When brands do more than just trying to sell.

I want to share with you guys this sample of a campaign sponsored by VW in Sweden.

enjoy!

This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

Alex Rodriguez • Art Director

"The First Latina Leadership Summit"

On September 17th the very first “Latina Leadership Summit” was hosted during the “United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s” 30th Annual National Convention. The convention took place at the Colorado Convention Center and this year's event also featured U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, U.S. Representative John Salazar (D-CO), and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. The event drew more than 2,500 participants -- high-level representatives from Corporate America, including Fortune 500 companies, and Hispanic entrepreneurs and Chamber leaders from across the United States and beyond.

This is another great example of what President Obama and his administration are doing for Hispanics in America. There were four top-level Obama Administration representatives in attendance, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa P. Jackson and the White House Director of Urban Affairs Adolfo Carrion.

The Latina Summit was launched to provide current and aspiring Latina entrepreneurs with access to the tools, resources and information they need to establish new ventures and to continue growing and flourishing. A vital aspect of the Summit was the dynamic opportunity to meet one-on-one with procurement officers to secure contracts with Fortune 500, regional and national companies, and numerous federal agencies. Founder of the Latina Summit, Elizabeth Vasquez Gallagher, USHCC vice chair and chair of Latina Services, co-chaired the Latina Summit with Linda Alvarado, first lady of development in Colorado. Alvarado is also the first Hispanic woman to own a baseball team. From 2009 forward, every major USHCC event will feature a Latina component. This is another reason for us to stop and observe this historical moment and to finally realize that Latina’s are a key ingredient within this Nation.

Elizabeth Vasquez Gallagher (far right)

Linda Alvarado

I wanted to share a few facts so that you can see how much of an impact Latina Entrepreneurs have to this countries economy. 10.6 million Firms are at least 50% owned by a woman or women. --Center for Women's Business Research, 2005. Women-owned businesses will spend an estimated $546 billion annually on salaries and benefits ($492 billion on salaries and $54 billion for employee benefits--heath, retirement, and insurance). Health benefits comprise the largest share of benefit expenditures, with 2004 spending estimated at $38 billion. --Center for Women's Business Research, 2005

Did You Know?

A surge of new technologies and social media innovations are altering the media landscape.

Did You Know?

Americans have access to:
1,000,000,000 web pages
65,000 iPhone apps
10,500 radio stations
5,500 magazines
200+ cable TV networks

95% of all songs downloaded last year weren't paid for.

Wikipedia launched in 2001. It now features over 13 million articles in more than 200 languages.

How many texts do you think the average American teen sends a month? Watch the video below to find this and more out!

"Hotel owner tells Hispanic workers to change names"

This week I’d planned to write about another influential Hispanic figure, but I couldn’t let this opportunity pass by to share with you a story that wasn’t only disturbing but really motivating to me at the same time. It motivates me to continue to do what I do best and that’s to encourage and motivate “MI GENTE” (my people). It’s funny because today my friend commented on my Facebook, “Is there anything else you do besides “Latino”. I was like, “NO”! I am Latina, and I support my Latinos. I have friends from all backgrounds and I will always try my best to support them in anything that they do. “Siempre y Cuando” (“Only If”) it’s a positive thing.

So besides my friend’s ignorant comment and I can say that because we’ve been friends for more than 11 years. The story I’d mentioned previously is a story By MELANIE DABOVICH, Associated Press Writer. The title reads, “Hotel owner tells Hispanic workers to change names.” Now when I read the headline, I thought to myself. “Are you serious”? I began to read the story and when I read, “He forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.” I thought to myself, can this really still be happening after 23 years of being in this country and having an African American President and a Hispanic woman as our head of Supreme Court?


I grew up in a predominantly “Anglo” community from the age of 8 to 18 years old and I’m the only one from my immediate family, (Father, Mother and Sister) to have a non-traditional Hispanic name. They are Francisco Alfonso, Ruth Gloria and Paola Carolina. As I type that out it’s very humorous to me because out of all three of them I’m probably the only one troubled by this story of Larry Whitten, Taos, NM Hotel Owner. He of course denied the allegations and stated that, "It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything." Now can I please ask you to re-read, “don’t know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything?” I mean is this guy for real? I have to laugh and it’s out of a mix of disappointment and anger for the people that had to endure this form of racism. Please take the time to view the link http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_trouble_in_taos and let me know what you think! What if this was you? I will end this post with another quote from this story, “No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.” As some would say, “El tipo esta loco”!

"In Performance at the White House: Fiesta Latina"

This past weekend I watched the “Latina Fiesta at the White House”. In case you didn't have the chance to watch it you missed a beautifully orchestrated concert. President Barack Obama opened up the celebration with a very enlightening and enthusiastic speech. He commended our culture and acknowledged the importance and value that the ‘Latino Race’ contributes to the United States. He wrapped up his introduction with a quote from Gloria Estefan that I will use in the future, “The most beautiful things in this country are that it has flavor of other countries.”

