Transcript

Bennie F. Johnson

Hello and welcome to this episode of AMA’s Marketing / And I’m your host, AMA CEO Bennie Johnson. During our episodes, we look at life and unexpected moments that are influenced by marketing. We have an opportunity to talk with guests who are marketing innovators and leaders who you might not yet have heard of, but are exactly the ones you need to know through our thought provoking conversations.

We’re going to explore this intersection of life and the unexpected. So in continuing our New York theme conversations, I’m delighted to have a new friend, Fernando Romero. He is SVP of U.S. Digital Advertising and Sales at the world’s leading Spanish language media company. It’s in his role that he leads the national advertising sales revenue for the company’s digital streaming and branded social work, along with experimental, digital and audio properties.

In his space, he has been a highly dynamic and respected leader with more than 30 years. There’s no way you have 30 years of experience by 30 years. We’re going to break the intro to say that there’s no way you have 30 years of experience. But he does. And he’s a passionate thought leader who I’m honored who’s joining us today across various media ecosystems and innovative multimedia channels and marketing with experience and integrated advertising strategy. As he thinks about his skills and revenue across multiple lines, and it’s the work that he’s done in we talk before every key moment of media change over the past 30 years you’ve been a part of. So, my friend, welcome to the podcast.

Fernando Romero

Thank you for having me, Ben. I’m proud to be here.

Bennie 

So we started talking about the early days of internet, and not so much that we were reminiscing, but it was really more of seeing these moments where today feels like there’s some big things happening the same way. Talk to me about how you felt when you first started working in those early days of of internet advertising. What was that feeling you had?

Fernando

Oh, man. Well, that was back in the day of, AOL, CD-Rom startups and their little running man to get 500 hours of, a free internet, with a modem and a dial up that cut into your phone. So when I was home, I had, actually clogged the line for about an hour or two if I want to surf the internet.

But I was fortunate enough to jump in to, to digital media back in 1996. And I had to really kind of understand what we stood for. Right. Which is the World Wide Web, educate folks on why they needed to be online. Get folks to kind of envision the fact that at some point, somebody would take an online class or buy a car over the internet or, spend any money or put your personal data on or transact it, over mediums that did not include, a phone or a dial up or fax at that time.

So, it was one of those things that just curiosity took over. And I think we spoke about that, you know, the, the fear of failure. Just try to understand the new business model for me just was fascinating. And industry in the interesting at the same time. So I’ve been really fortunate to kind of still be riding that wave 30 years later, trying to figure out whatever this internet, where are we 5.0 at this time? And I think we.

Bennie 

Stopped counting it.

Fernando 

I think we stopped counting even the whole concept of digital. I think it’s just it’s it’s integrated into the fabric of who we are and everything that we do today. So, one of the things that we do it at least soon to be seeing, is also try to understand just how consumers are engaging with content. Right. Trying not to make it so siloed, but just obviously having a center of excellence to understand how, you know, digital really plays a big part in our everyday lives. So it’s been fascinating. But, I’ve been I’ve been really enjoying the ride.

Bennie

So talk a bit about the kind of recent evolution, because we look at kind of this acceleration of content, the fast the last five years have been incredible. When you think about your space and streaming and the platforms.

Fernando

It really has. And that started again with, with just the whole really world being wired for, for internet and connectivity, which I think, you know, some of the past guests had talked about the acceleration of which this is happening is, is, really catching us all a little bit off guard. Understanding that within our palm of our hands we have a camera, a recording device, a, CD player or music player, back in the day, a supercomputer.

So from a marketing lens, it’s been also trying to work with advertising partners as well as media companies to kind of help them understand how that drives value. I know one of your previous guests, we’re talking about the fact that, you know, with the ad market kind of shifting and, the dollars follow eyeballs. So as the eyeballs keep on shifting and creators keep on, you know, like coming on, you know, they’re independent media brands themselves.

So and there’s, there’s influence that happens, but there’s also authenticity. So we talk a lot about that with our with our brand. And, you know, one of the main reasons that the mission of our, our company is really about empowering, educating and entertaining the voice of Latinos. And, and representation plays a big part of that, and inclusion plays a big part of that.

But that’s just accelerated over the last five years. So it’s really about understanding how everybody in today’s world is engaging with content and where, again, the impact gets made. And how, you know, those folks that are coming in and studying marketing and in college and really kind of have to understand their place and how technology is going to continue to be a big part of, of marketing. And so we talk.

Bennie 

A bit about the audience. And your work is particular because of the specificity of the audience in the space in there. And what I was looking through as we’re sitting here, I wanted to make sure that I had the number correct. Yep. So a recent report just came out on US economic data, $3.6 trillion. Yep. That is the US Latino economy’s impact and growth. And kind of having the actual economic data that show what we’ve talked about, what we’ve experienced, what we’ve lived, what we know, the kind of growth of the US Latino and Hispanic population. Talk a bit about what you’ve seen in your work with these kind of economic rises and opportunities.

