Luis Aira and Diego Pombo Win Latino Marketing Awards for Antonio Villaraigosa for Mayor Ads and SVREP PSA'S

Luis Aira and Diego Pombo, the creative team behind the Antonio Villaraigosa Spanish Media Campaign, were honored with awards at the 4th Annual Latino Marketing Awards Gala and Ceremony, Burbank, CA.

Los Angeles, CA November 11, 2005 (www.ofrenda.com) Luis Aira and Diego Pombo, the creative team behind the Antonio Villaraigosa Spanish Media Campaign, were honored with awards at the 4th Annual Latino Marketing Awards Gala and Ceremony, Burbank, CA. Aira and Pombo also received awards for their innovative Public Service Campaign for Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project (SVREP). The Latino Marketing Awards highlights this year's most creative and successful campaigns, and was designed to recognize the very best in advertising, public relations, and marketing campaigns targeting Latino audiences. Ofrenda, Inc. a Los Angeles based Production Company founded by Aira produced both campaigns.

“Our approach to the Villaraigosa campaign was to reconnect the candidate to the roots of the community by creating scenarios evoking grass roots images of the farm workers movement showing a real personal passion. We understood that stylistically we had to personify the political heritage of the community. We created a campaign connecting voters on a personal level and presented Antonio Villaraigosa, first and foremost as an Angelino,” said Aira.

In the second ad, Villaraigosa was presented in an intimate testimonial. The spot was a plea to action in which the candidate explained the election for mayor was not just about him, but is an investment in the future. Images of children playing in a public park were intercut with his message that opportunity starts with a good education. “Our strategy was to focus on the candidate's commitment to education and his strength at building unity and coalitions,” stated Aira.

In conceptualizing the Southwest Voter Registration and Education campaign in English and Spanish languages, Aira and Pombo took into account the voting apathy of the target demographic. We opted to focus on two key issues relevant to the target market; on the local level, the prevalence of street gangs and on the national level, the war in Iraq. The dramatic spots featured two soldiers who recently returned from the Iraq war on the front steps of their Los Angeles home.
A car filled with gang members drives by the house. One of the soldiers remarks, “we're still on the front. I'm going to vote. The mayor is the one who decides what to do with these streets, but we're the ones who live in them. What would you do if you were still in Baghdad?” A super announces: Vote. It's your duty.

Post election polls conducted by the Willie Velasquez Institute show the election broke record numbers. It was the highest Latino voter turn out in the history of the United States and the highest ever to vote for a Latino candidate.

Aira and Pombo collaborate as a team utilizing their expertise to develop successful strategies targeting Latinos in both Spanish and English languages. Together they have worked on productions for Union Bank and Trust and Carl's Jr. in addition to their collaboration on the Villaraigosa and SVREP campaigns.
“The Hispanic market is the fastest growing in the United States, yet much of it is still outside the radar of those who try to target it,” says Aira. “I am honored to work with influential leaders, Antonio Villaraigosa and Antonio Gonzalez President of SVREP as I am passionately committed to empowering Latinos to engage in the political process.

Diego Pombo currently works as a consultant creative director, responsible for award winning campaigns for Carl's Jr., as well as Wells Fargo Bank, Toyota Motor Cars, California Milk Processors Board, Foster Farms, Toyota of Southern California, California Community Colleges, California Department of Health Services, and Coca-Cola Promotions, among others.

Critically acclaimed for his cutting edge style and creative media strategies targeting Latinos, Luis Aira is honored with numerous directing awards including the prestigious Clio. Previous campaigns include the New Democrat Network, the John Kerry Latino Media Campaign 2004, Gore 2000 Latino Campaign, Coca Cola, MCI, AT&T, J.C. Penney, Carl's Junior, Wells Fargo Bank, Converse, Sears, Ikea, and Lincoln Mercury as well as the MTV Latino Campaign for Rock The Vote.

About Ofrenda, Inc.
Specializing in multicultural media solutions, Ofrenda is a director-based production company based in Los Angeles. Directors represented include Luis Aira, Sergio Arau, Jim Edwards, Pico Garcez, Alex Jovy, Oscar Lobo, and Risa Machuca. The international team of award winning directors, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors produce films, commercials, music videos, television programming, and radio campaigns. The mission of Ofrenda is to provide clients with the cross-cultural marketing tools that are essential to compete in the diverse market of today.

Contact:
Donna Casey-Aira
Executive Producer
Ofrenda, Inc.
www.ofrenda.com
T. 323-851-6145
F. 323-851-9078

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