Nation's Leading Marketers Gather in Miami for AHAA's Annual Conference from May 2 to 4

Client-centered Theme "Listen Up!" to Infuse Sessions with a Robust Lineup of Distinguished Speakers

MIAMI, April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing will hold its Annual Conference on May 2-4, 2012 at the Intercontinental Miami Hotel with the theme of "Listen Up!" The conference will revolve around the client perspective and emphasize best practices across the broad Hispanic marketing continuum. Attending and being featured at the conference will be some of the nation's leading investors in the Hispanic market – The Clorox Company, Diageo, Google, Tecate and Wal-Mart are just a few of the marquis brands that will share their insights. They will reveal the creative strategies that resulted in outstanding campaigns that also deeply connected with Hispanic consumers.

AHAA's Annual Conference is the most comprehensive industry event dedicated to the U.S. Hispanic market featuring an exciting program packed with a lineup of best-in-the-business speakers and numerous networking opportunities. More than 400 Hispanic-specialized marketers, ranging from advertising, public relations, media, creative, research and promotion expertise, are expected to converge in Miami.

As part of the conference, AHAA chair Roberto Orci, CEO, Acento Advertising along with Board members Linda Lane Gonzalez, President/CEO, Viva Partnership, Inc. and Aldo Quevedo, President, Dieste, will kick off the conference and provide a glimpse into the current state of the U.S. Hispanic Marketing industry. Throughout the event, AHAA will announce the winners of the HispanicAd.com Account Planning Excelencia (HAPE) Award, the HispanicAd.com Media Planning Excelencia (HMPE) Award. In addition, AHAA, in partnership with Nielsen, will announce the winner of the 2012 Caballero Lifetime Achievement Award.

This year, the conference will showcase two CMO Fireside Chats:

• Seasoned veteran, Felix Palau, VP of Marketing, Tecate of Heineken, USA, will present "Beer: Beyond the :30 TV Commercial." He will share his unique insights on Heineken's innovative U.S. Hispanic marketing platform, the importance of the Hispanic market for Tecate and what the future holds for the brand.
• Javier M. Delgado-Granados, Marketing Manager, Wal-Mart and Mark Lopez, Digital Media Executive and Head of U.S. Hispanic Audience, Google, will discuss the fascinating developments occurring in the fast-paced world of digital and the changes they foresee ahead in their CMO chat, "Digital as Part of the Marketing Mix."

There are several top-tier keynote speakers that will share their insights on a broad range of topics in these five can't-miss sessions:

• John Winsor, CEO of Victor & Spoils will address the topic of advertising and crowdsourcing in his session "The Trials and Tribulations of Harnessing the Chaos of Abundance," and Steven Rommeney, Humalog T2 Consumer Brand Manager of Eli Lilly, who will discuss healthcare marketing in "Looking to the Health of the U.S. Hispanic Market: Pharmaceuticals."  
• The Clorox Company's David Cardona, Multi-Cultural Team Leader and Lupe De Los Santos, Group Manager of Hispanic Marketing Communications will present the "Top 10 'Truths' from a Retail Client's Perspective of Hispanic Marketing," along with concrete examples to illustrate what works and what doesn't. Both David and Lupe have been on the agency side in the past and bring a unique perspective to being a retail client.
• In keeping with the AHAA tradition of showcasing the latest compelling research to help with new business development and effective strategy building, The Nielsen Company also will share their key insights on the Hispanic consumer's online behavior and its business impact with Digital CEO Jonathan Carson and his session "Online Media Measurement and Analytics – Critical Insights You Can Learn On Hispanics."
• Marc Stephenson Strachan, Vice President, Multicultural Marketing USA, Diageo-North America will discuss how Diageo is infusing Multicultural insights into General market strategies in the aptly titled session, "The Diageo Mulitcultural Marketing Journey…Everybody into the Pool!" He will also talk about the client-agency relationship and the importance of coming across less like a vendor and more as a partner. After experiencing an agency career, Marc will also share how it has influenced him as a client.
• Going along with the conference theme of "Listen Up!" are the results of the "People en Espanol 12th Annual Hispanic Opinion Tracker (HOT) Study: Insights into the US Latina Woman," which will be presented by Monique Manso, Publisher of People en Espanol. The study provides insights into the changing role of Latina women in the U.S. and reveals how Hispanic women continue to embrace their families, heritage, and identity as they become an increasing force in American life. Categories range from Beauty and Skincare to Computers and Internet usage.

In addition, the conference will include two exciting panel discussions from the industry's top public relations, media, entertainment and music professionals:

• "Hispanic Public Relations: Creating Brand Evangelists with Engagement and Trust," will include panelists Solomon Romano, Head of Hispanic Marketing, Delta Dental, 2011 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Chair & CEO Rosanna Fiske, APR & Director/Professor, Florida International University, Natalie Boden, Founder & President, BodenPR and Manny Ruiz, Co-Publisher of Hispanic PR Blog and Founder/Creative Director of Hispanicize 2012 discussing how to generate advocacy, engagement, trust and sales with Public Relations.
• "Juventud + Migracion + Adaptacion = Music, Language & Mucho Love: The Influence of the Macro Environment in the Transformation of Consumers," will provide insight on how the ever-changing and growing U.S. multicultural market continues to influence trends and brand activations. Mariel Llenza, Director of Hispanic Advertising, AT&T Mobility, Sie7e, Warner Music, Grammy® winning artist, Robert Isaac, Director of Music Programming, Mun2 and Xavier Alvarado, VP, Programming, WHKQ KQ103 FM will present what factors have most impacted them, how they've modified their strategy and how a common trend (i.e. Spanglish) has helped them unite forces in order to reach a new generation of audiences. 

AHAA is also pleased to be collaborating with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in organizing a series of Media & Digital Workshops during the conference for the second year in a row. Attendees at the AHAA Annual Conference will enjoy an exceptional content line up that cleverly merges AHAA's Hispanic marketing and advertising expertise with IAB's supreme online advertising and digital media knowledge base.

Finally, the conference will conclude with the presentation by AHAA and Circulo Creativo of the inaugural U.S.H. Idea Awards, recognizing stellar achievement in work created by U.S. Hispanic agencies and directed at Hispanic audiences. The award ceremony will take place at the prestigious Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

"This year's conference is unlike any other," said Roberto Orci, chair of AHAA and CEO of Acento. "The premise of 'Listen Up!' is to provide our attendees with unprecedented access to A-list brands who are sharing their insights and applications for successful Hispanic marketing. These best business practices serve to not only foster creativity but also provide strategies to strengthen the client-agency experience."

For more information on AHAA's annual conference and to register, please visit http://ahaa.org/default.asp?contentID=353.

About AHAA: Founded in 1996 and headquartered in McLean, VA, the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) is the national organization of Hispanic-owned and-managed firms united to promote the growth and strength of the Hispanic marketing and advertising industry to the private and public sectors. AHAA is raising awareness of the value of the Hispanic market's many opportunities while enhancing the professionalism of the industry. AHAA agencies lead the industry with collective capitalized billings exceeding $5 billion - more than 90 percent of the entire U.S. Hispanic advertising industry. Only AHAA agencies have the blend of cultural understanding, market knowledge, proven experience and professional resources that make them uniquely qualified to communicate with Hispanic consumers. These capabilities and skills offer the potential for Hispanic market success that's available nowhere else.

SOURCE AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing