Tag Archives: sxsw
SXSW Panel – Multi y Mono: A Cultural Advertising Model
Multi y Mono: A Cultural Advertising Model
Saturday, March 10th 9:30am
Austin Convention Center Rm 5ABC
Moderator:
Carl Settles Jr. – Media Communications Council
Panelists:
Steve Stoute – Translation, LLC
Sergio Alcocer – LatinWorks
Leslie Wingo – Sanders\Wingo
With ethnic minorities now representing the largest and fastest growing segments of the consumer economy, the very definition of the general market is being challenged. Multi-cultural agency heads such as Translation’s Steve Stoute are eschewing their parent agencies (Mr. Stoute bought back a majority stake in his agency from Interpublic) in order to compete for a larger share of the marketing pie. In his book, The Tanning of America, Mr. Stoute lays out a compelling case for why he and many other multi-cultural agencies may be better suited to influence general market consumers than their largely mono-cultural counterparts.
This panel explores the unprecedented opportunities for minority owned agencies and minority talent to move to the forefront of the advertising landscape. We’ll hear from Mr. Stoute and key executives from LatinWorks and Sanders\Wingo ad agencies as they lay out their visions for advertising in the 21st Century and the defining role minority media makers are playing in it.
Steve Stoute, Chief Executive Officer – Translation LLC
Steve Stoute is CEO of Translation LLC and author of the seminal book The Tanning of America – How Hip Hop Created a Culture that Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy.
A former music executive at Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Mr. Stoute has worked with artists from Eminem to Mary J Blige. More recently, Mr. Stoute has been applying his discerning sense of culture to brands such as McDonald’s, Microsoft and Coca-Cola in the form the ad agency Translation LLC. Translation was ranked No 2 in Ad Age’s A List Issue: 10 Standout Shops.
Sergio Alcocer, President/Chief Creative Officer – LatinWorks
Sergio Alcocer, President / Chief Creative Office – LatinWorks
Sergio Alcocer
Also joining this panel is Sergio Alcocer, President / Chief Creative Office - LatinWorks ad agency. LatinWorks has been Ad Age’s Multi-Cultural Agency of the Year or on it’s A-list for the last 3 consecutive years. They were also the only Hispanic Agency to be Cannes Lion winners in 2011 with two trophies.
Having invested in proprietary research, LatinWorks has developed a tool they call BrandSteer along with an ideas lab that has enabled them to create approaches that go beyond the typical scope of work.
Leslie Wingo, Senior Vice President – Sanders\Wingo
Leslie Wingo, Senior Vice Pesident – SandersWingo
“Now, I think being urban is about maintaining personal truths. It’s not ethnicity that separates the urban market from the general market.”
Leslie WingoSanders\Wingo is an award-winning, independent advertising agency that has represented some of the most recognizable regional and national brands, including Peter Piper Pizza, Petro, Fuddruckers, U.S. Postal Service, State Farm, General Motors and AT&T. Sanders\Wingo has offices in Austin and El Paso, Texas, with satellite locations in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and San Francisco.
SXSW Dewey Winburne Community Service Award
I’m very pleased to receive this award. Over the last three years, I have pursued my true calling of empowering youth and small business leaders. I’m so thankful for all of the people that have believed in my vision and been willing to support me in this endeavor. I’m excited about all of the new things on the horizon – unveiling work our students have been doing for local businesses and non-profits, preparing to employ up to 50 youth this summer working with UT Intellectual Entrepreneurship graduate mentors and showcasing their work at our first E4 Youth Summit. These are just a few things on the horizon. Big things indeed!!
SXSW / Hip Hop / Reality
(Pictured here is Rebel Diaz of the Bronx by way of Chicago and Chile. They started a hip hop cultural center in one of the most economically depressed neighborhoods in the country. True grinder!!)
Man, it’s been quite a couple of weeks. We had the Show Your Reel Awards last Tuesday at GSD&M Idea City and, I’m psyched about all of the bright new talent we have unearthed. I also had the pleasure of participating in a SXSW panel led by hip hop pioneer Davey D at the Carver Museum. We spoke on how to Grind and Hustle in a Recession (not the exact title, but you get the gist). I was blown away at how Davey D weaved the concepts of hip hop as a community building culture and economic empowerment.
For better or worse, hip hop has been commoditized. Mainstream companies are looking for mass audiences and hip hop culture defines much of what is popular today. So, hip hop is utilized more in style rather than in substance. It is perceived by many as a source of degradation – full of misogyny and materialism. Now, there are indeed destructive elements to the culture that should be challenged and addressed. However, hip hop as I see it played out on the grass roots level, is truly about empowerment. It is a movement that has profoundly changed the world.
Having a music background, I am often struck by the similarities between today’s young rappers and that of blues and r&b players when those genres were coming into the mainstream. Robert Johnson, Leadbelly and the like had their problems with the law and yet they helped develop a legacy that has become universal. They were followed up by more innovators like Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, whose styles were very rooted in the blues form but they brought it to new levels. It’s just like European masters did. They used the folk melodies of their time to create extended forms like the Sonata.
I say this to acknowledge that there is really nothing new happening out there today. History is repeating. Instead, I’m looking for the people of our generation that are going to take hip hop culture to the next level. Who is going to take us from the era of hip hop minstrelsy to true cultural and economic empowerment? I believe that I’ve met some of those folks in the past few days and this gives me hope.
So, it’s back on the grind!