and killed by two Cuban military fighter jets while flying, unarmed, over the area between Florida and Cuba, in international waters, in search of Cuban refugees. In January of this year, the film Shoot Down, which told their story as seen from the American side, opened in theaters – click here to read more about the film. The 88-minute documentary film about the tragedy was released on DVD November 11, 2008. Scroll down to watch a Shoot Down video clip.
Shoot Down was winner of 2007 Sonoma Film Festival honors for Best Documentary and described as the first feature-length film about the true story of the 1996 shoot down of the two unarmed United States civilian planes by Cuban fighter jets. According to promotional materials, although the film was denied bookings in most theaters in the United States it was one of the top grossing documentaries of the year. The DVD sells for $29.95.
“The great thing about a thorough and fact-based documentary is that people can watch the film and make up their own minds, without any filters,” said Douglas Eger, the film’s producer. “There is still a great deal of resistance to the full story of what happened back in 1996 reaching the public. We have been successful licensing the TV rights internationally but still no domestic TV outlet will broadcast Shoot Down; that amazes me! DVDs might be the only way Americans will be able to see this film. There are powerful interests that just don’t want this story to be told.”
Cristina Khuly, director, and Douglas Eger, producer, Shoot Down
Target Latinos effectively by understanding how they shop
“Hispanic Holiday Shopping Patterns” audio recording
Manuel Delgado, CEO Agua Marketing, gives a presentation and participates in an extended Q&A discussion about
- Hispanic shopping patterns national survey
- Why Latino consumers may be more desirable than general market shoppers
- Hispanics holiday shopping patterns and behaviors
Click here for information on “Hispanic Holiday Shopping Patterns” audio recording
The DVD features never-before-heard 30-minute audio tapes from the cockpits of the lead Cessna with conversation between that plane and the two planes shot down; a 12-minute unedited recording of Raul Castro discussing the incident, and a full-length Spanish version of the film. It also comes with the unedited 90-minute voice recordings between the Cuban MiG’s and Cuban Military Control intercepted by U.S. intelligence surveillance.
“U.S. Civilian aircraft were shot down by a foreign government and not may people know about it, let alone why it happened. I can’t think of many issues where you would find Amnesty International, The European Community, conservative Republican Cuban-Americans, and Al Sharpton on the same side of an issue and it doesn’t make headlines, wow,” said Cristina Khuly, director, Shoot Down.
“With a new administration in Washington, it is critical that we remind the public of this important piece of history. DVDs are the primary way independent films reach their audience.”
In addition to the husband and wife team of Eger and Khuly, Shoot Downproduction staff include Claudia Raschke-Robinson, director of photography; Malcolm Jamieson, editor; and Edward Bilous, composer.
Rogues Harbor Studios staff believe film should entertain, educate and empower audiences. The company mission is to create content that is “challenging and purposeful, uniting engaged consumers with entertaining ideas.”
Click here to buy Shoot Down
Posted by Elena del Valle on November 17, 2008
Rio album cover
Photo: Nacional Records
In the recently released Rio album, Aterciopelados singer Andrea Echeverri and her music partner Hector Buitrago offer a prayer for their city’s polluted river to the beat of funk rock. Scroll down to listen to Rio from the Rio album.
“When I was growing up, the Bogota River was considered a mythic and iconic place, and now it’s a tiny stream,” said Echeverri. “Musically and lyrically, the track Río is unlike any previous Aterciopelados song. I’m even singing in a different way than in the past. With this one, we reached an entirely new place.”
Oye, a previous album, won them a Latin Grammy and Premio Lo Nuestro. Rio, the new album was recorded in the band’s hometown of Bogota and mixed by Héctor Castillo (Brazilian Girls, David Bowie, Gustavo Cerati) in New York City. It is described in promotional materials as “an impassioned, socially conscious record with the group’s signature organic rock sound.” The album’s opener and first single is the title track which coincides with a proposed Colombian constitutional referendum that declares the country’s bodies of water deserve basic rights.
Hector Buitrago and Andrea Echeverri of Aterciopelados
Before the official release October 21, the album was available for special iTunes pre-order where fans would receive an exclusive track, entitled Errante Diamante (Wandering Diamond), and Rio, the album’s first single. Errante Diamante is the theme song behind Destierro y Reparacion (Exile and Reparation), a Colombian project focused on educational and cultural activities designed to generate social consciousness about the implications of forced displacement and its effects on society. On Bandera (Flag), Aterciopelados speak out on immigration.
