Minority Ad Shop Defies Convention and Makes It Pay
People used to talk about the ad agency Muse Cordero Chen chiefly because its namesakes are such an unlikely triumvirate.
Its president is black. The general manager is a Latina. And an Asian is executive vice president. Lately, however, the minority-owned Los Angeles agency isn’t being discussed because of who runs it. It is in the news for the sudden slew of business it is winning.
Just last month, it picked up four new clients that added more than $4 million in billings to the firm. In the business of advertising to minorities, that is substantial.
Among its new projects will be the creation of anti-smoking ads aimed at Asians and blacks for the California Department of Health Services. It will soon create Latino and Asian ads for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s “DASH” bus system that runs downtown. Both Cigna Cos. and Panda Inn restaurants turned to the agency last month to develop Asian-oriented campaigns. And Asian-oriented ads that it created for the U.S. Census Bureau will air on television next month.
“We can change colors like a chameleon,” said J. Melvin Muse, who four years ago co-founded the agency that now creates minority ads for a client roster that is 60% black, 30% Asian and 10% Latino. “I believe this is the future of ethnic advertising,” he said.
Industry executives suggest that the agency has found a niche that few others have discovered in Los Angeles--or elsewhere. Although it faces stiff competition from local Latino ad firms, only a handful of agencies in Los Angeles specifically cater to blacks or Asians.
“They’re ahead of their time in what they’re attempting to do,” said Guy Day, vice chairman of the agency Keye/Donna/Pearlstein, which recently selected the agency to help it develop ads targeted at blacks and Asians for the state’s upcoming anti-smoking ad campaign. “They seem to cover the ethnic universe.”
And they do it like few other agencies: by defying expectations. A black creative director devised an ad campaign for the U.S. Census Bureau that is specifically aimed at Asians. A Latina woman oversees the strategic planning of American Honda ads that are targeted toward blacks.
At Muse Cordero Chen, this is just another day at the office.
Unlike most minority agencies that develop completely new campaigns for their clients, Muse said, his firm often prefers to develop ads that instead closely tie in to the theme developed by the mainstream agency. For example, some Honda radio ads it recently made for the black market feature a very easy-going jazz tune--somewhat similar to the soft-sell approach created by Honda’s mainstream agency, Rubin Postaer & Associates.
The 12-person ad shop--in which six languages are fluently spoken--posts annual billings of slightly more than $12 million. It was formed four years ago when the three partners tried--but failed--to land the California Lottery’s lucrative minority ad business. “What we got out of the deal was each other,” Muse said.
Cordero and Chen previously assisted the agency Rubin Postaer with minority ad campaigns. “There were doubts in many people’s minds if the three of us could work together effectively,” said David Chen, who is Chinese and 10 years ago moved here from Taiwan. “I think we’ve proved that we can.”
And Mavis Cordero said some local Latino ad executives also warned her that the makeup of the new agency could confuse potential clients. “We’re not black or Latino or anything else,” Cordero said. “We are an advertising and marketing agency. We’re at the right place at the right time.”
A majority of the firm is owned by a New York holding company, the Cornelius Group, which also owns one of the nation’s largest minority ad agencies, the New York-based Mingo Group. That company’s founder, Frank Mingo, gave Muse his first big break in the business by agreeing to lend his name to Muse’s efforts to land Pacific Bell’s Asian ad account.
But Mingo recently died. And now there is speculation--which Muse does not deny--that he and his partners may soon seek majority ownership in Muse Cordero Chen.
The agency does have some major clients. For many of these clients, it spends more time devising public relations and marketing strategies than it does creating ads. For example, at American Honda, it helps draw up a strategy for campaigns aimed at blacks. The agency coaxed Honda into sponsoring a cocktail party after the filming of “Sammy Davis Jr.’s 60th Anniversary Celebration,” which recently aired on ABC. “Lots of influential people attended that party and it went off flawlessly,” said Eric Conn, senior manager for automotive advertising for American Honda. “Every indication is, this agency can deliver.”
But the agency has yet to land the big name brands behind many of its clients. For example, although Anheuser-Busch is on its client list, it only promotes to Asian consumers a brand of rice that the beer maker’s agricultural division makes. And while Southern California Gas Co. is also a client, the agency has mostly pieced together a resource book distributed by the utility that is designed to link California companies with minority-owned businesses.
There have been some tough moments along the way. When a printer hired by the agency made a production error, a widely circulated ad targeted at Pacific Bell’s Asian clients had two Chinese characters printed upside down. That angered some of the phone company’s customers.
And the agency still has some weak links. Muse is the first to admit that his agency’s ability to produce first-class Latino advertising lags that of several of the top Latino agencies in town. “But we’re getting better,” he said. The effectiveness of its upcoming Latino campaign for the “DASH” mini-bus system could play a role in determining the growth of the agency’s Latino division.
What’s next for Muse Cordero Chen? Bolstered by recent new business, Muse boldly projects that the agency could post annual billings of $20 million within two years. “You don’t get what you want,” Muse said. “You get what you are.”
