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The Affordable Care Act builds a bridge to 2014 when a new competitive insurance marketplace will be established. The new marketplace will include state-run health insurance exchanges where millions of Americans and small businesses will be able to purchase affordable coverage, and have the same choices of insurance as Members of Congress.

-www.whitehouse.gov

The debate over healthcare has slowly fizzled from the front pages of many newspapers in the past few months. Where has it gone? To somewhere in the middle of the newspapers we now read online; that’s where. It seemed as though once the fairly new Affordable Healthcare Act was decided, the questions surrounding the funding of this new plan stunted the growth and implementation of new reform. So now we have an economy that is in a state of flux and, to top it off, a healthcare plan that is currently bureaucratically stunted. Oh silly Washington… Bills are for signing! What’s a pharma/healthcare/insurance company to do about advertising to Hispanics? Make it a priority.

First off, let us answer this question. Should we market to Hispanics? The answer is a resounding YES. If you are not targeting Hispanics you are missing out on a 46 million piece of market segment. Mind you that this figure is continuing to grow. OK so, how? Well, most of the competition out there doesn’t include much diversity across their campaigns. There has been a general lack of Hispanic medical advertising. The best way to tap into a market is to make it identifiable. Include Latinos and Hispanic culture in your strategy to let them know this is for them. Homogeneity in casting commercials or campaigns should be viewed as a flaw. It is exclusive and provides minimal context for potential customers.

What to market to Hispanics? The current healthcare plan was hotly debated and was supported by two major candidates in the 2008 presidential elections. Both of which had a health minority vote. Market the changes that are happening and exploit the new policies continuing to be made. The changes to healthcare should not be viewed as a detriment but rather an opportunity. Capitalizing on Hispanic political values should be a guiding force but should remain subtle to the primary purpose of getting your services out there.

When? Now. The Affordable Healthcare Act is still in its infancy having only been signed into law last March. Additions to the act are being added soon. Just this past September a new addition was made stating new benefits to people who purchase a new healthcare plan after September 23^rd. Making moves towards minorities gives a company a first mover’s advantage on everyone else. Also remember that unemployment has been said to have reduced lately. That means many people are getting their jobs back and are in need of health benefits. Health benefits purchased after September 23^rd. I’d also like to emphasize informing millennials because many of them well be or already are looking for their first or second careers. Since so little is being trickled out of the media about the new policies being made, a lot of people are confused on what they are legally entitled to; benefit wise. Being a coach to people who are just familiarizing themselves with new policies is a great way to develop consumer loyalty. You can say you’ve been with them from the beginning years til now.

But what about the economy? What about it? Yes, it truly isn’t flourishing. Yes, people are being financially conservative but nothing will stimulate the economy until we all circulate the money supply. Sorry to get ALL marco-economic on you there but it is the truth of the matter. People are scared and they need reassurance. People fear illness. If there is no one to provide guidance for them than it leaves individuals confused on where to go especially when they’re sick. Be the company they trust.

Written by: Kurt Griese

I walked into the lounge and waited, surprised by the brightly colored space. An orange and black pair of rocking chairs sat at the center of the room, even as an Andy Warhol picture book stared up at me. I sat down and waited for my interview, leafing through the Warhol hardback.

Two weeks later, I found out that I had been accepted into The VOX Collective as an Accounts Services intern along with 8 other interns. I was ecstatic and ready to join up. Come Day 1, I felt like a rookie at NFL camp (ref: Dallas Cowboys Hard Knocks). I was eager to learn, dive in hands first and help out; yet apprehensive to feel that first hit! It never came! The team at The VOX took me, along with the eight other interns in as if we belonged there all along. The feeling was great!

Being my first internship, I had asked other friends and relatives of mine who had interned about their experiences. While most had a good number of horror stories about shady internships, uncountable coffee runs, battle scars (a.k.a paper cuts) and slow afternoons filled with filing. A few had great experiences to speak of as well- amazing bosses, ground breaking projects and all the fun aspects of learning from an internship. I hoped to fit into the latter group of few and far in between!

While I could go on and on about all the various projects and daily experiences that made my internship at The VOX an amazing experience, I have selected a few highlights that stood out. To begin with, the work atmosphere was casual. While I just recently started watching the show “Mad Men”; the image in my head of an ad agency was always one of a creative team in dark colored business suits and dresses sitting over drawing boards. However, at The VOX the dress code in no respect sets the standard for the work any team does here. My first real introduction to a campaign’s creative work came from the creative department and Mr. Andres Cortes. I was allowed to sit in on and sketch out my own set of ideas for a logo The VOX was creating at the time. I was thoroughly enjoying this experience because I was sketching away even on the my train ride back and forth from New Jersey and was soon able to contribute to the pool of ideas towards this project. Not to mention I got to see how color, change in imagery and even subtle nuances can add or take away from the meaning a logo portrays and stands for. In the advertising world, this is especially important. Case in point are symbolic logos like the – McDonald’s golden arches and Nike swoosh.

