Successful advertising executive bringing it back home [The Brownsville Herald, Texas]

Dec. 28--Things are coming full circle for Brownsville native Karla Fernandez Parker, founder, president and CEO of K. Fernandez & Associates advertising agency based in San Antonio.

She's coming back to Brownsville -- at least in the sense that Fernandez & Associates has set up shop here with a new focus on the Rio Grande Valley market. The opportunity presented itself when one of the agency's team members, Wanda Reyes-Rice, relocated to the Valley. Fernandez Parker admits it's also an opportunity to visit her parents more often.

One of the agency's clients, Germania Insurance, is active in the Valley largely thanks to the guidance of Fernandez & Associates, which represents the insurer in 100 markets around Texas. The firm also has signed up a new client, Buffalo Wings & Rings, on Ohio-based franchise that has opened locations in Edinburg, McAllen and Weslaco.

Fernandez Parker sees plenty of opportunity in the Valley in light of significant growth happening here, partly thanks to the migration of affluent Mexican nationals getting away from the threat of violence at home. Many of those migrating to McAllen are from Monterrey, while Tampico supplies most of the Mexican nationals moving to Brownsville, Fernandez Parker said.

The Valley's status as a top Hispanic market makes it very attractive to Fernandez & Associates, which specializes in Hispanic and multi-cultural marketing -- not the same thing as simply substituting Spanish for English in identical ads. It's all about "finding the insight," the nature of which can vary substantially depending on whether the target audience is Hispanic or Anglo, Fernandez Parker said.

"Sometimes the insight's universal," she said. "Sometimes you can say the same thing and hit the same button, but some things you can't. People use categories differently, or it's a product that serves a different purpose."

An example is The Scooter Store, which hired Fernandez & Associates to advertise its mobility products to Hispanic consumers. The New Braunfels-based company likes to pitch its power chairs, or motorized wheelchairs, as a path to independence for its elderly customers. This product positioning has proved to be effective for the general market, though it's a nonstarter for Hispanics, Fernandez Parker said.

"One of the insights we brought to them is the Hispanic market doesn't want to be independent," she said. "We're interdependent. That's the way we structure our households. To show an old lady off by herself cooking her dinner -- that's the last thing we want to show."

The ad was adjusted to emphasize the independence angle -- but in terms of making it possible to be near family, not away from them.

"We're always thinking in two languages," Fernandez Parker said. "I think that's where we offer bigger bang for the buck. We feel like there is tremendous opportunity in the Valley given what we know and what we do."

Her own experience of growing up in Brownsville has proved valuable in being able to relate to an Hispanic audience, she said. Fernandez Parker graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990 with a degree in advertising, and then went to work for global public relations firm Ruder-Finn in New York City. Eventually, her thoughts turned homeward. She left New York for San Antonio and a job with the Sosa & Associates ad agency.

"I was pretty homesick," Fernandez Parker said. "I was living in a one-bedroom apartment with two other girls and a stinky dog. I just decided that my heart was really in Texas and it was really in Hispanic marketing."

She launched her own firm in San Antonio in 1996 as a division of Brownsville'sBreeden McCumber Agency, then Breeden McCumber Gonzalez Agency. Fernandez & Associates became independent a couple of years later and then in 2004 Fernandez Parker bought out Breeden McCumber's share.

"I wanted to start an agency with a big heart and big ideas," she said.

Fernandez & Associates serves mainly national and regional clients, often handling both Hispanic and non-Hispanic advertising for the same client. The firm has done work for Wells Fargo, H&R Block, UnitedHealthcare, Ritz Crackers and McCormick & Co. among many other heavy hitters, while doing pro bono work jobs for non-profits such as the Humane Society/SPCA of Bexar County and the Friends of Government Canyon.

"We're proud of the paid work we do, but we're really proud of the unpaid work we do," Fernandez Parker said.

The agency has racked up a long list of industry awards, such as being recognized as one of the nation's top 50 Hispanic advertising agencies by "Ad Age" magazine. More recently, the firm was recognized with platinum and gold MarCom and Davey awards for outstanding creative achievement among marketing professionals worldwide.

"Hispanic Trends" named Fernandez Parker among its Top 100 Hispanic Entrepreneurs, while the San Antonio Business Journal tapped her for its Entrepreneurial Leadership Award. She also has been honored by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and "Latina Style" magazine. In addition, the agency's case study on acculturation among Hispanic grocery shoppers was a published in "Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective," widely considered the definitive work on the subject.

Now Fernandez Parker is looking forward to focusing her big ideas on the Valley market, which she believes has become especially ripe thanks to explosive growth during the past decade. Statewide, the agency's experience is likely to become more of an asset as Texas' Hispanic population tips toward majority status and more commercial enterprises come to grasp the importance of culturally targeted advertising, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach.

"Texas is a whole state that has many, many markets with a very high Hispanic population," Fernandez Parker said. "You can't do business in Texas and ignore the Hispanic market."

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(c)2012 The Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Texas)

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