What To Look For

Experience
As an agency, we possess a wealth of experience in many industries and categories. This experience extends into all areas of marketing, from creative through account planning, media, public relations, and event promotions. All are vital tools necessary to successfully manage marketing resources in the ever-changing landscape of Latino consumers.

Depth
Experience without depth is experience without value. Each of the veteran professional marketers at the agency must be able to draw upon the resources that are critical to not only having the vision but the means to execute and measure the campaigns. To that end, we subscribe to Scarborough, Nielsen, Arbritron, Simmons and CMR to constantly track and monitor the restless character of the evolving marketplace.

Responsiveness
It is not when you need it, it is what day, date and time is it required. We take nothing more serious than our promise to not only deliver on time, but to over-deliver on time. And on budget. If we do not consistently exceed your expectations, we are simply not doing our job.if we make one, we only want to do it once, learn from it and move on.

Quality
Quality of thinking. Quality of execution. Quality of delivery. One doesn’t mean much without the other. The devil is in the details and we pay as much attention to the accuracy of a conference report as we do to the legal line in the mice type at the bottom of a coupon. It means we sweat the small stuff. Because to us, there is no small stuff. Our client’s work is always a big deal.

Judgment
Having the experience and smarts to assess a situation, often on the run, and make a decision that is going to stand the test of time. And unless the logic paths you blaze are bullet proof, you will soon lose your way, because the world is very unforgiving of those who do not connect the dots using their brains and their guts in an exquisite equation of reason combined with trusting your tummy. It’s most often when prudence wins the day over all the other wannabes.

Purpose
It’s about getting somewhere you want to go by knowing first where you’re going. In our business, that means having not only a vision, but also the courage of your convictions, and performing up to – and beyond—those expectations each day you come into work. It’s what gives meaning to what you spend most of your waking hours doing every week. Without it, we might as well be thinking about doing something else for the rest of our lives.

Anticipation
It’s almost an instinctive quality of being able to be one half step ahead of the power curve at any given moment. It’s being able to judge with a great deal of accuracy what’s just around the corner. This is not something you should necessarily try at home, but in a business like marketing where the slightest edge can make all the difference in the world to the balance sheet, it can give you an unfair advantage over your very worthy competitors.

Reality
Level heads seem to be the ones that stay above water the longest. Even though our opinions may not be popular, they are based on what we know after almost twenty years of running a business with a single focus to be true.

Resilience
Unless buoyancy is part of your DNA, this business of advertising might not be for you. Because marketing is no place for the faint of heart. Do we make mistakes? Every day. But do we learn from them? That is the question. Success can be a lousy teacher. But mistakes, even failure, have a certain liberating exhilaration about them. Because we can dust ourselves off, get up off the canvas, and get back to what we were all about in the first place: making a difference by pushing ourselves harder than we have ever thought possible before. That is how, and that is the only way we can ever fully realize that most marvelous gift which most of us squander without a care. And that is our potential. It is what defines us not only as individuals, but it's what defines corporations as well. What can we do with this thing? That is the question we need to ask each and every day. Otherwise not only the day is lost, but some part of our souls as well.

Communication
This is not only what defines our humanity, it’s what lets us express, bargain, wonder and negotiate all of life’s infinite opportunities. And between an agency and its client, it’s as crucial as the dialogue in a marriage. Not just hearing the words, but listening to the tone, reading between the lines.

Balance
It’s a steady, deliberate calculation of what’s important, and at any given moment, what’s most important. It’s about priorities. And being able to change them at a moment’s notice.

Resourcefulness
Nimble, agile ingenuity can sometimes outwit the biggest media budget. Just by zigging when others zag. It’s a resourcefulness born of intrepid imagination and a fundamental belief that throwing more money at a problem isn’t necessarily the right solution. Throwing more thinking at it usually is, though.

Accountability.
Unless we are willing, even eager, to take full responsibility for our thoughts and actions, we have no right to call ourselves a legitimate enterprise worthy of our treasured clients’ business. We do not flinch when the tough moments arise. We do not look down at our shoes when they’re making that scuffing sound. No, we step forward and take the heat or the praise. That’s what adults do. They live in a world ruled by the unforgiving calculus of actions and consequences. We have to. After all, we made a promise to you that we would stand behind our work. We’re allergic to any other way of doing business.

Reputation.
The people at The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Business Week (“An expert in reaching Latino audiences”), Time Magazine (“The most prominent ad executive in a hot niche”) and Business Week all seemed to like what they saw on Main Street. We do too. That’s why we fiercely guard our reputation as one of the truly preeminent Spanish-language ad agencies in the country.

Brains.
While we have a reputation for strong creative that works, we pride ourselves on being smart strategists first and foremost. Whether it is account work, media planning and placement, research or creative, we always front-load the equation with our best thinking. Thinking that is outside the habituated rectangle: fresh, original and unexpected. That’s the priority.

Guts.
We have no problem saying "no." We have based our entire existence on the premise that principles come first.

Ears.
Simply put, we’re very good listeners. It helps under any circumstances to hear what is being said. By the client. By our colleagues. And most importantly, by our community.

Heart.
Resiliency, buoyancy and tenacity are considerable virtues when you’re in the advertising trade and exposed continuously to all of its vagaries. It’s the art of picking yourself up off of the canvas after a good dusting and coming back for more, with your eyes on the prize, no matter what.

Radiance.
At the heart of this enterprise is the creative product, and we have the Clios, Effies, Beldings, Lulus, Sunnys and Tellys to prove it. But if gleaming hardware isn’t your measure of choice, we encourage you to ask our clients and general market partners how we do in speaking to the Hispanic market.

Audacity.
It thins the blood and can make you light-headed. But it also happens to be a real kick in the pants to break the rules and flout convention on a regular basis.

Priorities.
We like to work hard and have lots of fun. In other words, we take the work very seriously. But not ourselves.

Candor.
Without trust and respect, no relationship is sustainable. This is especially true in the intimate setting of client-agency relationships. To that end, we promise transparency in everything we do. It is our ethos to hold ourselves to the highest possible standards of professional virtues. Chief among those is candor. Which means we have to have the guts to speak up when the seduction of silence is an almost irresistible temptation. It is the ability to believe in what you stand for, even against the current of popular opinion or conventional wisdom. It is then, and only then, that we can deliver to MasterFoods the kind of thinking that will make a difference in the marketplace each and every day.

Prudence.
We never forget it’s someone else’s money. That stewardship is never taken lightly. So we treat it like our own money. That’s why we always look for the most efficient and effective ways of doing anything -- whether it’s buying paper clips or awarding a campaign to a production house -- as long as it doesn’t compromise the message or the means.

Credibility.
In an unforgiving world, this part doesn’t come easy. But beyond all the cynicism that surrounds advertising, we have been able to keep our head above water and our soul intact. Which is no small achievement when you consider the life forms that populate this demimonde of marketing. We are people of our word and we keep it every day.

Intangibles.
This is the air between the net. The invisible mortar that holds together the whole thing. A palpable feeling that you get when you walk in a place. Can’t quite put a name to it, but it’s there, as there as the air pumped through our air conditioner. It’s taken 15 years, with some slips and falls, to be sure, but what we have now is something ineffably concrete.