Blackvoices.com is the largest African American virtual community on the Internet with over 1.5 million unique visits and 20 million monthly page views (audited by Nielsen/IPRO). The audience is upscale (80% college graduates) with an average age of 32 and household incomes between $48,000 - $64,000 annually.
Blackvoices.com features a variety of lifestyle and community activities including news, entertainment, business, finance, member photos chats and community events. It also has an extensive Career Center, which is an effective tool for employers looking for qualified diversity candidates. The Career Center currently contains the largest online resume database of career-oriented African-Americans and contains a fully searchable database of several thousand jobs from Fortune 1000 employers.
Blackvoices.com also features an offline quarterly magazine and several offline events such as cruises, cultural tours and great parties annually. Advertisers include General Motors (several brands), Toyota, Mobil Oil, Ford Motor Company, Proctor & Gamble, Chase Visa, Coach, ibeauty.com, Lifetime TV, Universal Studios, US Army and others. Call Mel Fallis, VP, Sales and Marketing, 312-222-4203

INTEREP is the nation's largest independent full service advertising sales and marketing company devoted solely to radio. Since 1950, INTEREP has been bringing the power of radio to advertisers and agencies. It offers the industry's most complete and innovative program of strategic marketing support services, all designed to help its clients achieve their specific business goals. Sherman Kizart, Director of Urban Marketing for INTEREP, is a 12-year broadcasting, sales, marketing and management professional. At the 1998 Radio Advertising Bureau's Marketing Leadership Conference, Sherman was awarded the prestigious 1998 Radio Wayne Award. The Radio Wayne is the highest honor that a radio, sales, marketing, and management professional can receive. He's only the second African American to win other than Skip Finley. He is also the winner of the prestigious 1998 Chairman's Circle Award at INTEREP. Call Sherman Kizart, Director of Urban Marketing, 312-616-7204.

Like an explosively popular album, BlackPlanet.com has generated a tsunami of word-of-mouth buzz to become the most highly trafficked black site on the Net. BlackPlanet.com connects African Americans to each other with unprecedented ease in a friendly online community. The site provides members with free personal pages, e-mail, games, forums, chat, news, instant messaging and Internet telephony. These features allow members to cultivate meaningful personal and professional relationships, stay informed about the world, and gain access to goods and services that allow them to do more in life. With more than 150,000 registered users and two million page views a day, BlackPlanet.com is the most effective way to reach the growing African American online presence. Through marketing and advertising vehicles that include promotions, partnerships, targeted banner ads, newsletters and sponsorships, BlackPlanet.com harnesses the power of the Net to offer members and marketers a world of opportunity. Call Candace Purdie, Marketing Manager, 212-431-4477.

ASB Communications is a U.S. based full-service firm, founded in 1995 by Neeta Bhasin, that serves as a source for media-related services, identifying and meeting the needs of the Asian and Indo-Caribbean community. ASB is in constant touch with opinion leaders in the Asian media - Internet, print, broadcast, television and other entertainment sources. Coupled with its liaison with business and community leaders, ASB has vast experience in business, marketing and social issues as well as television standards and practices. Their services include advertising, integrated marketing, public relations, strategic planning, research, traditional media, community relations, ethnic media relations, promotional campaigns, special events management and video commercials. They provide creative, strategic and informative advertising and public relation solutions to client situations such as the ASB established pilot program for money transfer to South Asia for client Western Union. Founder Neeta Bhasin is a well-known television personality through her regular appearances on ITV, Vision of Asia and TV-36 which together make up the largest U.S. TV network targeting ethnic South Asian and Indo-Caribbean markets. Call Neeta Bhasin, President, 516-409-1886, neetabhasin@asbcommunications.com.

iMinorities.com, Inc., is a portal for all underrepresented minorities providing them with widespread information on employment opportunities, career advice, plus valuable self-development information from their perspectives. The company's Internet Division operates two Web sites: MINORITIES' JOB BANK at www.minorities-jb.com and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online at www.black-collegian.com. Its Publishing Division publishes THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine and Black MBA Magazine. The company's multicultural online village network showcases diversity in the workplace at its best. Equal opportunity employers are connected with minority job seekers via fully-featured job search and resume databases. Leading multiethnic writers, educators, artists and thinkers explore key issues in virtual multicultural villages: African-American Village, Asian-American Village, Hispanic-American Village, Native-American Village, Women's Village and Minorities' Global Village. iMinorities.com is an innovative Web site where cultures merge to learn about and from each other. Call Preston J. Edwards, Sr., Chairman and CEO, iMinorities.com, Inc., 504-523-5320, preston@iminorities.com.

