It might seem odd that Lancaster, a city with a booming Hispanic population and a burgeoning advertising industry, has no ad firm marketing to Latinos.
Now it does.
In April, Alegre Advertising opened its doors at 21 N. Mulberry St.
Marketing to Latinos is no small task, said George Haskins, one of the firm's four partners. "It's a lot more than taking English and converting it to Spanish."
For starters, slogans or names may not translate well. Take for example, the Chevy Nova. It flopped in Mexico, where "no va" means "no go."
But more importantly, companies that are trying to appeal to minority populations need to understand their culture and psyche, said Haskin's wife, Lillan Escobar-Haskins, former executive director of the Governor's Commission on Latino Affairs.
Before forming Alegre, Escobar-Haskins, and her husband owned a consulting firm which initially set out to help nonprofit groups with demographic/market research and event planning.
That work eventually led to advertising and graphic design.
Meanwhile, a third partner in the firm, Angel Figueroa, worked as the advertising director for Unidad Latina, a Chester County Spanish-language paper.
A Lancaster native, Figueroa saw potential in that city, where one in five people is of Hispanic origin.
Last November, he formed an ad agency with his friend, Carlos Carmona, called Chevere Si (a Latino phrase which translates roughly as "wow").
Earlier this year, Figueroa enlisted his friends, Escobar-Haskins and Haskins, to help him get the agency off the ground. They in turn saw helping Figueroa as a way to expand their consulting business.
Soon, all four partners decided to join forces officially and rename the firm Alegre Advertising, which they figured would roll off most English-speaking people's tongues more easily.
"It's been an uphill battle," said Figueroa of starting the agency. "January was a difficult time. I was eating bread and water, and pinching pennies. Have I been behind on my bills? Yeah."
Kelly Albert, a partner at Albert/Bogner Design, a Lancaster ad firm she started eight years ago, remembered those times.
"Getting through the first year is more of a relief than gratifying," she recalled. "Gratification comes after about the fifth year."
The big Catch 22 for a new firm is trying to get clients when you haven't yet done work for other clients.
Haskins, 52, noted he sometimes has to rein in Figueroa, 23, who is constantly champing at the bit to go after big clients. Haskins wants to wait until the agency has a larger and more impressive portfolio.
Haskins' wife smiles at the tension. "We older people sometimes need young blood to spur us on," she said.
She noted the foursome feel they complement each other well in other ways, as well.
She understands Latino issues and public relations. Her husband has experience in script writing and video production.
Figueroa has experience in media buying and ad sales, and Carmona is an award-winning artist.
"We're in the black (financially)," she said, declining to state the company's revenues. "We're not making a lot of money, but we're paying the rent."
Most of the agency's work right now is coming from previous clients of the consulting firm, which Escobar-Haskins declined to reveal for competitive reasons.
Nonetheless, the four partners divide the agency's earnings equally.
Doesn't that create problems?
No, said Escobar-Haskins. "We're all making an equal contribution. We're all so devoted to this, and we have a good relationship with each other."
Still, like any relationship, it will take some time for the ad hoc "family" to get used to working with one another, said Haskins.
Albert said her own firm started in a similar manner--with opposite talents at the helm. A bit of creative tension works well, so long as "you're not too left-brained or too right-brained."
Ad agencies, she added, never seem to end up doing what they initially set out to do. "You sort of shift and change as you grow," she said. "Your mission statement should remain pretty much the same," but everything else may change. Haskins said he's aware of that and noted that he doesn't want to get pegged as doing work only for nonprofit groups--or selling to only Hispanic markets.
Nonetheless, it helps to have a niche, said Albert, whose agency specializes in "identity marketing" and packaging.
In fact, most agencies in town seem to have their own niches. As a result, they don't lock horns much with one another, she added.
Likewise, the partners of Alegre (which means "happy" in Spanish) said they would be overjoyed if the burgeoning Latino market became their niche.
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