The program was created to celebrate Hispanic musical heritage and it included performances by Marc Anthony, Jimmy Smits, Gloria Estefan, Jose Feliciano, George Lopez, Thalia, Tito "El Bambino", the Bachata music group Aventura, and the Chicano rock band Los Lobos, with Sheila E. as the musical director. As I watched the show tears began to come down. I was overwhelmed with a sense of bitter sweet feeling of both “proud of where we have reached” and “yearning, to be there one day”.
The performances were great! My favorite has to be Gloria Estefan’s performance. She has such class and sings like a bird. I do feel that we could have “represented” more as I am a huge fan of “Salsa”. There wasn’t any “Guaguanco” and that is a true representation of where we come from. I loved the balance of music genres that they had, Bachata, Reggaeton, Salsa and Pop with Ballads were truly a nice mix of passion and “Felicidad”.

If you would like to see the show you can visit, pbs.org. Or visit this URL: http://video.pbs.org/video/1296778877/program/1073769600#

As I watched, it was a feeling of, “I can do anything I want”. Each and everyone one of the people in attendance at the Latina Fiesta is an influential person in today’s society and for that I will continue to strive for my dreams! I hope you will too.

"An Inspiring Woman"

Hello there “Boarder followers”. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to write last week but this week I have a special treat for you. If you haven’t gotten a feel for my topics, or if this is your first time reading my blog post. You will see that I focus on “Influential Hispanics” in today’s society. If you’re like me in the sense that you are tired of being stereotyped and feel the need to always “represent” Latinos in a positive light. Well then this is the post you must read!

Today’s post is about Mrs. Gina Rodriguez. A very successful Dominican woman who immigrated to the United States in the 1980’s in search for the “American Dream”. Now for many of us the American Dream can mean many different things. But for this woman it meant to actually go to College and learn the native language. She studied in Berk Business School and took ESL classes at NYU. She was determined from the start to take advantage of all of the opportunities this country offered her. Upon graduating Gina began working within an import/export handbag company, Hyuk Trading Company. After working with them for 10 years she had two children and was able to juggle Motherhood and her career.

Just a few years after taking on that new role, her husband was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma Cancer. During Mr. Rodriguez’s fight with Cancer, Gina had to support the family forcing her to work multiple jobs in order to support the family. This is when she discovered her niche. The niche of sales within Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1991, in just a seven months Gina was driving the popular “Pink Cadillac” and has to this date a total of 6 company cars under her belt.

Gina has since received numerous awards and recognitions. In October 2007, “Dominican’s Women’s Development Center” recognized her with an “Outstanding Business Leadership Award” for her hard work and dedication in helping women to succeed within Business Industries. In August of 2008, she received the “Miss Go Give Award”, which recognizes “Independent Sales Directors” who exemplify characteristics of the “Gold Rule” and help guide and motivate Consultants who are not from their group. Today Gina’s team consists of 40 Hispanic Directors, who are currently earning annual incomes from 50K-85K and they are spread out through out New York, Massachusetts, Indiana, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida. In December of 2008, Gina achieved her dream and became a National Sales Director. The highest achievable position within Mary Kay, within this position Gina has the capabilities of operating her business in 39 different countries.

I recently had the pleasure of riding in the Pink Escalade and I have to say it is “Pretty Nice”. The Cadillac and the Awards are just added perks to Gina’s true motivation. Her driving force is her children and that to me is truly a great example of not only a “successful Latina” but a Latina Mother.

Thank you Gina for continuing to break those barriers for all women and for all Latinos.

What do you want to know?

It seems like every time I blink the world speeds up. OK I'm being a little dramatic, but what I'm referring to is the digital era surrounding us. Not only is the technology advancing rapidly but the way we receive is coming in in light speed. For instance, lets talk about blogs. Bloggers and blogging is set and ready for any question being thought of.
What do you need to know?
I say we start with something we can all relate to wondering about at one time in our lives: Where is the best place to get Japanese nail art?
Well, there's a blog for that. http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=japanese+nail+art&find_loc=orange+County%2C+CA&ns=1
Or, are you looking for some good old fashion retail therapy?
Yep, there's a blog for that. http://www.latina.com/blogs/retail-therapy
Or how about if you need constant social media updates?
Yes, there's a blog for that. http://mashable.com/

Perhaps the number one place at the moment to dig through some constantly updated blogs is this magical place called Twitter. A truly work of genius held up by...
non other than... us.
It's social media at a max.
A social media tool that is only unravelling as we speak. Our creativity and words are it's empire.
Just think, you can have Oprah as a neighbor. And yes, the REAL Oprah.
The form in which we are all being connected is just at a keyboards' touch.

A nice plan of connection I recently read up on was from Jet Blue. In an effort to reach bi coastal travelers in promotion of the newly opened terminal in LAX (LA Airport), they invited interactive social media guests on a first flight out and had them blog and record videos about their experience. This unconventional form of advertising led them to have over 250,000 video playbacks and 400+ positive Twitter posts. Nice spotlight.
Now, what would be considered a non-traditional form of advertising not too far back is transforming into a communication top priority. Us (the consumers) will praise or demise what you're selling us. Yep, good or bad, word will get around.