On Wheels Inc. is a multi-media communications company dedicated to identifying and serving the needs of the African-American automotive culture. On Wheels reaches the heart of the community with the ABC-audited 780,000 distribution publication, African Americans On Wheels. This national auto magazine, for both buffs and consumers, provides award-winning editorial coverage of the industry's people, products, motorsports, car care, accessories and travel, plus weekly news, reviews, and resources for carbuyers at www.automag.com. On Wheels' non-profit Automotive Industry Diversity Efforts provides financial assistance and mentors for youth to pursue careers in the industry. Through volunteer advisory council, On Wheels has helped companies such as Jaguar design a comprehensive, business approach to diversity. An annual awards program held during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, attracts the industry's top leaders. A national campaign will be launched in February, in conjunction with the federal government and Mitsubishi Motors, to promote seatbelt safety to African Americans. Further brand extentions include a radio talk show scheduled to premier 1st quarter 2000, and a celebrity car column in Sister 2 Sister magazine. Call Christine Anderson 313-963-2209, motormedia@aol.com.

Kid Power Xchange/IQPC conferences keep marketing professionals up to date on the Hispanic market. Two multicultural conferences will be held in early 2000 in Miami. First up is Latino Youth Power: How to Reach the Growing Hispanic American Youth Market, to be held Feb 23-24. This conference will provide a better understanding of Hispanic youth as consumers through cutting-edge sessions on research, product development, media opportunities, successful case studies, and interactive workshops. Discover how to reach Latino youth while getting the biggest bang for your buck. Next, U.S. Hispanic Marketing 2000: Identifying the Most Effective Ways to Reach the U.S. Hispanic Market will be held on April 27-28. This conference will provide up-to-the-minute research on the buying habits, media preferences, and cultural characteristics of Hispanics, as well as an in-depth look at marketing to Hispanics in the 21st century. It will feature case studies from companies who have proven success with the Hispanic market, including Telemundo, McDonald's Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company and Radio Unica. Call Norm Viksna, Marketing Dir., Kid Power Xchange, 973-812-5185, norm@kidpowerx.com.

Featuring Insights from Allstate, Sprint PCS, Banco Popular, Burger King, Bell Atlantic, Frito Lay, Generation N, Lincoln Mercury, MoneyGram, Schering-Plough, Prodigy, Urban Latino, Wells Fargo,
Willie Esco, Yahoo. According to Rupa Ranganathan, Senior Vice President and Ethnic Strategist at Strategic Research Institute., the program will also feature a workshop that will help marketers to leverage the internet for market expansion. A new tracking tool to measure Latino purchase behavior in the packaged goods marketer will be presented by Isabel Valdés based on a partnership with AccessWorldwide and A.C. Nielsen. Aida Levitan, Sanchez and Levitan, will co-chair the event. Also announcing Hispanic and LatAm Internet Conference on March 20-21, 2000 in Miami Beach featuring Forrester Research, Bellsouth, Quepasa, Elsitio, StarMedia, GazetoMercantil, Mastercard International, Gazooba, Zona Financieria, Consejero.com and more.. For registrations, Call Rupa Ranganathan, 800-599-4950x252, email rranganathan@srinstitute.com, visit www.srinstitute.com.

