For the first time this season, Creative LIAisons’ virtual talk had two speakers. Janina Lundy, Head of Emerging Audience Development Amazon Studios & Prime Video and Richard-Abraham Rugnao, President and Chief Emerge Officer, rar, chat with each other on a range of topics – from their favorite ice cream to cultural shifts in the consumer marketplace. Both Janina Lundy and Richard-Abraham Rugnao share a commonality as they both work with Latino audiences and a younger demographic.
With over 20 years of experience, Janina is known for her expertise in connecting with diverse audiences. She was inspired by her former boss to be positive, not just in work, but also in life. Janina Lundy said: “I’ve learnt how to interact in business and with friends. And the importance of building relationships and maintaining those relationships so that you can call on them for various things – to bounce ideas off, get ideas and advice or to work with. You need a network of both people from within your industry and those who are not. My regret is that I wasn’t better at it when I was younger.”
To illustrate the point, Janina shared that she and Richard-Abraham Rugnao, who is focused on emerging multi-cultural consumers and influencers, had met when they both worked on a project for BMW together eight years ago. As they have stayed in touch, and most recently through Richard-Abraham’s yearly conference for Latinos, they are now doing some work together at Prime Video for Latino audiences.
Richard-Abraham touched on the importance of the balance of IQ and EQ, especially in building a network. He said: “Building relationships does take work. To me, it’s more of an art than a science. I encourage people to push themselves out of their comfort zone. People who inspire me are young people; young people who have an idea and it just explodes into something that they themselves could never have imagined.”
When it came to the discussion of multi-cultural shifts in the consumer market space Janina gave great insight: “Once upon a time, multi-cultural was about casting and translations. You would take the general market work and you would cast it differently or translate the same spot. But now, it is more about connecting authentically. That could sometimes mean leading with multi-cultural. Start with the influential audience and socially active groups who are within your location. The evolution is much more about unique insights, dedicated teams and representation from both client and agency side.”
As organizations are thinking more and more about reaching customers from all different types of backgrounds, Janina went on to say: “Both your experiences in work and in life are an asset. It is your unique perspective, whatever that might be, that’s really valuable. Inclusion is about having diverse perspectives. It brings out the best work in terms of content and marketing campaigns that excite audiences.”
Richard-Abraham added: “In the brand space, it used to be super segmented. Now you’re seeing integration in general market ads”.
Barbara Levy, President of LIA, said: “It is wonderful to have these great conversations around diverse audiences and the shifting landscape of the market space. We are greatly appreciative of this very insightful talk where Janina Lundy and Richard-Abraham Rugnao shared their experience and expertise.”
