Young Pros NYC: Bootcamp | Carmela Vecchione
Earlier this year, while we didn’t need social distancing, I attended the ARF Young Pros Bootcamp. It was a full day conference, learning and networking. From all sessions I’ve seen, I will be briefly covering two ones that had a higher impact for me: learning how to make a meaningful impact with Hispanic consumers in the US and why most advertising campaigns fail.
Juliana Gomez is the VP Strategy & Insights at Univision Communication, Inc. She brought us valuable data such as Hispanics representing the fastest growing segment of US economy. The ones born in the US feel comfortable expressing both as American or in their native language. Still, they express their emotions more easily when talking in the Spanish - as a latina, I can totally relate to it, it is almost like an irrational feeling you get when you’re either too happy or too angry and English just won’t be expressive enough (sorry!).
Because Hispanics feel so connected with their heritage, their pride really comes through and it is something worth exploring when you’re advertising to them. They live the American Dream, they put in the effort for their families. They do what they do for the collective good, and that is something advertisers need to keep in mind too. The outcome from Gomez's session was to make campaign for Hispanics as personal as you can, because they appreciate feeling targeted by their behavior and community. The recognition of their efforts makes them proud and heartworm - therefore, you can earn their trust.
My second favorite session of the Bootcamp was led by Emmanuel Probst, the SVP Brand Health Tracking at Ipsos and author of Brand Hacks. He spoke about how marketers and advertisers can grow and maintain brands. His claim is that brands can help us find meaning and, in this process, become meaningful in and of themselves. Brands must identify something meaningful to their audience they can contribute to. For example, Nostalgia, Authenticity or The Pursuit of Happiness. Brands should then emphasize their nostalgic, authentic or joyful attributes, which will help their consumers in their search for these meanings.
One thing he mentioned that got me reflexive was when he mentioned the amount of importance we give some brands, elevating them to a “sacred” level. Almost like we’re making a religious connection to brands - if you consider religious followers of Apple for example… They’re extremely loyal, they preach the products in the Apple store, which could basically be a parallel to a cathedral for consumers. Same for Soulcycle! People visit regularly, they put in the effort, it becomes a sacred ritual for them.
Another thing he mentioned - which resonated with my previous job quite clearly - was that brand purpose not always fit to all products. Because sometimes a product is just that functional and the client really won’t push further - and that is ok! We shouldn’t force it. I was in a company where I struggled so much because I couldn’t understand why they didn’t care for purpose, but I guess I was the wrong one trying to fit them into a formula that wasn’t for their business.
Overall, both Emmanuel and Juliana were super insightful, I learned a lot from them and hope to be able to put all this knowledge into practice in my future projects!