Fernando 

Yeah, I mean that that’s one of the things that we championed, right? It’s the voice of, of the fact that it’s the fastest growing economy within the US economy. Right. If you were to take it outside of itself, it’s the fifth largest GDP in the world. The fact that it now represents 20% of the US population, with about 65, 67 million folks and households, and it’s only going to continue to grow. Latinos have a larger household with about three on an average of three. They’re consuming goods faster. They are mobile devices faster. Their adoption rates for technology accelerated.

Bennie 

Is through the roof. It’s through.

Fernando

The roof. So it’s really just about, again, harnessing them as a as a consumer but also being authentic. Right. Especially as we enter into, into Hispanic Heritage Month. Right. And you see all those advertisers, that one, that kind of jump on board and kind of champion Latinos for this month. We actually work a lot with our advertisers to say this is the exact opposite of what you want to do. You want to show up, you know, all your kids.

Bennie

Could you say that again? But we need that in the podcast, just again, to say, right. This exact opposite way too.

Fernando 

Is the exact opposite of what you want to do, right? You don’t want to show up in those moments just because it’s beneficial. Again, we talk about authenticity of audiences. We talk about how the gen alphas really kind of want to work with brands and support brands that are authentic to a mission, right? So they can smell, you know, authenticity.

And again, talk about how creators have played a big part of that, because that was that was really an impetus. They wanted to work with brands that they trust, because my friend Bennie told me about it. Right, right. And I’m going to listen to you faster than I would be a multinational advertisers that spending a lot of glitz and glam to try to get me to buy a 599 product.

Bennie

You know, maybe you’ve seen this or I would love it if you have, you know, have you had moments where they’re brands that you didn’t think were really aligned with community, but then you end up finding out that they have a real, authentic voice?

Fernando

Yeah. I mean, community plays a big part. And again, you know, shout out to WNYC on the on the had years of community service because that’s obviously a big part of what we do as well. We have a, a local arm that talks about the impact, especially of Latinos in communities, in need. Right, of going out.

You know, again, let’s talk about voting and the importance of voting and voter registration and understanding the the elements that are going to impact their day to day lives as being Americans as well. That’s a big part of what we want to work with, with advertisers to understand what are those community initiatives that you also want to take into account?

You know, Peggy’s a big advertiser that talks about giving back and community service employment. What are the employment numbers look like? What are the diversity? You know, the issues that we’re seeing now. You know, in Springfield and the fact that those Asian Americans are under, you know, miss unfortunate attacks, but the fact that they make up 20% of the workforce of the labor force in certain businesses there, you know, that’s real, right?

And that’s, that’s something that I think as, as a marketing community and an advertising community especially, it is still very soon to be shown. We want to make sure that we, we educate, we elevate those conversations. But we also like to have some fun along the way. So I don’t want to keep it all serious.

Bennie 

Right. Have fun along the way. You know, I’m curious as to the mix that you end up with advertising. Like, we know the big brands show up, so Procter and Gamble and Colgate and Coke and Pepsi, but we’re they’re opportunities for smaller brands that want to be able to engage with you in the platform.

Fernando 

Yeah. So we look at it from a bunch of different lenses. Right. Obviously what are the categories that are going to make sense that are going to again, I don’t want to say target, but we really will see an impact of consumer base, whether it’s going to be more mobile driven or more social driven brands. You know, a lot of direct to consumer brands start from a digital lens, but also start with our audiences because they’re looking for that accelerated adoption rate that’s going to happen.

We talked about, you know, online education as a big factor because, again, that’s something that they might want to lean into because it goes back to what their ethos is, that they want to educate themselves to have a better life, to provide better for them. So we’ve seen online education as being a big category that has jumped in, finance as well.

You know, again, because there’s a mistrust and perception from tradition or banking and financing. So we see a lot of finance apps that start in our ecosystem that that kind of want to just help education on savings or finance or so we, we do work with, with brands that, again, want to come to us and have a better understanding of how they can lean in, again, understand those cultural nuances, understand the benefits of, of working with, with a company like ours to put them in that positive light and representation and also, keep a what we say, you know, keep the pulse on the trends on like, you know, when we talk about culture, when you talk about, again, yesterday’s Emmys, right. You talk about the diversity of what you saw in programming. It’s all those things. So I again, I really love my job because of all those factors.

Bennie

Well, you know, we talk about something else. You love New York.

Fernando

Oh yeah.

Bennie 

So talk about what Stony Brook has meant to you.

Fernando 

Stony Brook, so being born and raised here, a proud Ecuadorian American, first generation going out to college, I was the first one to leave my house. I’m the youngest of three. My brother went to Saint John’s, so he stayed local and had to work his way through. My sister did the same, but she went down the pace just right down here.

But again, same kind of concept. And as the baby, I was the privileged one to go out. 90 miles away, to Suny Stony Brook. But, it was about getting that exposure that was a little bit different than staying within the city. It was about being exposed to different classes, different type of people out there, out on Long Island, a huge international student body, because a lot of folks came over for the sciences as well to have a great medical and science program.

So, it’s been great. It’s been life changing, obviously, to, to see me go through that and obviously be here on stage at you and having to talk about the impact of that and all while staying 100 mile radius here and just just still living in New York and raising my kids in New York is great.

