“I wonder if what I am doing is still media,” muses Diana Sevillano.“Professionally, I am a hybrid—a media person, a marketing person, an integrator.” She’s also often at the center of working with the e-marketing agency, the PR agency, and the group that does point-of-purchase. Sevillano, ZenithOptimedia’s regional director for Latin America, feels strongly that today’s media professional must go even beyond planning, beyond creativity and collaboration, to wrestle with issues such as how do you measure product integration, brand placement, or even “brand feel,” particularly in a market like Latin America which is still embracing methods of accountability. She has created some personal rules that help her serve regional clients, which range from Hewlett-Packard to Puma to Hyundai.Always looking for ideas that are creative extensions to help a client maximize presence, she was an early advocate of pod-casting for a client. She wants to be the first in the region with any media opportunity so she immediately embraced “Latin Idol” when reality TV was still a new concept in Latin America.When asked how she recognizes what ideas will work, she immediately answers,“Gut.
Definitely gut feel.” It is also an answer her clients now understand.“A good client will trust you,” she insists. “After all, it is my risk, but I know this region and I love these brands.”