“We have toured across the world many times, yet every time, certain countries give us so much trouble when entering,” said Echeverri. “My problems with traveling are so small compared to others across the world but I thought I could give all these people a voice.”
Album guests include rapper Gloria “Goyo” Martínez (of Colombian hip hop act Choc Quib Town) on 28; the Andean group Kapary Walka on Madre and Agüita. Echeverri’s daughter, Milagros, also made an appearance on Ataque de Risa. The band completed a European tour this past summer and plans to tour the United States to promote Rio in early 2009.
Aterciopelados is a rock band co-founded by Echeverri who is responsible for vocals and guitars and Hector Buitrago who handles bass, arrangements and production.
Click on the play button to listen to Rio from the Rio album.
Click here to buy Rio
Posted by Elena del Valle on November 13, 2008
Lazos de Amor DVD cover
Photo: Xenon Pictures
Earlier this year, Xenon Pictures and Lionsgate Entertainment released on DVD Lazos de Amor, a telenovela (Spanish language soap opera style program) which at the height of its popularity had five million nightly fans. The single-disc DVD with more than 304 minutes of content is in Spanish with English subtitles and sells for a suggested retail price of $19.98.
Winner of the 1996 TVyNovelas Award for Novela of the Year the program aired on television in 1995, capturing a consistent 24 rating on the U.S. Nielsen Rating scale. Some fans believe the serialized program’s success was due in part to its star, Lucero, who earned the TVyNovelas Award for Best Actress for her performance as identical triplets with disparate personalities.
Other cast members include Luis José Santander (Te Sigo Amando); Marga López (El Manantial), a three time Silver Ariel winner; Luis Bayardo (Amarte es Mi Pecado); Demián Bichir (Sin Noticias de Dios), Silver Ariel and MTV Movie Award winner; Maty Huitrón (Amor Real); Felicia Mercado (Entre el Amor y el Odio), and a young Angelica Vale, prior to starring in La Fea mas Bella.
Lazos de Amor (Spanish for Love Ties) is the story of Maria Paula, Maria Fernanda and Maria Guadalupe, identical triplets who look alike but have very different personalities. When the girls were very young, their parents were killed in a terrible auto accident caused by Maria Paula who covered her father’s eyes while he was driving. The accent left Maria Fernanda blind and Maria Guadalupe with amnesia.
Maria Guadalupe was rescued by a woman who raised her as her own daughter, while the others were raised by their grandmother Doña Mercedes, who never lost hope of finding her lost granddaughter. Maria Fernanda grows up to be a sweet and generous girl; Maria Paula becomes willful, capricious and egotistical, always needing to be the center of attention. The story climaxes with the inevitable encounter of the three sisters, which will have serious consequences in their lives and in the lives of those close to them.
Click here to buy Lazos de Amor
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 24, 2008
A scene from the film Stranded – click on the image to enlarge
Photos, video: Zeitgeist Films
On October 13, 1972 after boarding a flight for a match in Chile a team of students from Montevideo, Uruguay disappeared. Two days before Christmas, 16 of the 45 passengers resurfaced having survived 72 days after their plane crashed on a remote Andean glacier. Stranded: I’ve come from a plane that crashed on the mountains, a documentary about their story, opened in theaters October 22, 2008.
Following the crash, the governments of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay searched the area for the survivors without success. Seventy days after the plane crashed, a Chilean shepherd in the foothills of the Andes, caught sight of two men on the other side of a torrential river. Gesticulating frantically, they fell to their knees, their arms wide open. The shepherd took them for tourists and left.
The next day, he returned to the same spot and noticed that the men were still there. The sound of the water was so loud on the banks of the river that it was impossible for the three men to hear each other so the shepherd threw a piece of paper and a pen, wrapped in a handkerchief, over the river. The two bearded men in rags wrote something on the paper and threw it back to the shepherd: “We’re from a plane that crashed on the mountains. Fourteen of our friends are still alive up there.”
A scene from the film Stranded – click on the image to enlarge
Following their rescue, the survivors admitted they had eaten human flesh to survive: “… the day came when we had nothing left to eat, and we said that Christ, by offering his flesh and blood during the Last Supper, had shown us the way by indicating that we had to do likewise: take his flesh and blood, incarnated in our friends who had died in the crash… It was a personal communion for each one of us… It’s what helped us to survive…”
The story was first documented in the 1973 bestseller Alive and the 1993 Ethan Hawke movie by the same name. The recently released documentary was made by Gonzalo Arijon, a childhood friend of some of the survivors, and was produced by Marc Silvera and 16 of the survivors.
