Salitre: True Colors of Puerto Rico.
Producer – Barbara Crudeli
Director – Otto Flores
Director of Photography/ Editor – Alex Berge
When we think of branding, we think of ads, radio and television commercials, special events; any form of medium that will communicate to the audience. Normally we have imagery and text that are combined in a way to tell a story to the intended target market the value of a product or service. That’s what branding and advertising is all about, good storytelling.
Posted in Hispanic Culture, Hispanic Marketing, Hispanic Online Media 
Tags: brand communications, brand segmentation, branding, Business and Economy, digital video, digital video narrative, marketing communications, Old San Juan Puerto Rico, online video, Puerto Rico, San Juan, storytelling, surfing in Puerto Rico, Travel and Tourism, Travel Guides, video narratives, Vimeo, Youtube
This blog was something I needed to post because this is an artist that everyone should check out whether your Latino or non-Latino. I happened to find New York based artist, Santiago, on Facebook through a fellow colleague of Latino cultural studies and also an online mentor, George “Urban Jibaro” Torres. George also has his own blog called Sofrito for Your Soul, a great blog that promotes Latino cultural heritage.
After seeing some of Santiago’s artworks on his Facebook Fanpage, I went ahead and studied his personal website, RiceandBeanz.net and what I saw visually blew me away. As an Art major at the University of North Texas, I was in classes that focused on European art studies, which is good but I wanted to study more art within Latin American culture. Fortunately, they offered a Spanish Colonial Art class before I graduated which really encouraged me to research Latin American art on my own. (more…)
Posted in Hispanic Culture, Hispanic Marketing, Hispanic Online Media Tags: Caribbean art, Cuban influences, Dominican Republic, Dominican Republic influences, Hispanic art, hispanic culture, Hispanic heritage, Hispanic identity, Hispanic pop art, Hispanic urban and pop art, Hispanic urban art, Latin American art, Latin American culture, latino art, Latino culture, Latino heritage, Latino identity, Latino pop art, Latino urban and pop art, Latino urban art, Puerto Rican influences, Puerto Rico, retro art, RICEANDBEANZ, RiceandBeanz.net, SantiagoThis Youtube video, by the cultural marketing group GlobalHue, is a brief discussion about the future of Latino culture in the United States. The children of those parents and grandparents who have immigrated here to the United States are between two worlds. One world is their cultural heritage of their parents and grandparents and the world that they have been raised in, the United States. It seems that the young generation does not have that anchor to their past and so they grow up without the full knowledge of their language and heritage. My thoughts turn to the Cubans who, though they love their country very much, struggled to make it to the United States for a better life for themselves and their children and children’s children. If Cuba’s government improves for the better and allows those who have escaped back in, will today’s Cuban-American children find it a culture shock if given the chance to go back to the island of their parents’ and grandparents’? I’m sure they have read about it in books, watched it on television or have been told by their older family members throughout their lives, but to actually experience it in person will be totally different. (more…)
Doral Bank of Puerto Rico
In a previous blog, I had a great chance to interview Lucienne Gigante and Karla Gual of Doral Bank of Puerto Rico about their marketing campaign to brand Doral Bank as a bank for the community. So how did Doral do? absolute positive results. I would like to thank Termeh Mazhari of AMP3 Public Relations in providing me with great information through an executive summary that I posted below.
The following is based on a tracking study performed by Doral, Lopito, Ileana, Howie and Ipsos Hispania aimed at measuring Doral’s brand performance over time. The study also measured evolving market dynamics and consumer preferences in Puerto Rico’s banking industry.
The field work took place in January 2008, a month before Doral’s relaunch, and again between September and November 2008. In each wave, the statistically representative samples consisted of 500 to 600 consumers between the ages of 18 and 64, of both genders, islandwide, of socioeconomic levels A, B, C, or D, and with an existing bank relationship.
Not only did Doral Bank received positive results for their marketing efforts, they also received several awards because they successfully reached their customers by engaging them and becoming involved in the community of Puerto Rico. Something other banks should be doing right now. Great job Doral Bank!