My next few weeks were then spent on putting together competitive decks for one of The VOX’s clients. This gave me an introduction to the inner workings of the Client Services department. While creating campaigns is one part of the agency’s work, telling the client- what geographic areas to target with the campaigns, how much media spend dollars to use towards each geographic area and understanding fellow competitors use of media spend dollars also encompasses a big part of launching a successful and lasting campaign. I got to work on a competitive deck and presented it to the accounts team. The feedback and positive criticism I received for the deck helped me learn about attention to detail and the need to present any information concisely and in an impactful manner.

Last but not the least, the work atmosphere – casual yet all business, while happy hours on Thursday and a casual Friday were the norm this past summer; the level of commitment to work never dropped. This was something I was truly impressed by and hope to work in a similar setting in the near future. No bureaucratic drudgery, ease of access to anyone from the agency’s Accountant to the CEO (all of who were literally over the shoulder) and more importantly an office space that resembled more of a bachelor pad than a workspace definitely made my internship on a day-to-day basis fun.  On the whole, my experience as an intern at The VOX Collective was fun and informative. Going back to college now, I will have the experience to understand theory taught in class and if you are an intern reading this VOX Blog on Day 1 of your internship along with the five or six other interns; believe me, you are in for one fun filled summer and a great internship. Learn what you can from every department at the agency and enjoy New York City to the fullest when you are here! Have a blast!

I am hoping, though, that many of them have kids, who, when they have a moment to take a break from their iPods, Internet, or Google, will explain to their parents running the country just how the world is being flattened.

-Thomas Friedman

Anyone who has graduated with some sort of business degree in the past decade or even further back beyond that, can testify to having had at least a brief introductory education in Globalization. Whether or not you remember the specifics of what you learned, the effects of globalization impact you in some way everyday. As technology advances the gaps between our wants, needs, desires, our emotions are shortened. These gaps, voids, spaces are becoming exceedingly short-lived and are causing us to stimulate our senses more regularly. These itches that we never used to be able to scratch have now presented themselves just within our reach. How did this come to be? How is it that our three wishes from a genie have been substituted by a random unsecured wireless connection? People have adapted to suit their lifestyles by using technology to give themselves the things they desire. Where there wasn’t desire before, there is now. A seemingly endless amount of new mediums being made available for advertisements has made reaching new consumers easier, but persuading them to buy into a product or service has become adversely difficult.

Dawn the age of the Internet Cosmopolitan. The Internet Cosmopolitan is someone who is internet savvy, consumer wise, trend intelligent, hard to persuade, and easy to convince. The combination of characteristics that make up the Internet Cosmopolitan are making the jobs of admen and adwomen more difficult. Selling anything to this crowd isn’t easy if your product is flawed. The Internet Cosmopolitan is a researcher that does his/her homework and does it diligently. Their needs are specific and are satisfied to an expected level of utility or enjoyment. So long are the days of the unconscious consumer. A large amount of disposable incomes left around the same time pre-iPod mp3 players became obsolete. Internet Cosmopolitans are Tom’s wearing, organic eating, BP protesting, Mac using, politically opinionated, uncertified experts out-of-the-field and have every right to be (in some cases). They want to know everything about anything and why. If it doesn’t meet their standards it instantly gets a bad review on Google and or at least a plea for a “dislike button” on Facebook.

Internet Cosmopolitans are children of advanced information technology and economic belt-tightening. As mentioned before, the Internet Cosmopolitan is Internet savvy and consumer wise. Their use of the Internet is profound and the skills they possess far exceed those of the Baby Boomers. They know how to use any mobile device to get to Internet and can order concert tickets off a cell phone. They are consumer wise in the sense that they won’t buy anything that isn’t produced justly (i.e. Wal-Mart products, sweat-shop goods, toys that might have cadmium in it). They like to support local business when possible, support companies that give back to a community or organization they like, and prefer to purchase products that best suit their lifestyle rather than buying something that simply fulfills only one need. For ad people this means extensive corporate responsibility campaigns that expose how their client’s companies are having a positive impact on quality of life, whether it be for workers, the environment, or community.

