Pedro L. Perez came to Sarasota from Miami 16 years ago. Soon he realized that a quite annoying daily routine could be turned into profits.

Local companies, desperate to tap into the Latino market, were knocking at his door begging him for advertising ideas in Spanish. So instead of finding polite ways to turn them down and let them know that he was busy with his Internet firm, he decided to start his own advertising agency.

HISPANIC BUSINESSES SURGING
WASHINGTON – Fueled by a rapidly expanding Hispanic consumer market, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses is growing much faster than the national rate for other companies.

Nuevo Advertising Group Receives Nomination for Minority Business of the Year

The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce recognized Nuevo Advertising Group, a certified woman-owned minority business, with a nomination for the 2006 Frank G. Berlin, Sr. Minority Business of the Year Award. Eligibility for nomination is based on the following qualifications: the business must be a functioning business for at least three years, must have a 51% or more ownership by a minority, be “for profit” and locally owned and operated with no more than 50 employees.

MUCH GAINED IN TRANSLATION
DANA SANCHEZ | TOURISM MATTERS – Their messages reach around the globe, courtesy of the World Wide Web. So it makes sense that some Florida tourist organizations are translating their published materials into other languages.

But in the translation business, one size does not fit all.

Tampa Bay Storm football games will be broadcast on Spanish-language radio this season as the result of a marketing agreement between Palace Sports & Entertainment and Nuevo Advertising Group of Sarasota.

Two graduates of the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota are plying their trade as creatives in a unique niche. Pedro Pérez and his wife Roseanne Avella-Pérez are helping businesses connect with the Hispanic consumer. They formed Nuevo Advertising Group in Sarasota just over a year ago and have already amassed an impressive track record.

It was only a matter of time before the invasion became official, before that up-tempo mix of reggae and hip-hop — popularized by Caribbean musicians in the late ’90s — arrived in Southwest Florida.

Live reggaeton is here, and it has Pedro Perez beaming. Latin Fusion presents live reggaeton.

English-to-Spanish In the past five years

For years, WEBG-FM (BIG 100), Orlando’s only “oldies” station, fed the area’s Baby Boomers a steady stream of hits from the 1960s and 1970s. On the morning of Feb. 2, however, executives from the station’s owner, Clear Channel Radio, called the station’s employees to a meeting and gave them the news: The Beatles were out; Marc Anthony was in. As of noon, the station was changing formats and would begin broadcasting Spanish pop music. Rumba 100.3 FM (WRUM) was born.

Gulf Coast Business Review 40 Under 40, 2005
2005 Honorees
July 29-August 4,

By Isabelle Gan / Contributing Writer

Recognized as a mecca for retirees, Greater Sarasota-Manatee isn’t known for its allure to the young professional. But little by little that’s changing. Since 2000, U.S. Census figures show Greater Sarasota’s 20-to-40 age group grew 1% while the 60-and-over group shrunk by 1.4%. The 20- to 40-year-olds, in fact, held their ground in terms of the total percentage of population here (25%) while retirees, clearly the dominant group, shrunk from 35% to 32% of total population. Those aren’t dramatic shifts, but the perception and reality is that as the Gulf Coast continues to grow, more and more working people are choosing Manatee and Sarasota counties as the place they want to raise their families.

Tilde Herrera HeraldToday.com – Marketing to Hispanics in Spanish Colombian-born Ricardo Diaz is open to varying cuisines and American products but admits Spanish-language advertisements get his attention fast. “They don’t have to because it’s their country,” Diaz said of United States-based companies that choose to target the Hispanic community. “But money talks.”