The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mike Robinson came to Cincinnati via Procter & Gamble and the legendary Green Berets, the U.S. Army’s Special Forces unit. In 2003, he started LaVERDAD Marketing and Media, an agency that focused on marketing to Hispanic audiences.

Earlier this year, his firm was one of two Hispanic- owned businesses accepted into the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Minority Business Accelerator program. He recently spoke with reporter David Holthaus about his plans:

HOW DOES THE Minority Business  Accelerator help you?

The MBA is meant to provide some guidance and expertise. The whole goal is to give you a team of advisers, a team of influencer’s who have an interest in growing the portfolio companies. Many businesses, in particular smaller minority businesses, may not have access to that guidance and expertise.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT about your agency?

We’re a full-service marketing, public relations and market research company that I learned to merge together when I was at Procter & Gamble. We focus on the core competency of the changing demographics in the United States. Not too many people were in that game a few years ago. We  focus on cultural and linguistic competence. It was founded on my first career, which was commanding special forces teams in Latin America. So we take guerrilla marketing to a whole new level.

HOW HAS YOUR business changed in  recent years?

Originally, it was just the Hispanic market. But P&G and others asked us to focus on the Asian market, the African American  market and others. Now we’re focusing on Cincinnati. We just did the Downtown Cincinnati Perceptions survey. They called us to the table to get the multicultural perspective. And the Convention and Visitors Bureau asked us to do the design work for the Elks, Shriners and LULAC  conventions. Toyota North America just tapped us to serve as media relations agency for the Hispanic media in the U.S., and we’re the  multicultural agency for State Farm for Hispanic media in this region of the country.

HOW HAS YOUR audience changed?

It’s become a very technological market, and the social media space is becoming very important. But at the same time, there’s still the need to reach out in the grassroots manner. You still have to get out and make those commitments. We definitely have the traditional means of  print and radio. In two weeks State Farm is a major sponsor of the Cincinnati Hispanic Festival, where we’ll get a tremendous amount of contact with consumers.

HOW HAVE YOU grown?

We’ve grown significantly in terms of revenues. We’re in downtown Montgomery,  but we’ve just grown out of it. I’m looking at  potential property acquisition downtown. In the last five years, our growth has exceeded triple digits, and over the next two or three years, we’ll probably double or triple our business.

Business Courier | By: Paula Norton

CEO wants contributions to improve world around him.

Mike Robinson’s marketing and media firm is small but brings cultural and linguistic expertise to the table for clients.

And he and his team “don’t like to lose.” Mike Robinson grew up in Mexico and went on to a career as an officer in the U.S. Army, where he served in occupied Berlin during the Cold War, as a Special Forces Green Beret and as a counterterrorism officer in Latin America.

Those experiences provided the foundation of his business model for LaVERDAD Marketing & Media, the Hispanic marketing company he founded in 2003. Also a former manager with Procter & Gamble, Robinson has since taken on clients including State Farm Insurance, P&G and Toyota. Robinson shared thoughts on his company’s growth and challenges with Courier contributor Lisa Daumeyer.

Q: How did being a Green Beret prepare you for the business world? Our entire business model was based on what I learned in Special Forces; we were extremely competent and confident. Our models were based on the fact that a small, specialized group of professionals could become subject matter experts with the advantage of being culturally and linguistically competent. Once we became operational, we were considered to be a substantial “force multiplier,” meaning that an elite unit could drop in behind enemy lines, organize a superior indigenous force and help achieve strategic objectives. The same holds true now: at LaVERDAD, we don’t like to lose.

Q: Has the economy forced any changes in your company? What are they? We’ve had to become very market-driven and focused on ensuring we accomplish key business metrics. In 2010, P&G gave me a scholarship to attend the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. I already had earned my master’s degree and thought I knew business metrics quite well. Tuck really taught us to intimately understand managerial finance as opposed to accounting finance. The end result was a targeted growth strategy based on key ratios aimed at growing our business to scale.

Q: What is the most difficult aspect of your job? The space we play in puts us in a position of competition with some very large agencies. We don’t have the infrastructure and deep pockets they have, and many large corporations are consolidating their supplier base, which can create barriers.

Q: What do you like to do when you’re not working? I enjoy philanthropic programs such as being part of Cincinnati Rotary and other efforts related to improving diversity and inclusion in our community and in business. I am honored to have recently been appointed to the board of the United Way.

Q: What are your growth plans for LaVERDAD? We are the newest entrant to the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Minority Business Accelerator portfolio. The first thing the MBA helped us with is defining and documenting our growth strategy. The key elements are to further penetrate the industries in which we have demonstrated a solid track record. We’re expanding operations in several U.S. markets and South America, with a focus on Brazil.

Q: What’s your definition of a miserable, unsatisfying life? Not making contributions that improve the world around you.

