All Inclusive: Federico Hauri Talks Multicultural, Pluralistic and Rich Perspectives
Representing top-notch award-winning directors, ALTERED.LA understands that client growth depends on authentically engaging the ever-growing U.S. Hispanic market – now with a GDP surpassing $3.6 trillion. To do it right, the production company believes Hispanic representation both in front of and behind the camera is essential.
For this series with LBB, ALTERED.LA is speaking to representatives from the biggest agencies in the industry to see what they too are doing to advocate for more authentic bicultural storytelling, how this will grant the next generation of Hispanic talent a foot in the door and why this will result in greater Latin representation within the general US market overall.
In this edition, Federico Hauri, co-founder and CCO MULTI agency, based out of Miami, provides insights into the city as a creatively rich, multicultural environment. Pondering the future of multicultural agencies, he touches on the influence of bicultural gen z and millennial mentalities, and why brands are turning to agencies that are inherently diverse and still creatively competitive.
LBB> You’ve spoken about Miami being “international, American, and very Latino” so, I'm curious, how has working in such a culturally layered city shaped your creative approach and your perspective on what “culture-first” really means in advertising?
Federico> As creatives, we pull ‘material’ from the world around us, and living in Miami gives us plenty to draw from: Latino locura, American structure, international flavour, and everything in between. Having lived in a few cities in the US and abroad, I find that Miami allows someone like me to bring my full self into the work. Miami is also a small microcosm of what the US will be like in the next decades: multicultural, pluralistic, and rich in perspectives that don’t always align with the view of the majority. Especially these days.
The city also allows you to hire a diverse group of creatives from different nationalities and backgrounds in a way that is natural and not driven by whatever political winds are blowing. Diversity of thought and background literally comes with the city which makes everything more fun. A great example of this was the ‘Miami Beach Is Breaking Up With Spring Break’ project I worked on. This is an example of work that was deeply rooted in Miami culture and resonated nationally. It tackled a real problem that the city had been trying to solve for years but did it with the language and wit of the people who love it and live it.
LBB> You’ve led major campaigns for brands like Michelob Ultra, Wendy’s and Dell that reached wide audiences but were grounded in Hispanic insight. Can you share an example of work that wasn’t labelled a ‘Hispanic campaign’, yet still carried that cultural DNA? And why did that approach matter?
Federico> MULTI’s Christmas work for Zevia, which spoofed Coca-Cola’s AI-generated spot, didn’t come from a multicultural Hispanic brief specifically. But there’s a rebelliousness and cheekiness codified into the work that I like to attribute to our multi-cultural, multi-national view of the world. Particularly these days, thumbing our noses upwards and poking the bear feels especially good.
Some years back, I helped launch a US-first campaign for the launch of Wendy’s breakfast that had all the elements we dream of as a multicultural agency: an idea that’s product first, born from a cultural ‘joke’ pulled from Latin culture, with the power to crossover to the larger GM Wendy’s ‘HUEVOS’ campaign, produced by ALTERED.LA. Before the pandemic derailed absolutely everything, it was on track to be one of Wendy’s landmark cross-cultural initiatives. Could it have been thought up in a city in the middle of the country? Maybe. But it wasn’t.
LBB> As someone who’s been on both sides of the 'general market vs. multicultural' divide, how do you see the role of agencies like MULTI evolving, especially when bicultural and multicultural consumers are no longer niche, but the mainstream?
Federico> Will there be a cooling effect on multicultural investment in the current political climate? Maybe. Will the pendulum swing back towards specialisation (separation), where there are unique USH budgets and agencies doing specific work for this audience? Maybe. Will merging holding companies become too big to do specific work for Hispanic audiences? Probably. Will GM agencies feel empowered to ignore the Hispanic side of that multicultural consumer and skew their work towards the majority consumer? Maybe. Will USH agencies be accepted as truly GM-able? Will GM agencies finally become fully USH-ready? Unlikely. Will flexible, culturally fluid agencies such as MULTI become key partners for brands looking to appeal to that bicultural consumer who lives in that sweet spot? Absolutely.
LBB> With gen z and younger millennials identifying as fluidly bicultural - not choosing between worlds, but living in both - what creative opportunities do you see for brands that embrace that complexity rather than simplify it?
Federico> The opportunity for brands - as cliché as it may sound - is to be authentic and partner with agencies full of people who can do so as well. If a brand wants to appeal to that consumer living in the sweet spot between cultures, it would behoove it to hire agencies full of people who live in that world themselves. Self-serving, admittedly, but still true. Agencies such as ours live in that complexity every day, and can simplify it and make it great for business.
LBB> How do you envision the future of Hispanic representation in the advertising industry, and what role do you see your agency playing in this evolution?
Federico> Representation through quotas and corporate initiatives is a thing of the past. Brands are starting to understand that representation makes them money, so they are knocking on the doors of agencies that are diverse at their core without losing creative punch. This becomes truer as more holding company agencies merge and become bigger while creating more work that increasingly skews to the majority.