Bennie

So what do you think the greatest gift is, living in New York?

Fernando 

Oh, man. I think it’s the cultural diversity. I think that whole concept of being a melting pot, like, you know, we don’t have those, you know, I would say integration was maybe a little bit different when my folks were coming up here in the mid 60s. But, you know, having been born and raised here, I went to an all boys Catholic high school.

You know, some of my best buddies are, you know, Irish, Italian, you know, black, Latino. And we didn’t see ourselves anything different. You know, we were just boys. We were just, fraternity or brotherhood that we still talk about a lot. And I think, you know, we were all united by the same thing, especially about education and having a good time.

And, you know, we were able to go to 42nd Street and have an experience, go down to the village for a different experience, try to take a train out to Coney Island and have a whole different world. And it was great. You know, I wish our generation could still have some of that. And all of that without a phone.

Bennie

You don’t have never phone. I didn’t have.

Fernando 

Friends. I carried a lot of dimes and quarters to make those phone calls when I needed to check in.

Bennie 

I had that conversation with my kids all day. Like we didn’t have a phone. We didn’t have a phone.

Fernando 

I still say tokens. For some reason, people don’t. People don’t understand with Twitter.

Bennie 

We can edit that out.

Fernando 

We can edit that out. Don’t age me, please.

Bennie

For free tokens. But you know what I am going to talk about. You know, not just age, but with that comes wisdom, stewardship and contribution. You’re also on the board for ABS video standards. And, you know, you helped to really shape an industry, but then serving in that space in which you’re shaping the policies and standards for digital video. Talk a bit about what that role has meant and the impact that you’re able to have.

Fernando 

Yeah. You know, from my lens. Again, talk about the evolution of digital video and data. You know, data integrity becomes a big part of it. Everybody wants to target, target, target. If you notice we have to be really selective, obviously, on who we target. Right. We talk about inclusivity. We talked about protective classes. So serving on that board gives me a voice to make sure that I’m keeping that lens.

Because again, everybody wants to commoditize an eyeball. But just because an algorithm says it’s the right message to deliver at the right person doesn’t make it right. So, we talk a lot about being in culture and in language, and we talk about messaging and how we can work with advertisers to deliver the right message. But I take some of that same standard to the IAB, to making sure that, you know, again, we keep ourselves in check.

There’s a lot of nefarious business that happens when you start introducing a lot of these middlemen in the digital world, and you don’t know where you’re really operating under, or who’s being targeted or what the right, appropriate ads are. Or so it’s a very complex world, but I’m proud to be serving on that board.

Bennie 

So a little bit of future vision here. You know, is you’re able to kind of help coach people and lead them through the best ways to take advantage of our newest technologies. What do you think advertising is going to look like for you in five years?

Fernando 

Well great question. I wish I had the crystal ball for that, but, it’s okay.

Bennie 

You can be 100% wrong then.

Fernando 

That’s true. We’re not going to go back and check this tape out. See, notice how I said tape and not record? It just does.

Bennie 

Oh, well, once again, we can edit these athletes.

Fernando

Yeah. All that, but it’s old adage, but.

Bennie

It’s okay because we also talked about wisdom and experience.

Fernando 

True. So sometimes you need to reflect to go forward. I think authenticity, regardless of the way you’re going to be delivering the message, is going to be key and important. Again, we talk about the importance of culture and understanding culture and that message or whichever way it’s being delivered. I think interpersonal connection and making sure that you deliver a message that’s going to resonate with somebody is going to be important.

It’s, you know, the one to many or the 1 to 1 messaging that’s going to be delivered. I think audio is still going to be a big part of that sight, sound, emotion. I think experiential will still be a big part of it, because people want to touch and feel and be a part of a community and a culture of experiences.

So, sky’s the limit. What I would love is maybe if we weren’t so data driven and so analytical and everything, and just sometimes good old advertising is meant to deliver an emotion, right? So I want to make sure that that stays true.

Bennie 

Well, we said at the beginning we’re going to be serious. We’re going to be analytical, but we’re going to have a little bit of fun. SK so what challenge do you have as we close out for our marketers to really support, enhance and engage with this incredibly fast growing Latino economy?

Fernando 

Just take the first step. You’re never going to get it right. But the more you learn and be iterative and lean in. We work with a lot of marketers that have the right thought, but they just don’t know how to take that first step. And we always want to be that partner, to help them take that first step.

Understand the cultural importance of what you’re seeing in one of the fastest growing economies here. And, and really kind of lean into the culture you saw with soccer here. You know, Copa America was huge here. The Euro Cup averaged in Spain as one of the finalists. So you had Spain, you had Colombia, you had at 18, and then you had England, right.

So you had three out of the four Spanish speaking countries. Just enjoy it. Again, you’re not going to get it right, but it’s iterative. So just take the first step.

Bennie 

I think that’s a great way to close the authentic take the first step. And we’ll get it right. So thank you my friend and brother for joining me. Thank you all for being a part of this episode of AMA’s  Marketing / And  I’m your host, Bennie Johnson. As we think about the future. Know that the future is dynamic and growth and community is important.