Monday, November 23, 2009

New GM will position Surropa.com with Hispanics

Surropa.com, the Ultimate Online Fashion Destination for Hipster Latinos, Hires New General Manager to Position Store for Future Growth Within the US Hispanic Market
The Latino Journal E-News, Vol. 2, Issue 5

MIAMI, FL -- SOBO Concepts LLC, owner of Surropa.com, one of the Internet's top destinations for Latino-focused apparel and accessories, announces the hiring of Natalia Zapata as their E-commerce Manager.

Since its launch in 2006, Surropa has focused on selling NaCo, the kitschy Mexican brand that has achieved cult-like status in Mexico, the U.S. and around the world. While Surropa continues to be the exclusive online retailer for NaCo products in the United States, "Hiring Natalia marks a new stage in Surropa's branding and development," remarked Dean Schwartz, President of SOBO Concepts.

"Our goal is to create an online destination where Latino clothing brands, artists, designers and consumers can come together to sell and purchase products that are cool, credible and culturally relevant. Having spent over 15 years working for brands such as Reebok and the NBA in Latin America and US Hispanic markets, I was continually frustrated by the lack of distribution, acceptance and access for Hispanic-driven products. Surropa will take a leadership role in providing this unique platform to millions of US Hispanic consumers."

Ms. Zapata brings over eight years of fashion, design, marketing and Internet experience to her role at Surropa. She has worked for Macy's, Guess and Cosabella and most recently managed Inside Fashion World Media, an interactive global hub for the trendsetting fashion industry. "I'm very excited to build Surropa into the web's top destination for fashion and other lifestyle products geared to the hipster Latino community," said Zapata.

Surropa's future assortment will feature a mix of contemporary and street fashion apparel, accessories, art and more. Be on the lookout for ongoing improvements to the site and product assortment.

Hispanic Dental Association appoints new Executive

Hispanic Dental Association appoints new executive director
Dental Economics, November 19, 2009

SOMERSET, New Jersey--The Hispanic Dental Association has appointed Dr. C. Yolanda Bonta of Somerset, a founding member of the association, as its new executive director.

Dr. Bonta's has 17 years in the corporate dental industry with Colgate-Palmolive, plus years of experience in academia and clinical research. During her career with Colgate-Palmolive, Dr. Bonta held a series of management positions in the areas of clinical research, new product technologies, professional product development, and global professional marketing.

She has interfaced globally with key opinion leaders across various specialties, defined strategies to build stronger relationships with dental and hygiene schools, and created scientific publications. She is well known throughout the dental industry for her leadership and determination to promote innovation and excellence in the field of dentistry.

Dr. Bonta's DMD is from the University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine, where she was academic faculty of the schools of medicine and dentistry. She is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo with a certificate in periodontology. She also holds master's degrees in clinical microbiology from UPR and Oral Biology from SUNY.

Dr. Bonta is a Fellow of the American College of Dentists and the Academy of Dentists International, a member of the American Dental Association, American Academy of Periodontology, American/International Association for Dental Research, National Dental Association, American Association of Women Dentists, member of the Board and past president of the Board of Directors for Friends of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Organization for Safety and Asepsis Procedures, and past president of the Board of Trustees of the Student Clinicians of the ADA.

To learn more about the Hispanic Dental Association, visit http://www.hdassoc.org/

Latina named as JCPenney's Director of Multicultural Marketing

JCPenney Hires Patricia Romero to Lead Multicultural Marketing
By Laurel Wentz, Ad Age.com/Hispanic, November 12, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Patricia Romero, former head of multicultural marketing at Hyundai Motor America, became JCPenney's new director of multicultural marketing starting Nov. 16.

At JCPenney, she'll be working with the retailer's U.S. Hispanic agency, Vidal Partnership, and Asian-American shop InterTrend Communications. The company doesn't have an agency of record for the African-American market.

Ms. Romero joined Hyundai two years ago. The carmaker cut its multicultural spending after mid-2008 and has spent very little on the Hispanic market in the last 18 months, so Ms. Romero's job increasingly entailed working on general market and digital efforts at Hyundai.

She said part of the appeal of the JCPenney job is that she really wanted to get back to doing multicultural marketing. The post was previously held by Olivia Vela, who left the company earlier this year for a job at Dr. Pepper. JCPenney ranked as the 24th largest advertiser in Spanish-language media in 2008, spending $46.5 million, and has been particularly active in spot radio and sponsorship in the Hispanic market.

Last month Ruby Anik, JCPenney's senior VP and director of brand marketing, said in a speech at the Assn of National Advertisers' annual Multicultural Marketing conference in Phoenix that she was looking for a multicultural marketing director. She said that until about nine months ago, multicultural marketing had been housed in another group but had since been moved into her brand marketing group. (Multicultural apparently reported into the merchandising group previously.) Ms. Romero will report to Lisa DeStefano Orebaugh, JCPenney's division VP for brand communications and strategy, who works with Ms. Anik.

Ms. Anik said in her ANA presentation that JCPenney has designated Hispanic and Asian-American stores. "That's the future of retail," she said.

The Hispanic stores beat the general market stores in sales, she said. The company doesn't have a Spanish-language website yet.

Before joining Hyundai, Ms. Romero was VP-director of client services at Bumpercar, a Hispanic shop in Los Angeles. Before that, she held marketing posts at DaimlerChrysler and Toshiba, and she led American Honda Motor Co.'s expansion in Latin America.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Hispanic women run for Nevada office

Hispanic Women Run for Nevada Office
Joe Harrington, KOLO TV, Nov 3, 2009

Several candidates hope to alter the composition of the Nevada State Legislature. There are currently no Hispanic women serving in the legislature, but four have already announced they will run next year. Three of them are from Northern Nevada.