Bank of the Year: UK-based ACQ Finance Magazine recently honored Doral Financial Corporation with a Country Award for Achievement and named the financial institution its 2009 Bank of the Year. The winner was selected through an independent poll of ACQ readers, contributors, and industry experts. ACQ boasts a readership of over 50,000 key decision makers from across Europe, the U.K, and the U.S.
Three Hermes Creative Awards & Two Honorable Mentions: Over 3,700 entries were received from around the globe for what is considered one of the premier Marketing and Communications showcases.
SABRE Awards (Superior Achievement in Branding & Reputation)
American Business Award
Posted in Hispanic Marketing Tags: Bank, brand indentity, Business, Doral Bank, Doral Financial Corporation, Hispanic Marketing, Puerto Rico, re-branding
Puerto Ricans rallied to protest against massive layoffs (Primera Hora/Andre Kang)
It was a tremendous site, thousands of Puerto Ricans rallied in front of the Plaza de las Americas to protest a decision that would further worsen the already unstable Puerto Rican economy. Earlier last week, the Governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuno, proposed budget cuts that would eliminate 13,000 jobs in an attempt to alleviate a $3.2 billion budget gap. Of course, the people are frustrated enough with the lack of jobs as it is. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate exceeds 15 percent. Some analysts expect the layoffs to increase that rate to at least 17 percent. So yesterday a rally was staged to send a message to the government, “enough is enough, no more job cuts!”
However, where was the news media that should be covering this? This is the frustration that really got to me. Here we have the citizens of Puerto Rico who are fighting to keep their jobs in an economy that has yet to recover from the recession yet their messages were barely broadcasted on television. To be honest, I got better news coverage from my followers on Twitter than from television or major news sites. I have been reading up to date news from those who are living in Puerto Rico via Twitter. They provided links to news updates, minute by minute activities and picture uploads. In Facebook, I was also kept in the loop of what’s going on as well, Lisa Castro who is on the Facebook fanpage Being Latino offered great news snippets, videos and pics to keep members such as myself updated. What’s great about the coverage on Twitter and Facebook is that you can communicate in real time with those who are covering the protest as well as those that are following it. Once again, social media has proven to be an exceptional media tool to aggregate and disseminate information and communicate with others in real time.
If you want more information about the protest that occurred in Puerto Rico, check out Primera Hora, they posted up to the minute updates, video clips and pictures.
In my previous post, I had a chance to blog about Doral Bank’s efforts to give back to it’s community in Puerto Rico by offering free mammograms for those who can’t afford it through Ruta Pink, inviting the community to socialize and engage in both the arts and cultural activities at the Puerto Rico Museum of Art through their Domingos dMuseo program, and encouraging the community to understand the importance of the environment through urban reforestation at their D-Parques Initiative. Doral Bank made great efforts to gain the community’s trust and in doing so managed to build a more trusting relationship with their customers as well. Afterwards, I had a great opportunity to do a phone interview with Doral Bank’s Vice President of Public Relations, Lucienne Gigante and Vice President of Brand Development and Marketing, Karla Gual to tell me more of their successful programs to identify Doral Bank not only as a financial institution but also a part of the Puerto Rican community.
In 2006, Doral Bank started out as a mortgage institution on the brink of bankruptcy. Under its new president and CEO, Glen Wakemen, Doral began to transform itself from a mortgage-based company to a full-service bank. “His vision was to create a new Doral” said Lucienne, “where the community comes first and under his leadership his vision became a true success.” With the banks here in the United States becoming more and more distrustful, perhaps they should study Doral Bank’s marketing and branding campaigns and see that to rebuild trust with the customers, you have to truly engage them and build a relationship, and what better way then to spend time within the community. “At Doral we practice what we preach. The energy and passion is there and we really go to the extra mile to contribute to the success of the communities we serve,” said Karla in an interview with Caribbean Business.
Lucienne Gigante took part in these events and she saw a definite and positive feedback. One event is the Domingos dMuseo last year which drew in a crowd of 500 people and over 60 artists. “To see the difference, many families had a great time,” said Lucienne. “They actually thanked us for organizing this event. We wanted to provide free cultural activities and have our community be involved in a whole new world to explore art education, art to our children and just have a good time.”