Internet Cosmopolitans are also trend intelligent, which makes expecting the next big fad more difficult. The Internet has made available a wide freedom of choice when it comes to consumerism now. My personal favorite trends to watch now are in the food and drink industries because people have very distinct preferences when it comes to their palette. A rapidly growing trend in the US has been extensive beer lists in bars and restaurants and the growing popularity of microbrews has caused people to ditch their Bud Lights for some real flavor. Microbrews are the perfect Internet Cosmopolitan delight because they are good, they’re a cheap indulgence, made by small (local) breweries, and often give back to their communities in some way. Also since there are so many of these breweries now there has been an individual connection to people’s local beers, almost like a preferred sports teams. When an Internet Cosmopolitan sees something like microbrews growing in popularity they’ll go home and Google the crap out of it until they’re convinced that they’ll like the product. In many respects I feel “try before you buy” has been replaced by “research and read consumer ratings before you buy.”

What do I mean by hard to persuade and easy to convince? What I mean is that ad people aren’t going to be able to say, “it’s toasted” for cigarettes anymore when RJ Reynolds comes under Surgeon General scrutiny again. Simple slogans aren’t going to make it all better. People are too conscientious now a day to buy into a jingle. Take for example the new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee TV ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi0SbrrGaiw). It is a manifesto, a call to arms for Americans to restore our recently defunct automotive industry to its former glory. Chevrolet’s “Like a rock” no longer will construct our skyscrapers or farm our land. Jeep is a great example of convincing an audience because everything that it talks about in the commercial is relatable to an American demographic. The economic crisis in America was attributed to several key industries collapsing due to social and ethical inconsistencies.

The American public has become more aware about making right decisions now so much, so that it effects how we act as consumers and from where we choose to purchase our goods. People now know to dig deeper and not to just take things at face value. The Internet is an easy place for people to get educated quickly on almost any topic. Unifying global information in one easy to access place has made the world flatter for consumers. This flat world makes for an easily obtainable education in poisonous Chinese goods, ethically sound alternative fuel sources, and issues that pertain to an individual personally.

Written By: Gabrielle Smedes

Mainstream television continues to be one of the largest driving forces of our culture today. What we watch affects decisions about what we wear, what we eat, where we go. Even further, television can control the way we spend our time: how often have we cut plans short so we can be home for our favorite shows? Television networks recognize this dependent relationship, and as a result are choosing to take fewer and fewer risks.

One example is the spin-off: a show developed with characters already proven popular from an earlier show, placed in new situations, yet capitalizing on audience familiarity and loyalty. Spin-offs have been around since the 1960s—The Andy Griffith Show is one of the earliest and most successful examples—however, as television programming shifts to favor reality rather than traditional, studio-produced shows, the concept of the spin-off is going in an entirely new direction. continue reading “Putting a New Spin on Spin-offs”

By: Catherine Marie Cuello

If equality benefits everyone, even those in the upper class, then why do we not work towards improving basic living standards? Today’s media has a responsibility to promote consciousness about this issue in an increasingly-interconnected world. Reality television, the gossip trade and other similarly low-brow forms of entertainment have sabotaged attention spans and created meaningless issues to distract public concern. But what if this trend could be turned around, and used for the greater good? For example, why not use the power of celebrity to inspire, motivate and encourage people to get involved?

This is where we come in - holding almost quasi ‘consciousness advocate’ degrees. Our goal should be to constantly reach out and entertain with inspiring messages, challenging change in people’s daily lives.

More than 10% of the U.S. population today is Hispanic, the largest ethnic minority in the United States. In many cases these immigrants have come here to escape poverty and oppression in their home countries, and have been forced to find better living standards elsewhere. Thus, it is our responsibility—as educated citizens, as Hispanics and simply as human beings—to represent our people wherever we are, however we can. continue reading “Basic Standards”

To begin with, the UPA (United Progressive Alliance- formed by the Indian National Congress and its allies) had rallied to win resoundingly in 2009 because of two important factors. First, the BJP (Bharatiya Jantha Party) had made a mess of things with shady management if not propagation of the Gujarat riots (2006) coupled with blatant corruption during its tenure. Second, India’s people were tired of a government that preached an extremist Hindu stance excluding minorities’ like- Muslims and Christians, chastising them for practicing and preaching their beliefs.

In 2009, relief came in the form of the UPA. Headed by a cast of veteran leaders and fresh young faces the UPA’s campaign promised change for the better. Least to say, they won and took over office. So, post 2009 where does India stand? Touted to be the next political and financial superpower has the UPA been able to stick to its guns, implement reforms and turn India into a well oiled machine? continue reading “India and the UPA’s promise of Utopia by Alexander Mathew”

Anyone who has been near a television the past two months has some idea of what is happening when the words “BP” and “oil spill” are in the same sentence. The recent oil spill, considered the worst in US history, is agreed to be a travesty in terms of environmental safety and regulation, government policy, and corporate responsibility. What appears to be most controversial among people close to the subject is what the British energy company should be doing about the predicament they are now in. With the world watching closely, BP has been trying and failing via different means to stop the oil from spreading and to remove as much as possible from the Gulf coast.