Isabel Valdés, president and founder of the Cultural Access Group, formerly Hispanic Market Connections, will soon be launching the continuation of her highly regarded Hispanic Market Handbook. Due to the unprecedented pace with which the group grew and diversified, Isabel felt the need to author the new Hispanic Culture Marketing. The cyber book is an interactive, on-line resource filled with new information and techniques geared to reaching and impacting the "here-to-stay" Hispanic consumer. Fresh and innovative, the book is the first-of-its-kind desktop must-have for today's marketers, revealing the tools for professionals to grasp a better understanding of this growing and dynamic demographic group. Key topics include: Hispanic Population Trends; Hispanic Heritage & Social Networks; Hispanic Ethnicity & the Marketplace; Understanding the Hispanic Consumer; Latinos & Music and more. Contact Jennifer Lynch, Director of Marketing and Sales, 650-965-3859.

GEICO has retained Lopez Negrete Communications as its first Hispanic Agency of Record in an effort to offer its extensive line of insurance products to Hispanics. The selection followed a thorough review process that included capabilities presentations and test projects. Responsibilities include the development and implementation of fully integrated communications programs which will feature advertising (media, creataive and production.) community relations, promotions and direct marketing. Ted Ward, VP, Marketing for GEICO said, "Establishing a meaningful relationship with the growing Hispanic community is a key priority for us at GEICO." Washington-based GEICO is the largest direct marketer and sixth largest private passenger auto insurance company in the U.S. serving over 4 million policy holders coast to coast. Lopez Negrete Communications, a full service Hispanic ad agency headquartered in Houston, Tx, with offices in Miami has been offering a full range of advertising and marketing services since 1985. GEICO joins a list of clients which includes Wal-Mart Stores, Goya Foods, Humana, Bank of America, Six Flags Theme Parks, Fiesta Marts, among others. Call Alex Lopez Negrete, President, 713-877-8777.

The US Hispanic Market Study is a practical , easy to-use reference book that contains the most current data on the US Hispanic Market. Inside you will find population estimates, demography, language use, market characteristics, socioeconomic modeling, acculturation and cultural components, media habits, shopping habits, product usage and market profile information for the Top US Hispanic markets.
The US Hispanic Market Study has helped those in advertising, marketing strategic planning, product and brand management and market research to develop strategic plans for key markets, marketing plans, marketing segmentation strategies, targeted distribution, media and marketing budget allocations and market research plans. Publisher of the study, Strategy Research Corp. is a full service marketing research company for Latin America and US Hispanic Market. SRC has been conducting marketing research for multinational corporations on multi-market and pan-regional scale for over a quarter of a century. During this period SRC has collected and disseminated one of the largest knowledge bases on Latin America , the Caribbean and US Hispanic Markets.Strategy Research also publishes The Latin American Market Planning Report. Call Johanna Strouss, Dir of Marketing, 305-649-5400, visit www.strategyresearch.com.

The American Advertising Federation Foundation, in partnership with Advertising Age, will present the 4th annual AAF's Most Promising Minority Students Program on February 24-25, 2000 at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC. The two day program is the ad industry's premier initiative and has presented the industry with over 200 qualified minority college students since its 1996 debut. Students and their faculty advisers are flown to New York and provided accommodations as guests of sponsors. Events include the gala Building Bridges for our Future luncheon salute to 25 finalists from colleges and universities across America. The objectives are to provide interview opportunities for talented minority advertising and marketing students, to build national awareness of the importance of cultural diversity and multicultural advertising, and to facilitate the exchange of ideas between promising students and industry leaders. Sponsorship opportunities, which include luncheon tables, and begin at $2,500 are
available. Call Heide Gardner, VP, Diversity & Strategic Programs, 202-898-0089.

KSCI-TV, founded in 1976, is the preeminent Asian language TV station in the US, providing news, sports, dramas and entertainment in 14 languages including Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Tagalog. The station delivers upscale Asian families for advertisers such as AT&T,
Colgate-Palmolive, Toyota, McDonald's, Metropolitan Life and Disneyland. The station's numerous community awards, including the Organization of Chinese Americans' Image Award and the Korean American Coalition's Community Service Award, shows its commitment to viewers. KSCI-TV was the first Asian-language station in LA to win an Emmy for its series, "U.S. Citizenship: A Dream Come True." Call Fernando Acosta, V.P., Sales & Marketing, 310-442-2724.