Q: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in this role? Learning the true success measures and processes involved in making payroll and running a small business. At P&G I had a budget, but we still got paid even if we under-indexed on the number of cases we sold last month. Today, if we don’t make our numbers, someone may be laid off. That someone is a person we know and care about. The good news is that in seven years, I have never had to lay anyone off; so I guess we’re doing all right.

Q: You’ve just been given $100,000 to donate to charity. Which and why? Right now it would be toward the relief effort in Japan. Ongoing it would be to closing the gap in health care, education and economic inclusion with our multicultural communities.

Mike Robinson doesn’t scare easily.

The president of LaVERDAD Marketing & Media is a former Green Beret who led Special Forces units on operations in Central and South America, going up against dictators and drug kingpins.

His business experience includes working as a global manager with the Procter & Gamble Co. before launching LaVERDAD in 2003. The company specializes in helping clients reach multicultural consumers. It’s headquartered in Cincinnati and operates throughout the United States.

In 2007, Robinson was named U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Businessman of the Year. That same year, LaVERDAD was named the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council’s Regional MBE of the Year.

What are some of the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned?
I learned a long time ago to follow a simple rule: lead, follow or get out of the way. A good leader knows when to back off and follow the lead of others. At times, a good leader realizes their most important contribution may be to order takeout food for the team.

How has the current economy impacted the way you lead?
We’ve become very mission-focused. We stay fixated on making Friday’s payroll. We’ve also learned it’s important to lead by example while demonstrating commitment to our mission, our clients, stakeholders and team.

What’s the best way to handle change at work?
Get ahead of it. When I worked for Procter & Gamble I attended a leadership workshop where we studied managing change and organizational improvement. We read the book “Who Moved My Cheese.” You should try to have new cheese in the pipeline rather than waiting for the cheese to run out before reacting. We leverage the same principle for our clients.

What’s your business outlook for 2010?
We expect significant incremental revenue, double-digit profitability and additional job creation.

What advice would you give a new boss?
If you hire people who are smaller than you, you’ll become a company of dwarfs. But if you hire people who are bigger than you, you’ll become a company of giants.

What’s your definition of a miserable, unsatisfying life?
Not making contributions that improve the world around you.

You’ve just been given $100,000 to donate to charity. Which and why?
A new favorite is the Anthony Muñoz Foundation. Anthony is a living Latino legend, and I have really gotten to know him and his team in the past year because of our branding and marketing work for his company, Muñoz Brandz. We share the same credo of working hard to make a difference.

What scares you?
I was a member of an elite (Green Beret Special Forces) unit which conducted operations against the likes of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and the Medellin Cartel. We were taught to overcome our fears. We learned to face danger and to confront opposition with undaunting commitment and decisiveness. Today, what scares and saddens me is disparity. I mean disparity in education, health care-related disparities and also the lack of economic inclusion.

His passion: Health care for everyone.

The Cincinnati Enquirer | By: Jeff McKinney

Mike Robinson is a vocal proponent of racial equity in the health-care market.
Robinson, president and CEO of the multi-cultural marketing and research firm LaVerdad Marketing & Media in Montgomery, also is passionate about helping minorities get a high school and college education.

He knows first hand what it’s like not to have access to proper health care.

“I’m so adamant about it because it touches me personally,” Robinson, 46, says.

Robinson recalls many of his family members – including his father, uncles and grandparents – dying at an early age of diseases such as breast cancer and leukemia while he was growing up in a poor neighborhood in Maryvale, Ariz.

Since then, Robinson has made it his mission to help blacks, Latinos and other ethnic minorities gain greater access to health care, including preventive screenings and education.

In June, LaVerdad organized a group of local companies to provide a variety of health screenings such as checkups for blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes inside local Bigg’s stores, mainly targeting blacks and Latinos.

LaVERDAD, which this year provided marketing services to big brands that include Procter & Gamble’s Pantene, Downy and Mr. Clean products, also provides an annual $1,000 scholarship to local Hispanic college students.

Although his firm continues to rack up kudos from industry peers, Robinson is just as proud of his efforts to help Latinos and blacks get more access to health care services.

Last month, Robinson received the 2007 “Regional Hispanic Businessman” award for eight Midwestern states from the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. LaVerdad was named a “Regional Supplier of the Year” by the National Minority Supplier Development Council.

But Robinson says the most important work LaVERDAD has done this year is help its health care clients – including Mercy Health Partners of Southwest Ohio and Santa Maria Community Services – do health screenings.

“We want to help clients create products that help improve the lives of ethnic consumers,” he says.

CINCINNATI, OH, SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 – The marketing and advertising industry was well represented during the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s 2007 Annual Convention, Business Expo & International Pavilion, held September 18-22 in San Juan Puerto Rico.

