Posted by Elena del Valle on July 23, 2012
Eduardo Caballero, co-owner, Caballero Spanish Media
Photo: BigVoice Communications
Entrepreneurs Eduardo Caballero and Peter Spengler of Coral Gables, Florida are owners of Caballero Spanish Media (CSM) founded in 1973. They plan, subject to regulatory and other approvals, to buy nine television stations in Texas and Central California targeting local Mexican-Americans, growing from two staff to eight or more depending on market conditions at the time of the purchase.
Following CSM’s acquisition, the local stations are expected to broadcast a new portfolio of original Spanish language content produced in Northern Mexico and the United States for the domestic Spanish dominant Mexican consumer, offering popular and traditional music formats and health programming.
“With the broadcast media landscape undergoing drastic changes and audiences becoming more fragmented, this is a great time to offer a rich variety of music and entertainment to a growing Hispanic market and better meet the needs and wants of our audience” said Eduardo Caballero, president, CSM.
“We believe that the concentration, and homogeneity of these areas (being made up almost entirely of Mexican-Americans) gives us the unique opportunity to serve this market separately from the rest of the Hispanic population of this country.”
The Texas stations are KGBS-CA in Austin and KGMM-CA in San Antonio. The California stations are KMMC-LD in San Francisco, KMMA-CD in San Luis Obispo, KZMM-CD in Fresno, KMUM-CA in Sacramento, KMMD-CD in Salinas/Monterey, KMMW-LD in Stockton, KQMM-CD in Santa Maria, and KVMM-CD in Santa Barbara to be operated by CSM under a Local Marketing Agreement.
Currently the stations reach an estimated 1.1 million Hispanic households in Central California and 600,000 in San Antonio and Austin. The buyers goal is to grow the audiences significantly in both markets.
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Filed Under: Media
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 20, 2012
Sirenas promo image
Photos: Discovery en Español
Earlier this year, Animal Planet aired Mermaids: The Body Found, a two-hour science fiction special narrated by Greg Stebner based on “real events and scientific theory” filmed in Cape Town, South Africa; London, England and Bristol, United Kingdom. The computer graphics were done in Winchester, United Kingdom.
Mermaids explores the so called Aquatic Ape Theory which brings forward the possibility of human like evolution underwater. The filmmakers wonder whether it is possible that while mankind evolved into terrestrial humans some, aquatic relatives they believe, could have evolved into beings similar to the mythical mermaid. Discovery en Español will air Sirenas, a Spanish language version of the program, Sunday, July 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and 7 p.m. ET/PT July 28.
Image from Sirenas – click to enlarge
The program points to differences between man and other primates and the many features they believe humans share with marine mammals such as webbing between fingers (other primates don’t have this, according to promotional materials), subcutaneous fat (providing insulation from cold water), control over breath (humans can hold their breath up to 20 minutes, longer than any other terrestrial animal, the program producers point out), limited body hair (lack of hair avoids drag in the water), instinctive ability to swim from birth, and a highly developed brain dependent on nutrients provided by seafood, according to the program’s promotional materials.
Image from Sirenas – click to enlarge
The producers focused on two facts in the special. First, a series of covert sonar tests conducted in the early 1990s by the United States Navy and linked to mass die-offs of whales, which washed up on various beaches throughout the world. They also gave weight to a mysterious sound deep in the Pacific thought to be organic detected (though never identified) in 1997 by scientists at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Mermaids was produced for Animal Planet, part of Discovery Communications, by Darlow Smithson with Tom Brisley as executive producer for Darlow Smithson; Charlie Foley as executive producer, creator and writer; Vaibhav Bhatt, co-writer and supervising producer, and Jamie Dugger, producer, for Animal Planet. Steve Gomez of Bandito Films was director of animation. Discovery en Espanol is the Spanish-language voice of Discovery.
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 18, 2012
Click to enlarge
Photo, chart: U.S. Secretary of Education
Targeting migrant students and their families? You may be interested to know that the U.S. Department of Education awarded $5.9 million to 14 grantees in nine states for education for high school and college students migrant or seasonal farm workers, or the children of such workers. The five-year grants are awarded under the High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) through the Department’s Office of Migrant Education said to serve 5,000 HEP and 2,000 CAMP students annually.
Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education
“The students helped by HEP and CAMP are some of the most motivated learners in America,” said Arne Duncan, United States Secretary of Education. “These grants will help hardworking farmworkers and their families obtain the quality education that they need to compete in the 21st century global economy.”
The purpose of the HEP grants is to help migrant and seasonal farmworkers, and members of their immediate families obtain general education diplomas that meet the guidelines for high school equivalency established by the state in which the HEP project is conducted. The program helps migrant youth gain employment or placement in an institution of higher education or other postsecondary education or training via counseling, job placement, health care and housing for residential students.
CAMP grants support students who are migratory or seasonal farm workers, or the children of such workers, during their first year of undergraduate studies and to continue in postsecondary education. The mission of the Office of Migrant Education (OME) is to “provide excellent leadership, technical assistance, and financial support to improve the educational opportunities and academic success of migrant children, youth, agricultural workers, fishers, and their families.”
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 16, 2012
Albert J. Estrada, VP, business development, Olympusat
Oscar Madrid, director, Multicultural Marketing, Verizon
Photos: Olympusat, Verizon
A podcast interview with Albert J. Estrada, vice president, business development, Olympusat,Inc., and Oscar Madrid, director, Multicultural Marketing, Verizon, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, they discuss marketing to Hispanics with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
In the early 1990s, Albert started his career in the entertainment industry as account executive with Home Box Office (HBO) where we managed the west Texas region for HBO’s cable television affiliate sales group. Later he became part of the initial team that launched DirectTV. While there he led and crafted the marketing strategy for DirectTV’s introduction into fifteen countries within the Latin America region. After that he marketed and sold high-power geostationary satellites at Space Systems Loral.
Oscar, a native of El Paso, Texas, oversees the national marketing strategy for Hispanic, Asian and African American consumer segments for Verizon FiOS and other consumer products and services. He is a 23 year veteran of the telecom industry, beginning his career with Bell Atlantic, a Verizon legacy company, in 1989. Oscar has served as a board member for the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation, has partnered with the Hispanic Scholarship Fund on fundraising initiatives and supports Aspira New York’s fundraising and marketing efforts. He is a recipient of the New York Chapter of Aspira’s Latino Leaders Award.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Albert Estrada, Oscar Madrid ” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the July 2012 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 13, 2012
Cubans book cover
Photos: Facts About Cuban Exiles
Six women and twenty-five men contributed forty essays to Cubans: An Epic Journey (Reedy Press, $27.92), a 782-page softcover book with a 16-page photo section about their impressions of the South Florida Cuban exile experience from the 1950s until today published with the support of Facts About Cuban Exiles (FACE) with the sponsorship of John S. and James L. Knight, The Armando Codina Family, First Bank of Miami, Carlos Migoya, and Riteway Properties.
In the Introduction, the authors say that Cubans in the United States represent 3.5 percent of the Hispanic American population or approximately 1.8 million people. They explain that the largest concentration of Cubans (55 percent) lives in Greater Miami, Florida and describe the Miami community as having established a “parallel mainstream” where they “can sustain a refined culture – creating and preserving its own music, food, literature, theater, cinema, radio and television.”
Sam Verdeja and Guillermo Martinez, editors, Cubans
The work was edited by Sam Verdeja, a magazine publisher, and Guillermo Martinez, a print and broadcast journalist. In addition to Verdeja and Martinez, Cesar Pizarro, a newspaper executive, Howard Kleinberg a newspaper editor, Louise O’ Brien, a business executive, Leonardo Rodriguez, a university professor and Francisco Rodriguez, a broadcast commentator participated in the project. Other contributors include Jose Cancela, Eloy Cepero, Raul Chao, Juan Clark, Olga Connor, Carlos Curbelo, Rogelio de la Torre, Sonia Frias, Jose Garrigo, Armando Gonzalez, Jose Irastorza, Federico Justiniani, Aida Levitan, Roly Martin, Rene Murai, Olga Nodarse, Marcos Antonio Ramos, Alejandro Rios, Raul Rodriguez, Rene Rodriguez, Silvia Unzueta, Enrique Viciana, Alberto Vilar, and Eduardo Zayas-Bazan.
The book is divided into 39 chapters in two major sections, The History in the first 16 chapters and The Exile Experience in the remaining chapters, as well as an Epilogue and five appendices. The second section of the book is subdivided into Business and Finance; Arts, Entertainment, and Religion; Media and Advertising; Professionals; and Political, Civic and Social Life.
