Latino small business owners will make a huge difference in the American economy going forward. 

I had the great honor of representing Latin Business Today at this important national conference of major advertisers. 

It was my first “gig” as a reporter, and I even had press credentials.  But I was also representing tens of thousands of Latino small business owners – You.

I can tell you clearly that virtually every company at this conference, from consumer packaged goods to banks to wireless companies, they were ALL very interested in the Latino small business owner.  They are interested in you as a B2B customer, but also in you as an affluent (or soon to be affluent) consumer. 

They also see you as Influencers, as people of significance in your communities, people who are viewed with respect and listened to, so your voice matters much more than you can imagine.

One reason for this power is that overall the small business community is growing at 0.5% per year, while the Latino small business space is growing at a 7.5% pace.  Yes, collectively you will make a huge difference in the American economy going forward.

Latin Business Today will be focusing on your voice, so what you need, what you want, what you like and dislike can be heard by insurance companies, by product manufacturers, by food distributors, by building supply stores, software developers and banks.  Keep your eyes peeled to this site because we will be working on this for you early in the coming year. 

Stay tuned.

Back to the conference — the line-up of speakers was impressive.  We saw the Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) of Proctor and Gamble (otherwise known in the industry as Proctor and God) and Walmart.  There were the heads of Multicultural Marketing for many other companies such as Wells Fargo, Verizon, McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, Clorox, Hallmark and SunTrust Bank among others.

There was a big awards event where a stellar group of judges handed out awards in various categories, including Asian, African-American, Disabled, Hispanic and LGBT.  

All of the entries were impressive (they showed the top three in each category), and they displayed the winning ads, and they were all very slick, culturally spot-on, and impressive in their way.  The overall winner was in the LGBT category with a very simple and touching spot done by MasterCard.  

This was actually filmed at live events across the country where they had mobile bathrooms, and the only way to get in to use them was to put your hand on a round sensor – if you had a heartbeat, you were allowed to use it. 

This was clearly in response to state laws that had been implemented to prevent transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender they identified with.

The African-American spots spent a lot of energy on Black dads to counteract the impression that many have that Black dads are all too often absent.  The Asian ads were funny, perhaps to address the impression that Asians are too serious.  The Latino ads were rhythmic and fun, but also very product-focused, particularly those from P&G. 

Frankly, aside from the Tide commercials, most seemed focused on the warm-and-fuzzy – “Aren’t we corporate types wonderful for being so inclusive” types of ads. 

Next page- More on Proctor and Gamble and Sun Trust Bank