"As far as I know in the history of Nevada we have never had a Hispanic woman elected to the legislature," Ellie Lopez-Bowlan, a Republican candidate for Assembly District 26, said.

While that's not immediately clear, it is clear that there are no Hispanic women serving in the current legislature, but there are three Latinos.

"(There are) more women stepping out and wanting to run for politics because they think it's important to be represented," Lopez-Bowlan said.

Of 63 lawmakers, there are now 20 women.

Teresa Benitez-Thompson is a Latina Democrat running for Assembly District 27.

"I think it will only do us good the more diverse we are and the more we represent the communities of Nevada," Benitez-Thompson said.

Hispanics are more than a quarter of the state's population and a fast-growing segment of voters. Neither Benitez-Thompson or Lopez-Bowlan are asking for your vote because they're Latina, they say they're the most qualified.

"The legislature has to deal with almost the same issues that working families are dealing with right now which is how do we make ends meet with almost just not enough to get us there," Benitez-Thompson said.

Those running for the legislature still have months to file, so the complete field of hopefuls has yet to be seen.

P&G target Hispanic women

P&G Adapts Its Web Fashion Show for Hispanic Women
Branded Program 'De Moda' Retooled With Latin Topics, Celebs
By Laurel Wentz, November 02, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The first episode of Spanish-language online branded entertainment show "De Moda" focuses on celebrities who wear amazingly inexpensive clothes on the red carpet. That was the most popular topic last year on "The Thread," which like "De Moda" is produced for Procter & Gamble Co. by Starcom MediaVest Group units and Yahoo.

Marketers and their agencies can spend months deciding whether a successful English-language property will work as well in the U.S. Hispanic market, and if so, what besides language should change to appeal to a Latino audience. That's especially true in areas such as branded entertainment, where good Spanish-language content is still scarce.

In October Procter & Gamble debuted "De Moda," a U.S. Hispanic version of "The Thread," both designed to showcase about half a dozen P&G brands over 26 episodes for "De Moda" and more for "The Thread," which started a year earlier.

For the Spanish-language version, the first step was to be sure the premise -- celebrity fashion -- resonated with Hispanic women, said Marcy Greenberger, media director at Tapestry, one of Starcom Mediavest Group's multicultural units. Tapestry handles Hispanic buying and strategy, working with MediaVest and its branded-entertainment unit Connectivetissue, which handles production for both shows.

"Then we realized we didn't want to just translate it," Ms. Greenberger said. That's not just for cultural relevance, but also because Hispanics consume English-language media, too, and some viewers may be watching both versions of the program.

Latina stars
Right now about 50% to 75% of the content is the same on both shows, Ms. Greenberger said, but the idea is to use fewer Hollywood stars and more Latin American celebrities and telenovela actresses. For instance, the latest episode, about stylish Latina women of comedy, features Sofia Vergara, who appears in ABC's "Modern Family," America Ferrera from "Ugly Betty," and a novela star.

"One thing people struggle with is they feel they have to do something completely different with Hispanic," Ms. Greenberger said.

"De Moda" hired its own Spanish-speaking host, local newscaster Carleth Keys, and a Spanish-speaking producer. But they will share with "The Thread" stars like Sofia Vergara, who can be interviewed in both Spanish and English (some Hispanic celebrities may be pictured on "De Moda" without an interview; a clue that their Spanish isn't fluent). Piggybacking on production of "The Thread," "De Moda" cuts costs by sharing a set overlooking Times Square in Manhattan, and some of the same footage.

P&G's presence ranges from a simple sponsor's credit to full product integration every four episodes or so. In one upcoming video, "De Moda's" host and a model will go to a New York salon for a hair makeover involving Herbal Essences.

Both shows promote some of the same P&G brands, such as Herbal Essences, but "The Thread" brand portfolio has included Crest White Stripes, which aren't promoted in the Hispanic market, and "De Moda" works with Dawn with Olay Beauty dishwashing liquid, which may be highlighted with an upcoming episode on celebrity hands.

Yahoo partnership
New "De Moda" episodes will appear about every two weeks, and there are blog posts in between, drawing about 200,000 visitors in the first half of October. The top search terms in Spanish from Yahoo are also posted, giving the "De Moda" team insight into viewers' current interests.

"De Moda" is promoted across Yahoo en EspaƱol, including streaming banners that let viewers watch the videos from different parts of the site, said Adam Chandler, Yahoo's executive director for U.S. sales for partnerships and emerging markets.

Elsewhere on Yahoo, State Farm and OMD have added a Spanish-language version called "Mamas Famosas" to the "Goddess" blog about celebrity moms on Yahoo's popular OMG! site. It's a more limited program, with a Spanish-language introduction followed by Spanish subtitles over the English-language content.

"That's how the advertiser wanted to partner with us," Mr. Chandler said. "The next direction is the way we're headed with "De Moda.'"

Latina confirmed as Massachusetts U.S. Attorney

Ortiz confirmed as state’s first Hispanic U.S. attorney
By Associated Press, November 7, 2009

Carmen Ortiz has been confirmed as the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, becoming the first Hispanic and the first woman to hold the top federal prosecutor’s job in the state.

Ortiz, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecutes white-collar crime, was nominated by President Obama in September and confirmed by the U.S. Senate late Thursday. She succeeds Michael Sullivan, who was appointed by President Bush in 2001.

The New York native worked as an assistant U.S. attorney handling white-color crime for the past 12 years and was previously a Middlesex prosecutor and a defense attorney. In 1992, Ortiz was a member of the “October Surprise” team for the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which found no basis for allegations that the 1980 Reagan campaign tried to delay the release of hostages in Iran to undermine President Carter’s re-election. Ortiz also helped investigate allegations of sexual harassment made by a Boston Herald sports writer against the New England Patriots [team stats] in 1990.