Program

Wednesday, August 12

Cultural Immersion Tour: A retailer insider’s tour of Curacao, Tawa 99 Ranch, Superior and Super King

This year’s guided store tour on August 12 is a true multicultural tour de force, with scheduled visits to leading Hispanic, Asian and multicultural-focused retailers in the southern California market. Led by experienced executives from Unified Grocers, the largest retailer-owned wholesale grocery cooperative in the Western United States, our tour will visit Curacao, the No. 1 Hispanic-focused electronics and home furnishings department store, Tawa 99 Ranch, a leading Asian-American grocery retailer, and two outstanding independent Latino-focused supermarkets, Super King and Superior. Separate registration required.

The Multicultural Edge: Rising Super Consumers, a new Nielsen research report

Guy García, President of New Mainstream Initiatives, EthniFacts LLC

Eddie Yoon, Principal, The Cambridge Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nielsen

Drawing on a ground-breaking report recently released by Nielsen, noted multicultural experts Eddie Yoon and Guy Garcia will use cutting-edge insights, case studies and never-seen-before data to paint a dynamic portrait of modern multicultural consumers and how demographics, identity and culture are accelerating, enhancing and enlarging the multicultural consumer market opportunity. Their presentation will also reveal how in certain categories of multiculturals are “super consumers” — defined by Nielsen as the top 10% of consumers in any given category who drive as much as two-thirds of revenue and the majority of growth and profit in that same category. Yoon and Garcia are lively seasoned, speakers and their eye-opening presentation will advance the discussion of multicultural consumers across the board for years to come.

Thursday, August 13

Keynote Address: The NFL’s Total Market Strategy for Accelerating Hispanic Fan Growth

Marissa Fernandez, Director, Fan Strategy & Marketing, National Football League

Marketing Across the Cultural Continuum: New Total Market Strategies for Winning at Retail

Tara Frank, Vice President, Multicultural Strategy, Hallmark Cards

Ida Chacon, Vice President, Client Solutions, Latinum Network

The Latinum Network, now grown to include nearly 100 market leaders across all industries, will join with Hallmark to share the latest insights and strategies proving to be most effective in driving growth and performance with multicultural consumers. As the debate still rages as to exactly what the phrase “Total Market” means, and whether these approaches are more hype than reality, Latinum has tapped into the power of the peer companies in its network to create an entirely new framework for bringing these strategies to market.

This session will examine the set of decisions companies need to make, from upstream in the strategic planning process, through organizational design, research and product development, and ultimately go-to-market execution. In each of these areas, the real answers lie along a continuum of choices from fully dedicated multicultural initiatives to those that are integrated across all segments. Latinum’s new framework will be brought to life through the lens of Hallmark’s strategies for winning at retail with multicultural consumers, from the pre-planning stage of Shopper Marketing through the entire path to purchase, including In-Store Execution.

Integration: Diversity as Business Strategy

Moderator: Bessie Ramirez, Managing Partner, About Marketing Solutions

Stephen Romero, VP US Sales, McIllhenny Company

Jose Espinoza, US Hispanic Market and Mexico Lead, McIllhenny Company

Achieving success does not hinge on determining if you’re pursuing a Total Market, Cross-cultural or Multicultural strategy. Rather it is predicated on building a plan that starts at the cross-section between your organization’s trigger points, market trends and consumer dynamics. In this session, you’ll learn about how McIlhenny Company has built strategic and tactical integration across functional areas and agency partners, efficiently leveraging investment dollars for maximum reach and return. On this panel, representatives from McIllhenny Company and About Marketing Solutions will discuss identifying your organization’s trigger points, leveraging market trends and aligning strategic partners.

Concurrent Sessions – 1

Latino Cultural Value Dimensions and Their Influences in the Path-to-Purchase – Hispanic Track

John Burn, Head of Cross-Cultural Practice at Geometry Global (a WPP company)

This session focuses on a first-ever landmark study that leverages a breakthrough cross-cultural value framework applied to the path-to-purchase process among the Hispanic population in the United States. The study identifies how culture impacts specific attitudes and behaviors on the path-to-purchase. The findings have significant implications to retailers and CPG firms on what strategies and tactics are more “in-culture” to target multicultural shoppers most effectively and build community engagement – while helping corporations maximize the shopper marketing investment and profitability (ROI).

Hispanic Millennial Project: Food, Beverage & Alcohol – Hispanic Track

Speaker: Jose Villa, president, Sensis

The Hispanic Millennial is an innovative initiative on U.S. Hispanic millennials that tackles segmentation and points of tension, and introduces new ways to think about Hispanic Millennials that will be compelling to every brand and marketer. This session will focus on the attitudes and behaviors of millennials in regards to consumer packaged goods including food, beverage and alcohol. In addition to the focus on Hispanic millennials, we will announce the expansion of research into both African-American and Asian millennials.

