Equipo Roca

A little history

I got a kick out of this Ad Age article. It was after all the discipline of market research that charted the ER course since day one...

I was fortunate to have worked on the Axe Body Spray research mentioned in the article that was well received at Unilever back in 2004.  It was my time at Radar Communications that provided the insight to fuse action sports and Latino marketing. Whenever I tell anyone what I do its usually followed with the line "that so cool." Its all because of my research background!

The new chief research officer of the Advertising Research Foundation wants market research to be seen as cool.

You can stop laughing now.

As everyone in marketing knows, agency creatives are the trendsetters. The brand marketing and general management types are the jocks, generally at the top of the pecking order. And the researchers, well, they practically scream chess club.

Tracking the proof...

Bringing the human tribe together...combine that with technology adoption rates of the multicultural market and suddenly relevant information has a means of sticking.

“We’ve got a product made of paper and ink sent out every two weeks,” said Ray Chelstowski, the publisher of Rolling Stone. “We’re always in the market to find other ways that we can work with our advertisers in providing empirical data in showing how readers engage and interact with our ads.” - Article

El Salvador Beach Cleanup

Why do action and outdoor sports matter? Cause they expose the individual to a world filled with choices. One of which is to either respect your place on Earth, or throw it away. Those exposed to nature are more likely to care about its preservation. Waves and mountains symbolize a connection to  awareness. 

Anyone who has traveled in Latin America knows littering is a series problem. It is something I immediately noticed at young age in Guatemala. The region holds a different attitude towards waste disposal. Now that surfing is growing in the region you can see the opportunity for change. Article

"Vaca Beach is a small beach near Las Flores surf club where Billabong was holding their Fantasy Surf Camp, where campers go with one of Billabong’s top pros. While the Las Flores point break where the camp took place has an immaculate beach, the crew was taken back by the amount of plastic trash at this nearby wave."

Otro punto de vista...

The New School of Thinking...

Create the content and the audience will seek you out. There is clearly a need to portray Latin people in a more diverse manner. Film festivals are showing the growing entertainment demands of U.S. Latinos.

"Latino moviegoers flocked in large numbers to the San Diego Latino Film Festival this year, hungry for more humane and realistic portrayals of their community." - Article

This is a space where professional Latino action sports athletes have a unique opportunity. They pursue careers that have positive and encouraging impacts on young people.  Sports like surfing, skating, and snowboarding get people excited, which in turn leads personal development. Just the kind of thing that attracts an audience...

Peel: Peru Project

Power of Hip Hop on Consciousness...

A key component for growing action sports like  snowboarding, or surfing, is using available communication tools like music. While in Vegas at SIA, you couldn't help but notice the influence of hip hop on the snow industry. Yet, the multicultural representation is absent from the crowd. That got me thinking...Why can't the music be used as the means  for  incubating multicultural integration into action sports?

Hip hop has always been  influential on snowboarding, now that paradigm should be flipped.  It can be that tool that  brings about integration. This a musical genre that has always borrowed and incorporated different elements, resulting in the shaping of pop culture. Look at what it is doing to Cuba...

"They wanted to know what this music was, and where it came from. They started learning its history, its ties to disenfranchised and marginalized blacks and Latinos in New York."

Starting with the youngest of the Millennial youth market...

Talk about a blueprint for how media can shape the mind in a positive way. Check out this NPR story on Dora the Explora and hear experts dissect the changes in perceptions it produces. Starting with the kids. Audio piece is worth a listen as well.

"The plan for the show that became Dora the Explorer had always involved the idea that kids would go on a make-believe journey. Along the way, Gifford says, they would face obstacles and learn strategies to overcome them. The idea was to have kids ask for help throughout the show, preparing information and using it strategically in the story."

Heard on the streets...

I read this statement in an article titled 'Student ready for fusion of two dialects'...

'I often hear non-Hispanics say "gracias," "hola," "amigo," "no bueno" and other Spanish words in conversation with friends. This doesn't mean everyone soon will be fluent in Spanish. It does mean we all are increasingly familiar with the basics and use them in English conversation.'

Couldn't agree with it more. In fact, this is a great example of where interacculturation is taking place.

Livraria POP

If you've been wanting to get your Portuguese on, here's a cool site called POP to check out from Sao Paulo.

A pondering moment...

"Today's web and the new media that underpin it are known for the ability to create instant sensations. From Digg's social news to CareerBuilder's Monk-e-Mail campaign, companies can advance from zero to 20 million viewers practically overnight. The viral nature of this highly social, user-driven environment enables complete strangers to connect over common beliefs, desires or interests and together create winners and losers. It empowers both the individual and collective voice." - Ad Age

As I dive further into the Facebook phenomenon, the above statement is all that more meaningful. Trying to create demand for something new is challenging in itself. But what if you have the tools at your disposable to gather the crowd? For example, suddenly a group of bilingual snowboarders doesn't seem insignificant does it?

Mining for access points...

This gives us a starting point for understanding and managing the paradigm shift in the youth market...

More mobile info...

Its coming...I'm already looking at ways to integrate the power of mobile technology on my projects. One of which will definitely gain attention because of it. Articles like this that gets me excited...I need more cheese for the mice running around in my head.

"Brand marketers will be able to tap into and customize a media plan of Hispanic stations in the network and their audiences with a single buy. They will be able to choose the markets, stations and the demographics to develop a sophisticated media buy that pinpoints their target audience."

A Mobile Horizon...

According to Alice Z. Cuneo, we're still a year away from mobile marketing being a prevalent practice. She makes a strong argument in her article 'Why 08 isn't Mobile's Year--Again' that 2009 should be turning point.