Gonzalo Del Fa, president of Group M Multicultural and chairman of the Culture Marketing Council (CMC), delivered the opening address at the 18th annual Hispanic Television Summit on Tuesday (Sept. 22), declaring that “total market is totally dead.”

His comment about the previously popular media strategy, in which messages targeted to diverse audience segments were an inherent part of marketing communications, provided energy to his challenge for change within the multicultural marketing and media industry. 

He said, “one size does not fit all. Multicultural consumers want to watch content created by their community and for their community.”

Del Fa also addressed how the impact of current events like COVID-19, and the increase of violence, racism and hate, have shifted how brands communicate with their consumers. He said the industry needs to “evolve from where we are, to where we need to be,” in reference to an “emerging sense of a need for diversity in the work force … that there is a call to not just think about it, but to actually do it, and do it now.” 

He added that companies that do not have a diverse work force cannot understand why diversity marketing is important. In his perspective, they are missing the opportunity to tap different voices and to bring a different perspective to their advertising message.

Regarding the effect of the COVID shutdown on media budgets, Del Fa said, “I was afraid what was going to happen was what usually happens, that multicultural media budgets get cut first.” But he was surprised. When COVID started, all budgets were cut, not just multicultural. He added “this is a good sign that we are all rethinking how to plan to spend.”

Del Fa emphasized that “if a company truly believes in inclusion, it should then be a corporate requirement to have a multicultural marketing plan and budget.”

The conversation of multicultural media continued with a session moderated by Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) CEO Sean Cunningham, who opened with a presentation of findings from the organization’s study of video ad campaigns targeted to Hispanics. The study effectively proved the points made by Del Fa.

Cunningham said, “we wanted to see if brands that use cultural messaging in their advertising see a positive reaction from the Hispanic market, and then does this reaction result in sales?”

The VAB study reviewed 3,300 video ads, from 50 major consumer brands, and came up with 20 case histories. 

One history that Cunningham shared featured the Toyota RAV4, which had a $22.6-million Hispanic ad spend over four years, featuring 13 different culturally targeted ad spots that generated a 42% increase in sales and over 100,000 units sold in the Hispanic market. He encouraged attendees to log in to the VAB website to review the full report.

During the panel discussion that followed, Glenda Villanueva-Marchetta, Multicultural Lead, from Altice’s A4 Advertising, shared that Hispanics currently comprise the single largest spending consumer group at $978 billion in 2020 and expected to grow to $2.3 trillion by 2024. She emphasized the opportunity presented by the market by saying “it’s just nuts if you are not spending in the Hispanic market.”

Another panelist, Steve Mandala, Univision’s president of Ad Sales and Marketing, commented that he sees a “new energy in the last four months reflected by the opportunity to directly reach top decision makers at leading brands.” 

Sandra Alfaro, executive VP and managing partner at 305 Worldwide, added, “from the agency perspective there’s a growing interest by advertisers to be culturally responsible and relevant. They are recognizing that youthful Hispanic consumers have Influence that goes beyond buying power, to innovation.”

Mandala concluded by saying “There’s a pattern here. Whenever brands have a realistic recognizable consistent commitment … they see outstanding results.”

“Where Latino voices matter most” is becoming a common phrase applied to Hispanic television and video today. This timely phrase has been adopted as the theme for the upcoming 18th Annual Hispanic Television Summit. The summit, presented as part of Fall TV 2020 by Multichannel News, B+C and Next TV, is the premier annual event for those in the business of TV and video for Hispanic audiences worldwide. The one-of-a-kind event attracts hundreds of leading executives from brands, advertising sales, media buying, production, promotion, broadcast, audience research and content distribution to share ideas with content providers from cable and satellite, as well as connected TV.

New This Year: The summit will be offered “virtually” online. Traditionally, this has been a one-day, in-person event. Instead, the summit will be presented over four consecutive days Monday, Sept. 21 through Thursday, Sept. 24, in a series of daily programs, each running 90 minutes to two hours, and starting daily at noon ET. The virtual format makes it easier and more cost-effective to attend. It is expected that more mid-level and senior executives will now find it easier to attend. The convenience and cost savings aside, it is the awards recipients, the program and its speakers that will appeal most to attendees. Here are just some of the highlights of this year’s event.

The Hispanic TV & Video Awards: Monday’s program features the popular Hispanic TV & Video Awards ceremony. Popular actor, director and producer Diego Luna is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Legacy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic Television. Two executives being recognized for Outstanding Leadership in Hispanic Television and Video are Karina Dobarro of Horizon Media (Media category), and Juan Carlos Rodriguez, president of Sports, Univision (Network category). The CultureX Leadership Award for news coverage is to be presented to Julio Vaqueiro, anchor of Noticias Telemundo Edición Especial.

Recognizing the Pioneers of Hispanic TV: This year also sees the introduction of the Rafael Eli Award for Pioneers in Hispanic TV. The series of awards honors pioneers who continue to work in the business. The awards are presented in the name of Rafael Eli, a long-time co-producer of the summit who lost his battle with COVID-19 in April. Recipients include sportscaster Andrés Cantor, the world’s most recognized voice of soccer; Gene Bryan, the publisher of Hispanicad.com; and a distinguished team of seven co-workers from the world of creative advertising and media strategy at d’expósito & partners.

Brands, Media and Ad Sales is the focus of Tuesday’s program. Group M’s Gonzalo Del Fa will open the program portion of the 18th Annual Hispanic Television Summit with an address that focuses on Hispanic TV as the media tactic where Latino voices matter most and a review of the state of the industry from a media perspective. Day 2 features other speakers including a data presentation by VAB’s CEO Sean Cunningham followed by an exciting panel conversation about media buying and sales that includes Steve Mandala of Univision, Glenda Villanueva-Marchetta from Altice’s A4 Media and Sandra Alfaro from 305 Worldwide.

Hispanic Audiences – Data and Promotion: The program on Day 3 looks at attracting, engaging and retaining Hispanic audiences from a perspective of data, marketing and promotion. A keynote interview with Ilia Calderón, co-anchor of Noticiero Univision and co-host of Aquí y Ahora, opens the program. Another of the highlights of Day 3 is a featured keynote with Marisol Martinez, VP, multicultural marketing at Charter Communications.

Creating and Distributing Content: Day 4 spotlights a session about recently launched networks like Discovery U.S. Hispanic’s home and garden channel for Latino audiences, Hogar de HGTV. Attendees will also enjoy a conversation about new productions for Latino audiences with Alejandro Uribe, CEO, EXILE Content. The closing conversation about content distribution always attracts attention. This year’s session features Jorge Fiterre, partner, Condista and Luis Torres-Bohl, president, Castalia Communications.

These are just some of the highlights. For more information and a complete list of sessions, speakers, award recipients, panelists, celebrity hosts, and moderators, or to save $50 off the price of registration with the “early bird’ rate, please refer to the 2020 Fall TV Events website and select Hispanic Television at falltvevents.com/2020.

Joe Schramm is president of Schramm Marketing Group and producer of the Hispanic Television Summit. 

Rafael Eli, partner and chief operating officer at New York based Schramm Marketing Group, lost his five-week battle with coronavirus pneumonia and died Thursday (April 16). He contracted the virus in mid-March and for the past 18 days has been under the care of the dedicated medical team at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 68 years old.

Eli was known in business as a specialist in the areas of Hispanic marketing, sponsorship sales and international soccer promotion. His business partner and close friend of 30 years, Joe Schramm, said: “Rafael was proud of his active role in promoting sold-out international soccer events featuring world-class soccer teams at great venues like Giants Stadium, MetLife Stadium and Citi Field.

Eli is familiar to those within the Hispanic TV, digital, print and radio communities and has been the behind-the-scenes co-producer of the annual Hispanic Television Summit for the past 18 years. The summit is presented annually by Future’s television industry magazines, Broadcasting+Cable and Multichannel News. Eli often influenced the selection of the summit’s award recipients, notably Hispanic TV talent and celebrities with whom he had a personal relationship, including talk-show host Cristina Saralegui, sportscaster Andrés Cantor, news anchors José Díaz Balart and Jorge Ramos.

Ten years ago, Eli leveraged his relationships with noted on-air personalities to successfully conduct a pro bono, Spanish-language, mass-media campaign to encourage organ donation on behalf of website Matchingdonors.com. Eli benefited personally from this campaign when he became the recipient of a kidney from a live donor.

Prior to becoming a partner at Schramm, Rafael Eli was employed in content distribution sales for ABC Radio, and earlier in Hispanic marketing for AT&T. He made lifelong friends with coworkers and with many in the Hispanic media and advertising industries. While at AT&T, he played a role in helping the company initiate its sponsorships of televised boxing championship bouts featuring gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya and of Major League Soccer (MLS). “Rafael was especially excited to represent AT&T at the soccer league’s launch event in New York City by making a speech in both English and Spanish,” Schramm said. “It was an opportunity for him to emphasize that soccer is a sport inclusive of all Americans.”

Eli was a member of the New York chapter board of directors of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and was proud of a special event that he orchestrated at the New-York Historical Society that partnered an exhibit from Mexico with the Mexican consul to New York and had the support of AJC.

Rafael Eli was born in Havana, Cuba, on February 20, 1952. In the early 1960s, at age 10, he migrated with his parents and sister first to Beverly, Massachusetts, then Brooklyn, New York, and ultimately settled in San Juan, Puerto Rico. At age 18, he moved to the New York metro area to attend Rutgers University in New Jersey, and later earned an MBA from Fordham University.

He has remained a loyal New Yorker ever since. He enjoyed summer days on Fire Island; scanning through old books at the Strand Bookstore; learning foreign languages; exploring historical sites; sharing facts about Jewish culture and stories of his childhood in Havana; attending movies; writing fiction in Spanish; Broadway; spiritual journeys, personal development and photography.

Schramm said: “What Rafael enjoyed most was being with others. He stayed in communication with many people he met through business, volunteerism, family, or his personal interests. As a result, Rafael Eli is a man with many friends.”

Eli leaves a sister, Myriam Eli; a brother-in-law, Joe Zeytoonian of Margate, Florida, and many relatives in his native Cuba, Florida, New York, Israel and Spain. Rafael is also an “official” member of the Schramm family.

In closing, Schramm said: “Rafael is a loyal and beloved friend. He would treat others with kindness, conduct business with integrity, mentored our staff, and he believed in me and what we could accomplish together. I recognize that close friendships like this are rare in life.”

Burial will be in Florida and limited to a small gathering due to the restrictions of the current pandemic. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be planned for a future date in New York City.

Condolences may be sent to his sister Myriam Eli at 3210 Holiday Springs Blvd. #307, Margate, FL 33603 or email at myriam@harmonicmotion.org and to Joe Schramm at his home, 222 Ocean Avenue, Northport, NY 11768 or by email to jschramm@schrammnyc.com. Contributions may be made in his name to Matchingdonors.com at ceo@matchingdonors.com or to the New York Chapter of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) at newyork@ajc.org or 212.891.1443.