Click to buy Cubans
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Filed Under: Books
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 11, 2012
A scene from Bartali
Photos: Vme
In 2006, Rai Fiction and Endemol produced Bartali in Italy about Gino Bartali, an Italian cyclist who won the Tour de France twice. Directed by Alberto Negrin starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Simone Gandolfo, Nicole Grimaudo and Carlo Giuffre with a musical score by Ennio Morricone, described in promotional materials as one of the most influential film music composers of the 20 century, Bartali will air as a four-part miniseries on Vme beginning at 9 p.m. ET/PT July 16.
Dubbed into Spanish it may be the first time the series is airing in the United States. The program is scheduled to air for four nights and each episode is two hours long. Favino plays Gino Bartali while Grimaudo plays Adriana Bartali, Gandolfo plays Fausto Coppi and Giuffre plays Cardinale Dalla Costa.
A scene from Bartali
As a youngster Bartali nearly abandoned cycling following the death of his brother Giulio in a race. He continued cycling with the help of his brother Leone and his faith. In 1938, he won the Tour de France in honor of his brother’s memory.
A scene from Bartali
A devout Catholic, Bartali’s religious and moral beliefs led him to use his cycling talents to assist his friend Cardinal Dalla Costa and the Italian resistance during the war. In 1948, Italian Prime Minister De Gaspari asked Bartali to help ease political tensions by winning the Tour de France again and he did. Many historians believe, according to promotional materials, that the national enthusiasm that resulted from his second victory helped prevent a civil war.
Vme, a 24-hour Spanish language network partnered with public television stations, offers drama, music, sports, news, current affairs, food, lifestyle, nature and educational preschool programs. The network estimates it reaches more than 10 million Hispanic homes. Vme is the first venture of the media production and distribution company, Vme Media, Inc.
Posted by Elena del Valle on July 9, 2012
Amanda Fernandez, vice president, Latino Community Partnerships, Teach For America
Photo: Teach For America
A podcast interview with Amanda Fernandez, vice president, Latino Community Partnerships, Teach For America is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, she discusses educational inequity with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Amanda leads Teach For America’s Latino Initiatives that support outreach to the Latino community and recruitment, advancement and development of Latino corps members and staff. She brings over 20 years of experience in recruiting, diversity, organization development, change management and Latino community relations. Amanda manages national partnerships and outreach activities with Latino serving organizations and institutions. In addition, she guides and leads efforts focused on Latino staff initiatives and across program teams within Teach For America.
Prior to joining Teach For America, Amanda was a director at The Bridgespan Group where she served as an organizational consultant to youth and education clients in support of their strategic planning efforts.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Amanda Fernandez” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the July 2012 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 29, 2012
The Art of SEO book cover
Is search engine ranking an art or a science? What is the secret? Opinions vary and the answers are elusive at best. Yet, many continue to seek them because of the power they provide those who find even a fraction of success. In August 2011, people performed 158 billion online searches (comScore) and that same month 1.3 billion souls each relied on a search engine search.
Toward deciphering the ever changing secrets of search engine optimization (SEO) four experts combined years of knowledge and insights in search engine optimization to compile the second edition of The Art of SEO Mastering Search Engine Optimization (O’Reilly, $49.99), a 688-page softcover book published March of this year. Eric Enge, founder and chief executive officer, Stone Temple Consulting; Stephan Spencer, founder, Netconcepts; Jessie Stricchiola, founder, Alchemist Media, Inc.; and Rand Fishkin, chief executive officer and cofounder, SEOmoz, are the authors.
Although they identify anyone involved in the search engine optimization process at any level, especially web developers, development managers and marketers, as the target audience for the book judging by the size and complexity of some of the sections the book is not for the faint of heart or those who lack time to read. The authors promise to address updates on recent changes in search engine behavior like ranking methods requiring user engagement and social media; insights on insider SEO issues; the inner workings of search engines; the role of social media, user data, and links; how to track results and measure success; understanding how changes to a site may confuse search engines; building an SEO team; and future trends.
They point out that online searches, many on Google, reach 88 percent of people in the United States and billions internationally. They go on to outline that the dominant search engines in July 2011 were, in descending order, Google (65 percent), Yahoo (16 percent), Microsoft (14.4 percent), Ask (2.9 percent) and AOL (1.4 percent); and that in August 2011, searches were generally of one (25.8 percent) or two words (22.8 percent). Keeping abreast of search engine changes requires constant monitoring and adaptation and being an early adopter is essential, they point out. At the same time the long delay between adopting search engine optimization strategies and seeing results can be daunting; measuring results is important and can influence future budget decisions, they point out in a later chapter.
