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| Pitbull |
Hip-hop artist Pitbull and Horizon Media have joined forces to start a marketing agency aimed at the multicultural market, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Pitbull (Armando Christian Pérez) will be chief creative officer of the new agency, 305 Worldwide, in which he will own a minority stake. Horizon senior vice president, managing director, multicultural Karina Dobarro will be the agency’s chief strategist.
305 Worldwide will operate out of both New York and Miami (Pitbull’s home town), with an initial staff of about 14 people. Its services will include media, creative and digital marketing.
Its name combines two of Pitbull’s nicknames—Mr. 305, as in Miami’s area code, and Mr. Worldwide.
Pitbull told the Journal that his goal in launching 305 Worldwide is to “teach companies how to really be able to relate and empower all ethnic backgrounds through a story.” He says that the agency has already had meetings with several potential clients.
Horizon Media founder, president and CEO Bill Konigsberg said that the new agency represents an attempt to raise the profile of multicultural work. He cited Pitbull’s ability to tap into the growing multicultural market as a major plus for the new endeavor.
Horizon, which bills itself as the largest privately held media services agency, has over 1,500 employees, and clients that include GEICO, Capital One, Burger King, Corona, A+E Networks, DISH, Turner, LG, Sleep Number, Weight Watchers, Little Caesars, and Lindt.
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Multicultural audiences account for almost 40 percent of the U.S. population, yet multicultural media buys made up only about five percent of the total ad and marketing revenues in the U.S. last year, according to a report.
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