Understanding Asian-American Culture and Language for Retail Sales Growth – Asian- and African-American Track

Lan Bercu, founder and president, Lead Across Cultures, International

This session will help retailers understand and remove the cultural barriers to creating and implementing more effective on-target multicultural marketing and merchandising. Participants will learn to:

• Understand the cultural dimensions and how they influence behaviors and habits of Asian-American consumers.
• Compare strategies of ethnic retailers versus American retailers.
• Use language more effectively to entice multicultural consumers.
• Apply international best practices/proven strategies in retail and merchandising.

Loyalty Marketing: Using Customer Data to Impact Your Multicultural Shopper – Multicultural Research and Niche Markets Track

Ross Ely, CEO, Prologic Retail Services

During this session, retailers will learn about the benefits of applying technology to identify their best shoppers and how to build personalized promotions to increase their purchases. Attendees will understand the methodology used by one of the leading providers in the industry and see this loyalty solution effectively applied to a 12-store New York-based supermarket chain.

Winning With the Spanish-preferred Audience – Working Group/Interactive small group discussion

The multicultural media space is flush with marketing towards the Hispanic consumer. From Spanglish ads during the World Cup to pushes from major corporations on Univision and Telemundo, bilingual and bicultural Hispanic consumers are the hot-button topic in multicultural marketing. Yet, this strategy still overlooks millions of US Hispanics, namely, acculturating immigrants that are not bilingual, but rather Spanish-preferred. For the past 10 years, SABEResPODER (SEP) has led the charge to reach these consumers in a trusted point of market entry—the Mexican and Salvadoran consular networks across the United States. SEP is maximizing brand loyalty among an untapped demographic, while much remains untested. Join SEP to discuss the techniques required to convert acculturating Hispanic immigrants into future loyal customers.

Concurrent Sessions – 2

Reaching Hispanic Consumers Through the Power of Audio – Hispanic Track

Moderator: Doug Sterne, VP, Audio Development and Industry Relations, Pandora

With Hispanic and multicultural internet users connected on multiple devices, more than any other race or ethnicity, reaching them in today’s advertising environment is increasingly challenging. And once you find your target audience, how do you cut through the clutter and hold their attention? From tapping into Hispanic’s passion for music to leveraging audio to drive in-store traffic, hear from leading Hispanic retail advertisers on what audio strategies they are using to stand out in this multi-screen, hyper-tasking world.

How to Connect Organically with the Hispanic Community and Avoid Condescending Stereotypes – Hispanic Track

Carla M. Curiel, co-founder and CEO, Mundo Lanugo

Mike Valdes-Fauli, PintaUSA.com

Macy’s (invited)

T-Mobile (invited)

This panel will discuss how today’s great brands are capitalizing on the Hispanic audience by going beyond the Spanish language and creating an authentic emotional connection with the target market. They are doing this with culturally relevant lifestyle, entertainment brands, celebrities and community partnerships to which Latinos can relate.

Using Story Telling to Connect with Women of Color – Asian- and African-American Track

Derrick M. Guest, CEO, Griot’s Roll Film Production & Services

This session will be an examination of how companies are using story telling that connects women of color to their products by creating conversation around their products. Brands in other countries have used story plotted ads to attract their target audience to everything from shampoo to insurance, and since women are in the driver’s seat when it comes to purchasing decisions for the household, it’s always a good idea to focus on them. Now, in multicultural America, there’s a shift in how brands are communicating with these growing markets of color. We will show examples and case studies of brands already doing this through the Internet and other alternative media.

Engage Every Age: Connect with Your Consumer - Multicultural Research and Niche Markets Track

Deborah Ginsburg, Co-Founder of Engage Every Age

Anne Loehr, Co-Founder of Engage Every Age

This engaging and dynamic presentation will help business leaders and entrepreneurs bridge the gap between Gen X, Gen Y and Baby Boomers. Takeaways include: what strong brands mean in the marketplace of the future; the personality traits and key differences of each generation in today’s marketplace; how to communicate and craft your message using effective key words for marketing; insight and confidence in interacting and dealing with multi-generational clients, consumers, and workforce.

A Guide to Growing Through Diversity – Working Group/Interactive small group discussion

Discover how adopting a policy of diversity and inclusion will foster growth, drive innovation, enrich employee versatility, and improve communication on your team. Collaborate with others and engage in conversation around ways to create an inclusive culture. In this workshop you’ll hear a case study and take away practical strategies to implement your diversity goals.

Concurrent Sessions – 3

Using Community Events as a New Media Platform to Reach Latino Customers – Hispanic Track

Peter Bellas, president and founder, FIESTA BROADWAY/LA

Paul Mendoza, Marketing Manager, Taco Bell

Warner Bros. Pictures (invited)

Curacao (invited)

El Super (invited)

A panel of leading retailers from different channels will provide “from the trenches” case studies and marketing models on how effective outreach and bounce-back-to-store traffic-building programs are executed using large cultural/community events. They will discuss “war stories” about what work and what hasn’t worked in this arena, and provide a how-to on conceiving, sourcing, soliciting and then selling underwriting vendor programs for event involvement.