Being a graduate student whose focused on marketing, particularly towards the Hispanic market, I wanted to get a better idea of how a professional marketer begins a campaign and successfully communicates it to their selected target market so I asked Lucienne what was behind the success of the Ruta Pink campaign. “Having an advertising background is absolutely useful because you are trying to send a loud and clear message to your target market,” she said. “We understood that women play an important role within the family nucleus and they put their family above themselves. This was evaluated through psychographic research. With Ruta Pink, we made them distinct and encouraged them to take care of themselves.” Through a balance of traditional marketing, online marketing with the development of a very detailed and attractive website and thorough research, Ruta Pink and Doral successfully managed to promote breast cancer awareness and educate women and men of the importance of early detection just by engaging the community.
How successful was this new brand marketing? On my next post, I’ll provide a more detailed analysis in a executive summary provided by Termeh Mazhari of AMP3 Public Relations. Here is a more concise branding campaign established by Doral Bank on Brandweek.
Lucienne Gigante, VP of Public Relations
Karla Gual, VP of Brand Development and Marketing
Posted in Hispanic Marketing Tags: Brand, brand management, Brand Week, Business, Caribbean Business, community engagement, Domingos dMuseo, Doral Bank, Doral Bank of Puerto Rico, Doral Bank's promotions, Doral Financial Corporation, event organization, Glen Wakeman, Karla Gual, Lucienne Gigante, new branding, Puerto Rico, Ruta Pink, Target marketI just returned from my latest trip to Puerto Rico, but this time it was a big family event, something that never happened in a good long time. This time around it was me, my girlfriend, my brother and his wife and 4 yr. old son, my sister and finally a friend. It has been years since my sister and brother have been to Puerto Rico to see family and friends and it was extra special because my nephew gets to see a part of his heritage for the first time. My nephew was so enthusiastic when he went to the beach for the very first time. He also enjoyed the authentic Puerto Rican food at Pinones and Guavate and he always wanted more. He was never shy around our family and friends over there and he never met them before but they quickly welcomed him with hugs and kisses. The most important part of the trip is having my grandpa see is family after so many years, especially seeing his great grandson for the first time in his life. I can tell that he was so ecstatic having his house filled with noise and people even if it’s for a a couple of days. I’m glad to see that my brother took the time to revisit his culture and family.
To me, visiting Puerto Rico at least once a year is a breath of fresh air, I feel rejuvenated of what’s around me. The beautiful island, loving family and friends, great food, music, culture and heritage makes up my Latino persona. Despite being such a small island, there is still so much to explore and I hope to continue that. For those who are of Latino heritage, I encourage you to visit country that your parents or grandparents came from, you might be able to discover your past and feel the need to explore your own Latino roots. And for those who are non-Hispanics, I think it’ll be great for you to visit a Latin country and enjoy what they have to offer, it may ignite some ideas for you to tap into the Hispanic market for your own business. Personally, I say you start with Puerto Rico, it’s gorgeous and you don’t need a passport since it is a US Commonwealth ; )
In today’s marketing strategies and brand identity, it is very vital to not just promote yourself only hoping to reach a wide audience; you have to be proactive and engage your customer and build a trusting relationship with them and to remind them that they are important and that you’re there to listen to their concerns because if it is not for your customers your business would not be successful.
I would like to post that Doral Bank of Puerto Rico is an excellent example of not only engaging their customer base, but they went a step further by giving back to the Puerto Rican community with several non-profit campaigns that demonstrates their professional commitment to the people Puerto Rico. I truly applaud their initiative and I hope to post an interview with the Vice President of Public Relations of Doral Bank, Lucienne Gigante, real soon.These campaigns were brought to my attention this week and I was very appreciative in receiving them. I would like to thank Termeh Mazhari of AMP3 Public Relations in taking the time to send me this great piece so I can exemplify a very successful and positive business approach:
Last year, Doral Bank launched its new corporate image and announced its commitment to giving back to the community. First, it collaborated with Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the mobile pink mammogram clinic Ruta Pink, a breast cancer prevention initiative that offers women and men free mammograms, biopsies and referrals, as well as general informational seminars. Ruta Pink won two Gold Hermes Creative Awards in the categories of Best Public Relations Campaign and Best Community Public Relations Campaign. Ruta Pink was also named a finalist for a prestigious Gold SABRE (Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation) Award. It was the first time that a financial institution from Puerto Rico was named as a finalist.