For the first time, advertising executives were represented across both the Businesswoman and Businessman of the Year categories, when Ms. Nannette Rodriguez, president of VIVAMEDIA, Inc. (www.virtualviva.com) was recognized as 2007 Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year and Mr. Mike Robinson, president of LaVERDAD Marketing & Media (www.laverdadmarketing.com) received honors as 2007 Hispanic Businessman of the Year Award.

“As the leader of LaVERDAD, I’m honored to accept this award, but it is clearly a team effort. We’re not only fortunate to have a great team of global marketing experts, but we also are extremely fortunate to have been called upon to provide service and support to great companies and brands such Allstate, Crest, Pantene, Downy, Mr. Clean, Mercy Health Partners, Fifth Third Bank and a host of others,” said Robinson.

Mr. Robinson was nominated for the award by the Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA, and endorsed by The Procter & Gamble Company, Department of the Army, Fifth Third Bank, and Mr. John Pepper, retired Chairman and CEO of The Procter & Gamble Company.

Other regional award recipients include Ms. Aracelica Paredes, CEO of Super Mercado Del Pueblo; Ms. Jacqueline J. Baca, President of Bueno Foods; Dr. Carmen Santiago, CEO & President of Cuidado Casero Home Health & Hospice; Ms. Rosa Santana, CEO of Integrated Human Capital; Mr. Frederick R. Ruiz, Chair, Co-Founder & CEO of Ruiz Foods, Inc.; Mr. Ruben Ruiz, CEO, Financial Advisor & Author of The Ruiz Financial Group, LLC.; Mr. Alex Castro, President & COO of C&S Hardware; and Mr. David Hernandez, CEO of Liberty Power.

Business Courier of Cincinnati | By: Lisa Biank Fasig

Owner of fast-growing LaVERDAD seeking financing to take company to next level

With the U.S. Latino population approaching $1 trillion in spending power, and with such large corporations as Toyota Motor Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores knocking at its door, marketing firm La Verdad is seeking financing to expand its already rapidly growing business.

The Montgomery-based firm, which sells market research to help companies win a greater share of ethnic markets, has experienced triple-digit growth since its founding in September 2002. It is on track to generate sales of $2 million in the next six to 12 months. La Verdad can thank its gift of timing for the rise.

The techniques it uses — consumer research, brand collaborations and events marketing — all have vastly expanded in the past several years, as has the market it targets. A full 20 percent of babies born in the United States are Latino, said Mike Robinson, founder and CEO of La Verdad. In Cincinnati alone, the Hispanic and Latino markets have grown by about 5,000 people a year up to 2006, according to the Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA. Robinson estimates its spending power locally at almost $500 million.

“As baby boomers move into retirement, the industry has to start looking into new consumer bases,” he said, “or they have to reinvent themselves.” But La Verdad’s work is not just local; about 75 percent of its business is generated by national firms. It represents about three dozen brands worth $1 billion. Companies from Procter & Gamble Co. to Fifth Third Bank call on the firm to handle in-store research, qualitative analysis and to study consumers within their homes.

More recently, Toyota has committed to developing La Verdad as a supplier, Robinson said, and Wal-Mart a few months ago asked the company to register as a diversity supplier. So Robinson, a third-generation Mexican-American, is seeking financing to expand his facilities and work force. With 30 employees, his firm is bumping against the walls at his office. He will need more people to handle the expansion.

And Robinson anticipates much growth. The biggest mistake companies can make, other than ignoring the need to reach out to ethnic markets, is approaching them based on anecdotes or perceptions, he said. Robinson regularly sees misspellings in the Spanish advertisements in the newspaper, for instance.

He refers to the expanding number of Latino babies born to the United States. That is a giant market for cereal companies, yet no cereals in the mainstream grocery store carry bilingual packaging. That’s a entire industry that hasn’t spotted an opportunity, and Robinson is reaching out to them.

“Mike is a great strategic thinker,” said Ed Owens, senior vice president and director of community affairs at Fifth Third, which has used La Verdad for diversity training. “He’s been very effective in identifying a strategy to better help us penetrate the Latino market.”
A testimony to the effectiveness of ethnic marketing is the extent to which some of La Verdad’s clients have grown since hiring its services.

Ernest Almanza, agency owner for Allstate Insurance, hired La Verdad three years ago and was immediately advised to sponsor a booth at the annual Cincy-Cinco Latin Festival. In the first year, Almanza’s office generated more than 1,000 potential customers through events raffles. Since then, Almanza expanded to three office locations from one, and he added nine staff members, for a total of 11, four of whom are multilingual.

“I was able to increase sales within the Hispanic community easily by 50 percent,” Almanza said. “He can do an analysis of where you are, where you can go and how to take you.”

Many of La Verdad’s suggestions may seem obvious but are easily overlooked. The firm advised Mercy Hospital Fairfield, for instance, to install bilingual signs on its campus. The hospital also began to participate in events, setting up a booth at the Su Casa Festival and offering free glucose testing, since there is a high susceptibility to diabetes among Latinos.