The 3 M’s That Determine Brand Success: Multicultural, Millennials & Mobile – Hispanic Track

Abstract to come

Indulging Asian Customers – Godiva’s Winning Campaign – Asian- and African-American Track

Michelle Chin, Vice President, N.A., Integrated Marketing, Communications and Loyalty, Godiva

Godiva brings together product innovation with marketing prowess, to deliver a successful and unique Asian marketing campaign. As the Grand Prize winner of the ANA’s Multicultural Award, Asian category in 2014, Godiva will speak about what it takes to develop the right product, the right marketing campaign and timely activation to generate impact and sales.

Driving Growth by Targeting the U.S. Multicultural Shopper – Multicultural Research and Niche Markets Track

Isabel Valdés, Chairperson, Center for Multicultural Science

Dr. Jake Beniflah, Executive Director, The Center for Multicultural Science

This session will include the findings of two studies conducted by the Center for Multicultural Science to estimate the economic impact of African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic consumers who shop the independent grocery channel in the U.S. It analyzed the hyper-local marketing opportunities across leading cities based on In-Culture Marketing methodology. Audience members will learn how the multicultural population is fueling retail growth and hear actionable strategies and tactics used by independent grocers at the hyper-local level across activation, merchandising, product assortment, etc., to drive ROI among the growing multicultural population.

How to Energize Your Team and Get Buy-in for Multicultural Strategies - Working group/Interactive small group discussion

Marissa Romero-Martin, President/Chief Insights Officer

Help your organization “walk the talk” regarding Multicultural actioning. Join us to hear best-in-class examples of what Fortune 100 companies are doing and share what has worked for you at this interactive session that leverages the wisdom of the crowd. At the end of the session, you will walk away with concrete ideas on how to inspire and energize your team to win with Multicultural consumers/shoppers.

Concurrent Sessions – 4

Developing an Effective Store Brand Strategy for Hispanic Shoppers – Hispanic Track

R.J. Murray, Principal, Murray Brand Communications, Inc.

What’s the best way to proceed when developing a private label visual branding strategy targeting Hispanic shoppers? During a one-hour session, R.J. Murray, principal at Murray Brand Communications, Inc. will present a case study detailing the strategy, project process and research feedback from Hispanic consumers associated with his company’s successful redesign of Superior Grocers’ “It’s Superior” private label line. The presentation will also feature supporting private label design examples developed by Murray Brand for Walmart, Unified Grocers, Costco and Super Store Industries.

Hispanic Ad Allocation Impact on Revenue Growth – Hispanic Track

Carlos Santiago, Research Chair for Association of Hispanic Ad Agencies, and Chief Strategist at SSG

Advertisers’ allocations toward the Hispanic market have jumped more than 67 percent in the past five years. Retailers and CPG companies have been strong Best-in-Class marketers and overall marketing leaders. Get a first look at AHAA’s New Insight Report on CPG and Retail, explore the connection between dedicated efforts and overall corporate revenue growth, and see where your company measures up.

TBA – Asian and African-American Track

Optimal Mobile Marketing Strategies to Reach the Multicultural Consumer – Multicultural Research and Niche Markets Track

Adam Meshekow, EVP Product Strategy and National Sales, SITO Mobile

Retail Grocery has become an omni-channel experience which is tailored around mobile devices. This discussion will provide a research-based overview about the broad shift away from traditional media consumption habits to a mobile-centric marketing approach. This session is designed for both retailers and CPG executives. We will share case studies highlighting successful mobile marketing programs that can help improve the profitability of brick and mortar retailers, and their suppliers, by providing actionable information and insights on leveraging physical and digital assets to serve consumers. By attending this session, you’ll come away with insights about how you can leverage mobile marketing strategies to deliver the right messages to the right audiences in new ways that haven’t been possible before.

Friday, August 14

Walmart’s Multicultural Journey

Don Coleman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, GlobalHue

Javier Delgado-Granados, Director of Marketing, Walmart Stores, Inc.

Alex López Negrete, President and Chief Executive Officer, López Negrete Communications

Nita Song, President and Chief Executive Officer, IW Group

In this session, Javier Delgado-Granados will walk us through the latest chapter of Walmart’s multicultural journey — one that has taken a bold path to elevate and leverage multicultural strategy for broader business impact. This panel featuring Delgado-Granados, along with the principals of Walmart’s three multicultural agencies of record will showcase their partnership and progress.

Brookshire’s 360 Multicultural Approach

Juan Cruz, Multicultural Category Manager, Brookshire’s

Rubi Hurtado, Training & Development Specialist, Brookshire’s

Ivette Zavarce, Multicultural Marketing Coordinator, Brookshire’s

Managers at Texas-based Brookshire’s Grocery Co., one of the supermarket industry’s leading independent grocers, discuss how they are meeting the needs of America’s changing consumer base through their multicultural merchandising, marketing and operating practices.

Panel Discussion and Last General Session – to be announced!