LA Dodgers VP Heads All-Star Speaker Lineup at Hispanic Retail 360

NEW YORK -- Los Angeles Dodgers v.p. of sales and marketing Sergio del Prado leads a heavy-hitting lineup of Latino market retailers, experts, and consumer product goods executives set to speak at the third annual Hispanic Retail 360 Summit, August 1-3, 2007, at the Westin Park Central Hotel in Dallas.

The Hispanic Retail 360 Summit was created and is run by the Nielsen Company, which also publishes Progressive Grocer.

The Dodgers have a long tradition of being at the forefront of Hispanic marketing, spanning from the Viva Los Dodgers music festival, losdodgers.com (one of the first Spanish-language Major League Baseball Web sites), and the the first and longest running Spanish-language radio broadcast.

Prado, who also served as general manager of the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team, will speak on using sports properties to create effective Hispanic retail and grass roots promotions. Case studies will include current Dodger sponsors including Hispanic-owned businesses Cacique, Las Palmas and Aeromexico, as well as other sponsors Macy's, Costco, 76, ampm, and Time Warner.

Kal Patel, executive vice president, emerging business and strategy for Best Buy, and Manny Fernandez, manager of multicultural marketing for JCPenney, will be among the retailers taking the dais to share insights and practices for connecting with the Latino shopper.

In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to tour Minyard Food Stores' award-winning Latino-themed Carnival flagship supermarket.

Representatives of other grocery, convenience and department store retailers, including ExxonMobil, Southwest Convenience Stores (the largest 7-Eleven licensee in the U.S.), Pro's Ranch Markets, Minyard Food Stores, Hy-Vee Inc., and La Curacao, will also present case studies, along with major suppliers to the retail business, including Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson, and SONY.

In addition, Raul Reyes, strategy leader for U.S. Marketing for McDonald's Corp., has been named to the Summit's 23-member Retail Advisory Board, which provides feedback and helps shape conference content.

The 2007 format of the conference will also include more breakout sessions allowing participants to choose from an array of topics and areas of interest and experience levels that suit their needs.

The 2007 Hispanic Retail 360 Summit will feature:

A Marketing Track covering grassroots marketing (a Johnson & Johnson case study with Wal-Mart), direct mail/print (Latino Direct Mail Success Stories), and digital/broadcast.
A Retailing Track featuring sessions on grocery, convenience, consumer electronics and Internet retailing.
A Consumer Insights Track highlighted by ACNielsen's look into Hispanic consumers' shopping baskets, advice on how to target wealthy Hispanics, and cashing in on Hispanic holidays.
Live on-site focus group of Latino shoppers from different backgrounds and acculturation levels, conducted by NBC-Today Show Food Expert Phil Lempert, The Supermarket Guru.
More product areas from food to general merchandise and topics of interest to all retail channels including department stores, mass merchandisers, supermarkets, convenience stores, drug stores and specialty retailers in consumer electronics, home improvement, apparel and more.
Store tour to view best practices by Dallas-area retailers who serve the Hispanic community, including Minyard's new award-winning Hispanic flagship, Carnival Store.
Marketing y Medios' annual presentation of its Media All-Stars awards.

One of the highlights of the Summit will be the presentation of the Hispanic Retail Excellence Award. Last year's winner was Anaheim-based JAX Markets. The 2005 winner was Pros Ranch Market, which operates Hispanic market stores in southern California and four in Phoenix, Ariz.

Last year's Summit, held in Chicago, attracted more than 500 attendees composed of retailers from across all channels of retailing, major consumer products goods manufacturers, advertising agencies and consultants. Feedback from last year's attendees was extremely positive. "Great conference! It really is the 360 degrees. You start from point A and continue on. No matter what level of knowledge you come with, you leave with the total picture," said Maria St. Germain of Kroger, the giant supermarket chain.

Publication partners for Hispanic Retail 360 include Progressive Grocer, Adweek, Marketing y Medios, Brandweek, Mediaweek, and Convenience Store News. The Mexican American Grocer Association, NACS (The Association for Convenience & Petroleum Retailing), GMDC (General Merchandise Distributors Council) and the Neighborhood Market Association (formerly the California Independent Grocers & Convenience Stores) are among the trade association sponsors.

This year's sponsors include Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, ADVO, CityReach Latino, Kraft, Hershey, AARP, Buena Guia, Colgate-Palmolive, and McLane Co. Several sponsorship packages are still available. For more information on sponsorships, please contact Jeff Friedman, vice president, customer media, Nielsen Business Media, at 646-654-7452, or email: [email protected].

For registration information, please contact Lois Miller at [email protected] or go to www.hispanicretail360.com.
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