The oil spill’s long term effects on marine life habitats are long-ranging problems that will take several years to rectify. Damage on Eastern coast coral reefs is expected and effects on the ocean floor are currently unknown. If the contaminated sea currents go into the Atlantic Ocean, the spill will harm animals even if BP manages to contain the oil away from shorelines. With these issues in mind, I am by no means arguing or expecting that oil companies should or would ever plan on putting the environment’s intrinsic value over their own economic and fiscal gain- that would be naïve and unrealistic! continue reading “BP Oil, Friend or Foe? by Stephanie Yu”

How and when did brands get so small? It seems that despite the greater availability of tools and engaging media to connect brands with consumers, the impact of brands on society has greatly diminished. Why are the trillions of dollars currently spent on marketing only getting us “Paris Hilton” brands instead of timeless “Liz Taylors?” It seems that this past decade’s media revolution has empowered consumers while making brands more insecure.

Brands that want to be leaders must learn how to lead. They must facilitate what we call “branded movements” – or powerful collaborative statements with non-traditional groups such as grassroots organizations and influencers resulting in powerful brand communities. How do branded movements begin?

Brands should first adopt a more assertive attitude with regards to the roles they can play in society. They should not be afraid to ask themselves how they can change the world. This type of weighty question will naturally guide your brand to true values and give clarity, edge and purpose to your branding strategy. Plus, doing so will also bring you closer with a stronger base of consumers that are already asking themselves that very question of the brands they embrace.

A growing number of examples of branded movements is feeding consumers’ appetite for brand meaning, including General Electric’s “Eco-magination,” Lance Armstrong’s “Live Strong,” Dove’s “Real Beauty”, and Bono’s Red Campaign. At the core of these initiatives is a brand becoming human, inspiring through values, and then building communities through stories and interactions through imaginative use of creative and media.

“Branded movements,” work because they give everyone involved a sense of purpose around the brand and its values. They are also powerful because they allow to brand to touch upon society’s big shifts as well as the themes impacting the day-to-day decisions of individuals and families. The brand becomes both symbolic and relatable, inspirational and accessible. It is then, by being truly a part of consumers’ lives that our shrinking brands can become big again.

As part of the idyllic period that is the sabbatical between Christmas and New Year’s I read a clever book by Mexican writer Jorge Volpi entitled “El Insomnio de Bolívar,” which loosely translates to “Bolívar’s Insomnia.” In this tome Volpi explores whether the concept of Latin America exists or is an exotic construct crafted by foreigners. The author doesn’t seem so convinced about Latin America, at least as most of the world sees it in the form of a quaint form magical realism, balmy banana republics or a whole other slew of extreme stereotypes.

According to a somewhat caustic Volpi Latin Americans aren’t that much different from the rest of modern societies, don’t have a lot in common with other Latin countries, don’t interact all that much with each other, and tend to look somewhere else for inspiration. And that somewhere else for many, especially writers and artists, is increasingly the United States. Ironically it is when confronted with the U.S. and its somewhat simplistic take on the region that a true pan-regional Latin identity surfaces. This makes Latin Americans soul brothers and sisters with Canadians who also deepen their sense of pride when comparing notes with their American neighbor.

And while the book scores some good points by studying the erstwhile notion of cultural identity in a digitally connected global village where broken English is the most spoken language, my epiphany after the read was slightly different. This book clarified that the true modern day Latin Americans that Bolívar had in mind are U.S. Latinos.

continue reading “U.S. Latinos, What Simón Bolívar Dreamt About All Along”

At a time when pockets are tight, the general alarm regarding economic decline has given rise to a number of concerns for new-age marketers. A slight edge, a propitious insight, can now make the difference between bankruptcy and billions. This has marketers across the nation scrambling to develop new strategies in a evolving media-scape that they don’t quite understand how to best use, in an effort to gain even an inch.

What marks this economic downturn as unusual are its unique recipients. The Millennials. This generation of brethren, brothas, bros, is the crème of the crop, the best ones yet. Larger (in number) than the Baby Boomers, more well-connected than Oprah, and smarter than you imagined young people could ever be, the Millennials are almost too cool to be true. Born from the early 80’s  to the late 90’s they grew up between the 1990s and 2000s.

This generation of technology-bred, media-soaked, and information-thirsty youth is a class apart, saving wildlife, going ultra-green, and rescuing underprivileged orphans in their spare time. They have not known an era without computers, cell phones or CD’s. They are “the empowered generation” that take information for granted, and make more demands upon what companies can and should offer. Unlike their Gen X predecessors who invented the term “reality bites” Millennials are idealistic and truly believe they can make a difference. continue reading “The Millenials have arrived”