AHAA Adds Acclaimed Filmmaker, Renowned Author, and Facebook to Prestigious Lineup of Its 2014 "Thinking Under the Influence" Conference

FAIRFAX, Va., Feb. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As brands look for new and innovative ways to meaningfully connect with consumers, entertainment, word-of-mouth marketing, and social media have never been more important. With its registration page now open, AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing has confirmed that Roberto Rodriguez, award-winning director and maverick in the entertainment business; Jonah Berger, author of best-selling Contagious: Why Things Catch On; and Christian Martinez, head of sales of U.S. Hispanic at Facebook, are joining a powerful roster of marketing elite at AHAA's 2014 "Thinking Under the Influence" Conference, taking place at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami from April 28-30.

An American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician, Robert Rodriguez burst on the scene in 1991 with El Mariachi, which won the coveted Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and became the lowest budget movie ever released by a major studio. Since then, he has gone on to write, produce, direct and edit a series of successful films, including Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Faculty, the Spy Kids franchise, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Frank Miller's Sin City, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D, Grindhouse and Machete. In addition to founding Austin-based Troublemaker Studios and Quick Draw Productions, Rodriguez recently launched El Rey Network, a new English-language general entertainment cable channel which focuses on action-packed content including original dramas, feature films, grindhouse genre, cult classic action, horror/sci-fi and next-generation sports. Curated by Rodriguez and his artistic collective, the network unites the most culturally diverse generation in history through fearless and original programming that awakens the renegade in everyone. "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series," premiering Tuesday, March 11^th at 9pm ET/PT, is the network's first original scripted series. This summer, El Rey Network will debut "Matador" (WT), an original, scripted action series produced by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman's K/O Paper Products.

An expert on word of mouth and how products and ideas become popular, Jonah Berger is the James G. Campbell associate professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies social influence and social epidemics, or how products, ideas, and behaviors catch on and become popular. Conference attendees will learn actionable techniques for helping information spread – the basic human drivers that power sharing and word of mouth, one of the most credible and influential forms of advertising. The author of New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Berger has published dozens of articles in top-tier academic journals like Journal of Consumer Research, Marketing Science, and myriad others. Popular accounts of his work have appeared in places like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, Wired, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, the Atlantic, the Economist, and more. His research has also been featured in the New York Times Magazine's annual "Year in Ideas" issue.

Christian Martinez has led traditional, digital, programmatic, mobile and eCommerce efforts in the U.S. Hispanic for more than 15 years.  At Facebook, Martinez leads the company's sales initiatives focused on the U.S. Hispanic market. He also spearheads the company's effort to bring to market digital and social marketing scale to the U.S. Hispanic marketer. Conference attendees will learn how to harness social media assets to amplify their branding strategies, as well as understand more fully the B2B and targeting capabilities Facebook offers.

These speakers join an A-list lineup of the following industry experts: Olivier Francois, Global CMO, Chrysler; Rui Porto, CMO, Havaianas; James Ortiz, CMO, U.S. Army; Jane Gould, CMO, Viacom; Jamie Moldafsky, CMO, Wells Fargo; former global telecommunications executive Sol Trujillo, founder of Latino Donor Collaborative (LDC); Nico Pimentel, Co-founder and Innovation Director, +Castro; and Papon Ricciardelli, CEO of DON.

To register for the conference, please visit http://ahaa.org, and follow all conference chatter on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter using the hashtag #thinkahaa.

About AHAA:

Founded in 1996, AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing is the national trade organization of all marketing, communications and media firms with trusted Hispanic expertise.

SOURCE AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing