What We Do

What We Believe

Who We Work For

Entertainment Marketing

What To Look For

The First 20 Years

Anita Santiago helps advertisers bridge the gap between Anglo and Latino cultures. In 1993, when the California Milk Processor Board sought an advertising agency to translate its popular “Got Milk?” campaign into Spanish, California adwoman Anita Santiago pointed out a problem. In Spanish, the question takes on a considerably different meaning "Are you lactating?" Instead, Santiago suggested a folksy campaign, with the slogan "And you, have you given them enough milk today?" California’s dairy industry has been a client ever since. "She’s definitely not afraid to voice her opinion. I prize that," says Jeff Manning, executive director of the milk board. The nation’s 31 million Hispanics have some $350 billion in annual buying power. The question for Corporate America is how to reach them. Enter Anita Santiago Advertising, Inc. The 12-person, Santa Monica (Calif.) based agency specializes in negotiating the differences between Anglo and Latino cultures. It’s a skill that Santiago, 46, honed growing up in a bicultural household near Caracas, Venezuela. Santiago moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s. Signing on with a small Hispanic ad firm, she became an expert in reaching Latino audiences, winning the first-ever Clio award for a Spanish-language campaign in the U.S. – a spot for a now-merged Baby Bell. She ventured out on her own in 1987, attracting clients like Wells Fargo, IKEA and HomeBase. Revenues climbed from $935,000 in 1997 to $1.9 million in 1999, earning the company a spot on Hispanic Magazine’s list of the 100 fastest-growing Latino-owned businesses. Santiago notes that Hispanic culture "is not going away. It’s getting stronger." And advertisers are finally getting the message.

August 14, 2000

Central to our success has been our abiding ability to deliver fresh, original marketing solutions that are both effective and efficient. Unquestionably, our reputation has been built on our creative work. But great creative cannot exist in a vacuum. Behind the high-profile campaigns is the work done in the trenches. Innovative strategic thinking that goes well beyond

the expected. Media planning and buying that refuses to be routine. And tactical opportunities that leverage your advantages and forever alter the competitive landscape in your favor.

These admittedly unorthodox approaches fundamentally challenge every preconception that exists about the Hispanic market. They are also central to our client service philosophy. We forge partnerships based on not only our understanding of the Hispanic market but also on our understanding of our clients’ business. Our goal has never been to be the biggest Spanish language agency in the United States. Only the best. Our credo reflects this premise: Dedicated professionals doing exceptional work for distinguished clients.

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. At that time Macondo was a village of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was
necessary to point.

Gabriel García Márquez
One Hundred Years of Solitude