Fairfax, Va. (June 9, 2021) – With a record number of entries, the Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC) announced the 2021 winners of the HMC Strategic Excellence Awards, the only award of its kind that honors multicultural strategic thinking and cultural competence in marketing. Alma took top honors with a Gold for Best Cultural Insight for its work with McDonald’s and a Gold for Mainstream Impact for its work by Coors. Casanova//McCann, Culture ONE World, d expósito & Partners, Dieste, Inspire Agency, Republica Havas, Visual Latina, and Zubi also received accolades.

Led by jury president Maurice Cooper, senior VP, Guest and Brand experience marketing at Target, the judges comprised of client leaders and executives representing Hispanic marketing, media and digital agencies, selected the following winners:

Best Cultural Insight

Mainstream Impact 

Pro-Bono 

Shopper & Experiential Excellence 

Media Connections – Content  Strategy

“Ingenuity, born of deep cultural insights, is imperative for effective campaigns and engagement plans, especially as Hispanics lead the charge in both demographic and cultural shifts,” said Victor Paredes, chair of the HMC Strategic Excellence Awards Committee and VP of creative strategy at UniWorld Group, Inc. “The sheer quantity, quality and diversity of these submissions make the HMC Strategic Excellence Awards a critical benchmark for multicultural strategic craftsmanship in the U.S.”

The winners will be featured as part of a series of thought leadership webinars during the summer:

• Session 1: Thursday, July 15 at 2pm EDT highlighting the campaigns by Alma and Dieste with judges Maurice Cooper, senior VP, Guest and Brand Experience marketing at Target and Jennifer Woods, managing director, VP insights & strategy, Captura Group. 
• Session 2: Tuesday, July 27 at 2pm EDT featuring an in-depth discussion with Alma, d expósito & Partners and Culture ONE World, as well as judges Roberto Hernández, director social & digital strategy, Dieste, Inc. and Claudia Oddo, audience marketing, Pandora.