The tome is divided into 14 chapters with a very brief conclusion at the end of each: The Search Engines: Reflecting Consciousness and Connecting Commerce; Search Engine Basics; Determining Your SEO Objectives and Defining Your Site’s Audience; First Stages of SEO; Keyword Research; Developing an SEO-Friendly Website; Creating Link-Worthy Content and Link Marketing; How Social Media and User Data Play a Role in Research Results and Rankings; Optimizing for Vertical Search; Tracking Results and Measuring Success; Domain Changes, Post-SEO Redesigns, and Troubleshooting; SEO Research and Study; Build an In-House SEO Team, Outsource It, or Both? and An Evolving Art Form: The Future of SEO.
Click to buy The Art of SEO
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Filed Under: Books
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 27, 2012
African Americans, Hispanics adopting mobile shopping behaviors – click to enlarge
Photos, chart: Network Communications
With the increasing popularity of smartphones (mobile phones that combine the features of a cell phone and a computer) and mobile devices marketers want to know if mobile buying behaviors are prevalent among the owners of these gadgets. Estimating that smartphone penetration is nearing 50 percent in the United States, in February 2012, The Integer Group and Marc Research surveyed 1,200 people online, in English, as part of an ongoing shopper behavior study.
One of the salient findings of their survey was that African American and Hispanic shoppers who participated in the survey appear to adopt shopping technologies at a faster rate than Caucasian (non Hispanic white) respondents. Among survey takers 18 percent of African American shoppers and 16 percent of Hispanic shoppers said they use their mobile device to make purchases compared to 10 percent of non Hispanic whites.
Martin Ferro, senior account planner, Velocidad
One in five African American shoppers (21 percent versus 13 percent of Caucasian shoppers) said they use their phone to read product reviews and maintain shopping lists, and one in five Hispanic shoppers (20 percent versus 13 percent of Caucasian shoppers) said they use their mobile device to compare product prices. The researchers believe that in spite of lower smartphone penetration among African Americans and Hispanics than Caucasians, the two ethnic groups, and women shoppers in particular, are using mobile phones as shopping aids.
“Basic mobile communication through SMS and mobile websites should be the points of entry. Mobile marketing to multicultural shoppers is a huge opportunity,” said Martin Ferro, senior account planner, Velocidad, a Hispanic promotional, retail and shopper marketing capability of The Integer Group.
Ben Kennedy, group director of Mobile Marketing, Integer
The survey also revealed that nearly as many shoppers said they are using coupons from email and e-newsletters (49 percent) as said they are from the Sunday paper (57 percent). Respondents in households with children seemed more likely to overcome adoption barriers of digital technologies in favor of shopping solutions.
“Digital shoppers are just shoppers,” said Ben Kennedy, group director, Mobile Marketing, Integer. “Digital shopping tools are illustrative of the continued blurring of the on- and offline spaces. Today’s reality is that shoppers use whatever tools they have on hand to make them smarter, savvier shoppers.”
In the surveys, consumers were asked about their shopping attitudes, shopping behaviors, and economic outlook as well as the criteria shoppers use to select retailers, which in-store stimulus is most likely to drive purchase, and factors that might lead shoppers to leave an aisle empty-handed.
The Integer Group is a large promotional, retail, and shopper marketing agency, and a member of Omnicom Group Inc.
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 25, 2012
Heiner W. Skaliks, portfolio manager, SLAF
Photo: SLAF
A podcast interview with Heiner W. Skaliks, portfolio manager, Strategic Latin America Fund, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, Heiner discusses investment opportunities in Latin America with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Heiner is also chief executive officer of Strategic Asset Management Ltd. Both companies are based in La Paz, Bolivia. He previously oversaw a diverse loan portfolio at Banco Mercantil S.A. Prior to that, he was chief executive officer and portfolio manager of a leading Bolivian mutual fund, and broker-dealer at a boutique investment bank where he created, managed and led a mutual fund company. He also led the development of the local capital market as a member of the board of directors of the Bolivian Securities Exchange.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Heiner Skaliks,” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the June 2012 section of the podcast archive.