“Several of these survivors are friends of mine. We shared the same carefree teenage years. I was shocked by their disappearance and dumbfounded when they came back to life. I shared whole nights with them, listening to their stories which constantly revolved around their survival up there. Their tragic – but also amazing! – epic continued to haunt them, day after day, year after year. And it’s still the case today,” said Arijon.
“Despite a best-seller (Alive! The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read, five million copies sold in English alone), and despite a Hollywood movie (Alive by Frank Marshall, a 1993 Disney-Paramount co-production), we still have the feeling that this story has never been told from the inside, that what they have to say has never really been heard. And there is always this growing feeling among them that they have something to tell us, to transmit to us, that is way beyond an ‘enormous anecdote’…
Thirty years after the event, I suggested making a film about it. A film that tells of the creation of a new society, cut off from the rest of the world, requiring the reinvention of codes and rules. No leaders—in the traditional sense of the term—but rather a collection of personalities that are gradually revealed, which harmoniously head towards a common objective: to get out of this hell together, and return to the land of the living together. An exemplary story about exceeding oneself, getting to know one another, that deals with the importance of friendship and solidarity in extreme situations.”
A scene from the film Stranded
Arijon relied on on-location interviews, archival footage and reenactments to share the story, told by the survivors themselves, with the audience. Thirty-five years after the crash, the survivors returned to the crash site which they named the Valley of Tears, where they shared their harrowing story on film.
“At the time when the group was having trouble making the decision, I remember saying: ‘If I were dead, there, in the snow, and you were debating whether or not to use my body in an attempt to survive… If, while being dead, I had the possibility of getting up, I would kick your asses, you bunch of idiots! ’ They all listened to me in silence, and I think that these words helped the group to take the step,” said Gustavo Zerbino, one of the survivors.
“When Roberto cut the first thin strips of meat, he placed them on the cabin. I went to eat hastily, in secret… I felt ashamed the whole time I was up there. I wanted to hide that. For a long time, I was obsessed by this story of human meat… But I couldn’t admit it…,” said Adolfo “Fito” Strauch, another survivor.
The film is 126 minutes long in color and black and white in Spanish with English subtitles. Stranded received awards at festivals around the world including the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
Arijon, born in Uruguay in 1956 has lived in France since 1979. Over the past 15 years, he has directed several documentaries, including Lula’s Brazil: Managing a Dream; Far Very Far from Rome; The Dark Side of Milosevic; Rio de Janeiro–A Vertical War; and For These Eyes.
“Happy for No Reason” audio recording
Presenter Marci Shimoff, author, Happy for No Reason
What: An audio presentation by Marci Shimoff and Q&A with Marci Shimoff and HispanicMPR.com audio program host Elena del Valle about finding happiness.
Available exclusively on HispanicMPR.com!
More information on “Happy for No Reason” audio recording with Marci Shimoff
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 20, 2008
Monareta’s new album Picotero
Photos, song: Nacional Records
Earlier this month, Monareta, a Colombian duo that divides its time between New York City and Bogotá, launched Picotero, its latest album. In the past two years, the group released two digital albums on the Nacional Records label; and placed songs in films La Mujer de Mi Hermano and Warner Pictures’ upcoming Pride and Glory, and on Chicas Project, a mun2s television program. Scroll down to listen to Me Voy Pal Mar from the Picotero album.
Picotero is described in promotional materials as “intelligent and danceable, a unique fusion of styles refined over several years.” Andres Martinez, Monareta’s composer, producer and vocalist, mixes break beats and hip hop flows with live keyboard performances by Camilo Sanabria. The two became popular in clubs and electronic music festivals in their hometown of Bogota, Colombia. They named the band for the brand of BMX bike they rode as children. The music they perform is influenced by much of what they enjoyed in their formative years.
Monareta is Andres Martinez and Camilo Sanabria
“Growing up, even as young as 11, I was really involved in the local freestyle street bike scene. All the street bikers in Colombia were heavily influenced by the break dance and electric boogaloo arriving from the U.S.,” said Martinez. “We heard groups like the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy and they completely changed our lives. And so that’s how we got the name for our group: It’s a homage to the`80s break dance, hip hop, BMX and the fashion scene that came from abroad to influence us in South America.”
With Monareta sounds to prove his potential Martinez received a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a Master of Arts in composition and film scoring at New York University. He moved from Bogotá to New York City and immersed himself in the local music scenes. Soon after that Martinez began integrating what he was learning with his studies into the group’s cinematic sound.
