U.S. Hispanic agencies last year didn’t reach the highs of 2017, when they achieved record wins at the Cannes Lions–20 honors at seven different shops, compared to 2018’s eight.

And while U.S. shops Alma and We Believers last year were named the second and third most-awarded shops at the Wave Festival in Brazil, U.S. agencies didn’t hit the top five in 2018.

“This year, I think the Hispanic market had more executions and fewer big ideas,” says Ciro Sarmiento, chief creative officer of Omnicom Group’s Dieste in Dallas and president of Circulo Creativo, the non-profit ad organization dedicated to supporting the U.S. Hispanic creative community… “Yet if you think of the Hispanic market five years ago, it was inconceivable to win six Lions in a year. Some years we might win two, others eight, but in the end, it’s about being there. Being part of the race is more important than breaking a record.”

While hardware wasn’t as abundant in 2018, the compelling creative ideas were aplenty, whether they leveraged the strength and increasingly broader influence of Latino culture, spoke to a general audience or played off big events–namely, last year’s World Cup.

Here’s a look at some of the most-awarded and other notable U.S. Hispanic creative work from the past year.

Toyota, “Tundra Power World Cup Coffee”

Agency: Conill

There was plenty of marketing around the World Cup last year. While Dieste’s Sarmiento observed that much of the work still featured typical images of “happy families with faces painted in national flag colors, people with soccer balls and everyone using the word ‘passion,'” the event was an opportunity for some to flex their creative muscles.

Since the big tournament was in Russia, many U.S. and Latin American fans were forced to enjoy their games over breakfast, not beer. Agencies played off the time difference with some bright ideas.

This one, from Publicis-owned Conill, was meant to be literally eye-opening. The agency created its own extra-strong coffee designed to help wake viewers up (while promoting Toyota’s Tundra pickup).

The shop sourced the brew from Mexico and created a video showing the Tundra traveling through the Chiapas to pick up the beans. The effort also included a Tundra Mobile Coffee Shop that parked near venues broadcasting the tournament.

Coca-Cola, “Share a Coke”

Agency: Casanova//McCann

Last year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, U.S. Hispanic shops earned a total of eight Lions distributed among three agencies: Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Casanova//McCann, We Believers and Omnicom’s Alma.

Casanova wins for the Coca-Cola “Share a Coke” campaign that yielded more than 1,000 personalized tunes featuring different names. While the idea was conceived out of sibling shop Fitzco, Casanova was behind the Spanish-language executions in the campaign. 

Cheers to all the hispanic agencies that constantly reinvent themselves and create world class digital and visual content. We’ve seen agency after agency fumble around in effort to balance being creative while being culturally sensitive and relevant.  The work takes a level of skill and the right creative chemistry and diversity. We, as a MULTICULTURAL ADVERTISING AGENCY support all Hispanic advertising agencies that have managed to pull it off.  

Choose Vaquero!