“It’s been valuable to make us more culturally astute, (knowing) what is important for Latino and Hispanic patients and their families when they enter a hospital environment,” said Greg Ossmann, director of marketing at Mercy. While La Verdad is best known as a firm that helps companies reach the Latino marketplace, about 40 percent of its business is dedicated to market research of other ethnic groups, including Asian and African-Americans, and of the general market. Robinson’s focus, in fact, is to grow awareness
of La Verdad’s ability to conduct general market research.

So he is seeking the financing to expand his infrastructure. It could be through venture capital or a traditional loan, but Robinson is confident the financing will come together. Many of his best clients are banks that have recently expanded their Latino market base.
As he put it: “We planned that out very well.”

E-mail: lfasig@bizjournals.com. Call: (513) 337-9435.

Miami Herald | By: Matt Reed

Financial Times: London | By: Lauren Foster

At Saks Fifth Avenue, he headed straight to the men’s department where Omar Aboudi, who had recently fitted him for a bespoke Gianluca Isaia suit, took out his tape measure and meticulously jotted down the dimensions for a tailored sports jacket.

The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused. The morning’s whistle-stop tour of some of best-known luxury brands highlights a sweet spot for luxury companies: as an affluent Colombian-American, Mr Pedraza is part of a powerful group of Hispanic consumers who recognise that brand status is universal.

“The wealthy around the world tend to cluster around the same brands,” he says. “Because Latin immigrants are so aspirational they seek to attain the same constellation of brands as the mainstream market.” Hispanics make up an estimated 44.8m – or 14.9 per cent – of the total US population. By 2020, that number is expected to swell to 64.2m – or 18.9 per cent, according to Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis Group. From 2000 to 2006, the Hispanic population in the US grew at a rate of 4.1 per cent, faster than any other minority group.

While wealth tends to be clustered in the hands of a few, successful Hispanics, like their Anglo counterparts, aspire to luxury brands to convey status. “The Hispanic population is a young population with increased buying power that has access to more luxury products and brands as they rise in socioeconomic status,” says Mike Robinson, chief executive of LaVERDAD Marketing and Media, which specialises in marketing to Hispanics.

He says Hispanics wield about $700bn in buying power – roughly the same as African Americans. By 2008, that number is expected to exceed $1,000bn. In addition to the Hispanics living in the US, many wealthy Latin Americans shop for luxury brands while holidaying in the US as it allows them to avoid high duties in their native countries.

Luxury goods companies that recognise Hispanics are not all recently arrived immigrants with weak spending power are better positioned to take advantage of this demographic trend, especially if they have a presence in areas such as south Florida, known to have one of the highest Hispanic populations in the U.S.

Coach, which designs and sells luxury handbags and accessories, says it has seen “significant gains in brand ownership by affluent Latinas” as it expanded stores in Florida, Texas and Southern California.

Robert Polet, president and chief executive of Gucci Group, which is owned by PPR, says US Hispanic customers “are a very important target group both for the overall luxury business and for Gucci Group brands”. He added: “A big part of our exponential growth in the US, especially in the Ssuthern Californian and southern Florida areas, is driven by these demographics, which still present a huge potential.”

To offer the best level of service, Gucci ensures it has Spanish-speaking sales assistants in key markets such as California, Texas and New York, where there is an important and growing Hispanic base. In the Bal Harbour area of Miami, it has both Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking assistants. This year the Gucci brand will open three stores that will cater almost exclusively to the Latin American community: in Puerto Rico, in Mexico City and in San Diego, which has one of the largest Hispanic populations in southern California.

Estée Lauder, the prestige cosmetics company, this year launched its ultraluxury Re-Nutriv Re-Creation Day and Night Creme – which together retail for $900. Within two weeks, Re-Creation sold out in Chile. In the US, the second-highest sales results came from a Saks Fifth Avenue store in south Florida.

“The fact is, women are willing to pay whatever for a luxury product they feel is going to give them the best,” says Alicia Valencia, vice president of sales and marketing for Latin America and the US hispanic market for the Estée Lauder brand.

In the US, Lauder is targeting Hispanic women by placing advertisements in popular magazines such as Latina, Vanidades, Ocean Drive en Español and Selecta. “We look for regional publications in markets that cater to the affluent Hispanic consumer,” says Ms Valencia. “The Hispanic consumer is extremely important, because if we want to continue to grow our market share in the US, this is the fastest-growing demographic.”

Betty Cortina, the Cuban-American editorial director of Latina magazine, says communicating status and success “is a very important part of growing up Latin in this country”.

“You are aware of your parents coming here to chase the American dream, and you are the embodiment of that success,” she says. With luxury brands, “the message is: ‘I have arrived and I am successful’.”