CMOs from Chrysler, Havaianas, U.S. Army, Viacom and Wells Fargo to Headline AHAA's 2014 "Thinking Under the Influence" Conference

McLEAN, VA--Jan. 23, 2014: As the influence of the Hispanic demographic impacts pop culture, purchasing behavior and technology adoption, the marketing industry is evolving with brands shifting their strategies to develop innovative and creative initiatives catering to a core audience of multicultural consumers. AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing is leading the charge in bringing together some of the most powerful Chief Marketing Officers for its annual conference, taking place at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami from April 28-30, with a theme of "Thinking Under the Influence: The Next Five Years."

"These next five years will be crucial in the evolution of brand marketing as we know it," said Aldo Quevedo, Chair of AHAA and Principal/Creative Director at Richards Lerma. "The Hispanic influence is all around us and driving the creative changes we see today – from the first Latino Bachelor to successful spots mixing English and Spanish on mainstream television. And this is just the start."

High-Level Strategic Content

To help companies meaningfully engage with consumers of diverse backgrounds and arm them with creative business practices to stay relevant and ahead of the trends ahead, AHAA has secured top leaders from companies that are making significant strides in bridging the gaps between multicultural and general markets:

Olivier Francois, Global CMO, Chrysler Rui Porto, CMO, Havaianas James Ortiz, CMO, U.S. Army Jane Gould, CMO, Viacom Jamie Moldafsky, CMO, Wells Fargo

Former global telecommunications CEO Sol Trujillo will deliver a keynote address on his work for the Latino Donor Collaborative (LDC), a non-profit organization he founded dedicated to reshaping the perception of Latinos as part of the American social mainstream. Their nonpartisan agenda includes outreach to influential people in media, advertising, politics, corporate America and civil society by confronting stereotypes with data that brings understanding and appreciation of the actual roles being played by Latinos in society, politics and commerce.

Cutting-Edge Research

As part of its thought leadership platform, AHAA will highlight findings from two major initiatives in the following sessions:

Total Market Strategy: For nearly a year, AHAA, in collaboration with a broad coalition of clients and marketing associations, has undertaken a crucial initiative in studying the various models of "Total Market" approach and defining the industry standard and best practices, based on feedback from all multicultural segments – both marketers and advertisers. This session will feature a Clients and Agencies Roundtable with marketing leaders including Kimberly-Clark, Clorox and Wells Fargo; and Upscale Latino 2.0 – This session will provide a deeper dive into the Upscale Latino Segment with new findings from a comprehensive study co-authored by AHAA and Nielsen. Topics will include the attitudinal values that drive purchasing behavior, as well as the brands and categories that are reaping the rewards.

Lens into Hispanic Creative

For the creative portion of the conference, AHAA is partnering with Círculo Creativo and FIAP (Festival Iberoamericano de Publicidad) to deliver high caliber content, including a creative session headlined by Nico Pimentel, Co-founder and Innovation Director, +Castro. Plus, once again, attendees will be able to experience FIAP's Young Creative Marathon, in which up-and-coming creatives show their best work in front of a jury with the public joining in the debate, and La Copa Iberoamericana, where interdisciplinary marketing vehicles compete against each other in the same category.

In addition to daily creative sessions with the top international creative experts and clients, conference attendees are invited to attend the Third Annual U.S.H. Idea Awards on April 29, recognizing the best in U.S. Hispanic creative, as well as the prestigious 45th Annual FIAP Awards, taking place on April 30, which is the marquis event recognizing creative excellence in Spanish- and Portuguese-language creative throughout Latin America. Finally, AHAA will announce the winner of the 2014 Marketer of the Year Award, and HispanicAd.com will reveal the recipients of the HispanicAd.com Account Planning Excelencia (HAPE) Awards & Media Planning Awards.

"We are working tirelessly to provide business leaders with the best insight and marketing content – because, with this ever-changing American landscape, the multicultural consumer – the Hispanic consumer – is the critical audience to engage," said Linda Lane Gonzalez, chair-elect of AHAA, conference chair and president of viva partnership, inc. "We still have some jaw-dropping names to announce, and we can assure that this will be the marketing conference to attend in 2014."

Please visit AHAA for more information and follow all conference chatter on Twitter using the hashtag #thinkahaa.