Lucienne Gigante, Vice President of Public Relations of Doral Bank
Ruta Pink Mobile Clinic
Doral Bank also offered free art to Puerto Ricans, with their Domingos dMuseo program (Sundays at the Museum). Created alongside the Puerto Rico Museum of Art, “domingos d-museo” offers the general public free access to the Museum and a wide range of cultural activities the last Sunday of each month from July through October. dMuseo received two honorable mentions at the Hermes Creative Awards. Both programs were recently named finalists for a 2009 American Business Award in the categories of Social Responsibility Program of the Year and Public Relations Campaign for a Non-Profit Purpose, respectively.
dMuseo Art program
Today, Doral is gearing up to present its D-Parques initiative, the Bank’s green program that promotes environmental awareness, conservation, and urban reforestation.
Lucienne Gigante, Vice President of Public Relations. Glen R. Wakemen, President and CEO. Annelise Figueroa, Vice President of Facilities of Doral Financial Corporation.
Successful Branding Part 2: Doral Bank of Puerto Rico emerges as the community’s bank
Successful Branding Part 3: Doral Bank’s new campaign was a success!
Posted in Hispanic Marketing Tags: Annelise Figueroa, brand management, Caribbean, community engagement, dMuseo Art program, Doral Bank, Doral Bank of Puerto Rico, Doral Bank's promotions, Doral Financial Corporation, Glen R. Wakemen, Lucienne Gigante, new branding, Puerto Rican Museum of Art, Puerto Rico, Ruta PinkI was looking through Youtube today and surprisingly I managed to find some really old commercials from Puerto Rico. I am amazed that they still existed. I guess there are some avid lovers of television ads that must’ve kept them in some television archive. Anyways, I managed to link some really good ones that even my parents might feel nostalgic over on this post. These television ads are very similar to the ones shown in the United States decades ago but the intent is to market to Puerto Rico specifically, that’s why some of the Puerto Rican commercials has some cultural reference to it, whether it be music, fashion, language, etc. it will sell if Puerto Rican identity is attached to it. I believe that is why some advertising agencies still fail to produce positive results to this day when they crossover to the Hispanic market. Know who you are targeting, what is the culture like, what is the buying behavior, do the extra research. I know other Latin countries had their own version of classic commercials, if you have one post a link.
This is a statement from my Latin American teacher:
The racial questions is really complex in Latin America and it is very difficult to generalize. In some ways Latin Americans are less racial than other areas (the United States for example) – Latin Americans have historically been more willing to miscegenate. But in other ways a deeply rooted racial problem persists and you will definitely see hostility toward people of darker color in many areas. It is no coincidence that the “elite” and wealthier classes in most regions of Latin America tend to be lighter skinned and many are direct descendants from Spain. At the same time people of color, indigenous, and darker skinned mestizos make up a majority of those living in poverty. That can be partially explained by racial attitudes but not completely. Remember that historically darker skinned Latinos have made up the underclasses and there have been few institutional changes that would allow people to move easily out of poverty (regardless of their color).
The example you gave from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic is a complex one that may partially be explained by feelings of racial superiority. But I would argue that we should also consider the nationalist issue. Latin Americans often jealously guard their nationalism, particularly against other Latin Americans and they look for things that set them apart from their neighbors. Sometimes it is race that sets them apart but it often goes much deeper.
Some links with similar topics:
The Last Puerto Rican Indian by Bobby Gonzalez
Black History Month: Race and Racism in Brazil By Maegan La Mala posted in Vivirlatino.com
Latinos Told to Choose One Race Please By Maegan la Mamita Mala posted in Vivirlatino.com
Mon, 06 Feb 03:01
@LaceofBase Yup yup
Mon, 06 Feb 02:47
@LaceofBase great profile pic
Mon, 06 Feb 02:23
RT @LatinoBrndPwr: Booming Hispanic market creates business opportunities http://t.co/qTRnrtyv
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