Hispano USA Takes Show on the Road

DALLAS Marketing firm Hispano USA is giving new meaning to the term “movie trailer,” rolling out a mobile theater designed to showcase the golden age of Mexican film and the sponsors who are underwriting the road show.

The Hispanic Film Heritage Tour began at San Antonio’s Instituto Cultural de Mexico Thursday and is scheduled to appear in major Latino markets in Florida and Georgia through October.

With sponsorship from Maseca cornmeal products, the tour is traveling under the name Cineteca Maseca.

In addition to promoting legendary Mexican film stars such as Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete, Luis Aguilar and producer-director Ismael Rodriguez, the tour will promote the newly created marketing agency Hispano USA, launched last year by president Javier Ruiz Galindo.

Ruiz Galindo previously worked for 10 years as a marketing consultant for TV Promo International, a Los Angeles-based promotional company.

Based in San Antonio with an office in Miami, Hispano USA is a promotional agency designed to tap the $652 billion U.S. Hispanic market through event marketing, Ruiz Galindo said. The Cineteca effort will ramp up to four trailers next year, Ruiz Galindo said. Next year, the company plans a series of festivals in 10 major U.S. cities with large Hispanic populations.

“Reaching the various segments of this market requires an understanding of the breadth and nuances of the culture, which is why Hispano USA is a group formed by Hispanics for Hispanics,” Ruiz Galindo said.

To launch the agency’s Hispano movie division, Ruiz Galindo secured rights to more than 600 titles produced by Ismael from the 1930s to the 1960s.

The 18-wheel trailers used to screen the films have been dubbed “cinetransformers” because they can be converted to 95-seat theaters with digital surround sound, concession stands and restrooms.

To promote the tour, Hispano will advertise through TV, radio, print, outdoor and point-of-sale messages, Ruiz Galindo said.