Monareta mixes electronic music with cumbia and champeta, the Afro-Colombian genre native to the streets of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. They also incorporate the reggae, dub and calypso sounds popular in the coastal cities. According to promotional materials, the track Llama in the new album especially illustrates this fusion, where the cumbia upbeat flows with a reggae groove and dub vocals. Recently, the group has split time living in Colombia and Brooklyn, while performing across the United States. In 2008, Monareta performed at South by Southwest and North by Northeast in Toronto.
Click on the play button to listen to Me Voy Pal Mar from the new album Picotero.
Click here to buy Picotero
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 14, 2008
Hip Chicas homepage – click on image to enlarge
Images: HipChicas.com
After extensive research Lazaro Fuentes created animated characters with young Latinas in mind. In 2007, he launched HipChicas, a website for tween Latinas. The new virtual world is open to English and Spanish speaking girls in the Americas. Still in beta trials organizers hope to entice 100,000 registered users to the site with a special promotion.
The first 100,000 people to register for the HipChicas.com Beta trial will receive a Hip V.I.P. membership and online badges to show that they are the pioneers to the HipChicas.com world as a reward.
Hip Chicas – click on image to enlarge
In HipChicas.com, registered members follow the antics of the Hip Chicas, five Latina characters from different parts of the U.S. that are in a popular band on tour. Their personal mission while on tour is to Help Improve the Planet [HIP] at each stop.
Lazaro Fuentes, creator, Hip Chicas brand
“We felt that there was a need for content that kids would like that parents would approve of,” said Fuentes, creator of the Hip Chicas brand. “It’s as if somewhere along the line, someone decided that being hip meant that girls had to dress or act inappropriately, or had to fit into a specific mold and that their only interests are picking hair colors or shopping for clothes. They are far more than that and are looking for content that gets them; a higher level of engagement. These are kids that want to save the world, be in a band and start a blog all in one day.
Hip Chicas is a brand for the 21st Century, updated for a digitized, multi-screen and multi-lingual world, in order to be everywhere the audience is. We are proud of our efforts and feel confident that it will meet with the parents’ approval, and most importantly the users’. That is a must if you are going to succeed in digital media today.”
Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations Understanding and Targeting America’s Largest Minority book
“A must resource for practitioners/professionals expecting to reach US Hispanics; also valuable for college programs in marketing, public relations and communications. Highly recommended.”
Choice magazine
Click here for information on the Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations books
Fuentes developed Hip Chicas to be an empowering brand option for tween girls; he hopes parents find the website smart and appropriate and young girls find the characters hip and fun.
The members of the Advisory Board are: Antonio Perez, president, Borough of Manhattan Community College; Maria Sanchez Smith, former advisor to the World Bank on Women’s Micro-lending; John Billock, former president of HBO and past chief operating officer, Time Warner; Jose Rodriguez, partner, Latin American Capital Partners private equity firm; Michael Barr, chief executive officer, iPromote.com and former managing director, Investment Banking at The Rothschild Bank; Walid Kamhawi, managing director, The Blackstone Group; Kenneth Lamb, partner, Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher; Dimitry Herman, partner, Hinckley, Allen and Snyder; Adam Pritchard, vice president, Yahoo, Inc.
Fuentes owns 100 percent of the shares of the Hip Chicas company. The Company is fully funded by him and he is the sole Board Member. Options for shares total 30 percent of the company and are held among the management team, partners and the advisory board.
In addition to Fuentes who is chief executive officer and director, the management team includes: Randy Baker, chief financial officer; Wendy DeMarco Fuentes, vice president, Marketing and Public Relations; Gabriel Magana , vice president, Operations, Mexico; and Hernan Sanchez, vice president, Operations, Argentina. The name of the vice president of Finance and Business Development was withheld “for privacy.”
Find out what multicultural kids across America think
Listen to Michele Valdovinos, SVP, Phoenix Multicultural in
“Marketing to Multicultural Kids” audio recording
Michele Valdovinos gives a presentation and participates in an extended Q&A discussion about multicultural children based on a Phoenix Multicultural and Nickelodeon study of 1,300 multicultural children in 16 United States markets.
Find out about
• The Phoenix Multicultural Kids Study
• Relationship between children and their context
• Issues relating to family, technology and media, diversity, buying power, relationships in household, self perception, values, acculturation, cultural heritage, frequency of media activity, income and spending, brand preferences, the American Dream
• How many billions of dollars buying power multicultural kids children have
• Children’s spending attitudes, habits by ethnicity
• How much money a year Hispanic kids have available to spend
• Types of products Hispanic kids buy
Click here for information on “Marketing to Multicultural Kids” audio recording
