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Branding Mexico
“There is a crisis in communicating with people,” says Ana Olabuenaga. “We need to reconnect.” A legend in Mexican advertising, Olabuenaga, a Partner in her firm Olabuenaga & Cuchí Consultoría, identifies the problem at the business level as a lack of systematized branding. She visualizes a new, multilevel model for rebranding Mexico that draws on its “rich culture, both ancient and modern, its commercial capabilities, and its strengths in innovation and manufacturing.”
Olabuenaga is concerned that Mexico lacks a systematic approach to communicate its good qualities. Like every country, Mexico has its bad
seems to have inspired the citizenry. “The people of Mexico want to over- come their problems. They want to get ahead, if not for themselves, then for their children,” asserts Regina Montes Senosiain, General Manager of Nima Local House Hotel in México City. Montes Senosiain champions Mexico’s culture, beloved social structure, and strong families as its greatest assets.
COLORFUL CULTURE
Underneath the political and economic uncertainties afflicting Mexico thrums a culture of riotous color, flavor, and language. Ninety-five percent of the population speaks Spanish, the official language of Mexico. The Spanish that is spoken in Mexico is rooted in Spain and features almost identical syntax, grammar, and spelling, but the sound and pronunciation of the language are different. Mexican Spanish also bor- rows vocabulary from the most wide- ly spoken native language, Nahuatl, particularly in domestic areas like the home and food. Mexico counts 62 indigenous groups in the population, numbering approximately 15 million people, each with a unique language. Approximately half of these native people speak an indigenous language; however, 85 percent are bilingual, speaking both their native dialect and Mexican Spanish.
Mexico’s gastronomy, like the lan- guage, is diverse, influenced by both indigenous and immigrant cultures. Predominant ingredients include rice, beef, maize, avocados, tortillas, pota-
news—the drug wars, , the AH1N1 virus, and the clashes with the new administration in the United States—but the country is much bigger than that. Now Mexico wants to overcome those stereotypes, to establish another image internationally. “The country wants to demonstrate that it has an open, modern culture, it’s an open place to do business, it’s dynamic and modern, it has first-grade manufacturers,” she explains.
Olabuenaga wants to get the news out: “We must communicate our story through every media,” she says. “Mexico should be seen as a strategic and business partner to the world.”
ANA OLABUENAGA
Partner
Cuchí Consultoría
toes, and beans, with regional varia- tions ranging from hearty meats in the north and seafood along the coasts to carnitas and tamales in Central Mexico and spicy, piquant vegetable and chicken dishes in the south. The common thread uniting all Mexican food is its colorful chilies, sweet and mild to volcanic hot.
Beyond enriching local cuisine, food- stuffs comprise a significant portion of Mexico’s exports. Agricultural ex- ports, at US$28 billion, outperformed oil in 2016, according to Mark McCoy, CEO of Banco Finterra. He anticipates that “the positive trend for the agri- culture sector in Mexico will continue as it diversifies export markets beyond the United States and Canada to Asia and Europe.” Of course, Mexico’s most infamous agricultural export is tequila, distilled from the native blue agave plant primarily in the central western state of Jalisco. No authentic Mexican dining experience is complete without it.
Football (known in the United States as soccer) is the most widely practiced sport in Mexico. Nearly every child plays, and, as in most of Central and South America, fan fervor approach- es religious dedication toward their favorite team. That Mexicans love football is no revelation, but what may come as a surprise is their passion for charrería, a form of rodeo that is the country’s national sport. Bullfighting competitions—owing to the influence of Spanish conquerors—are also pop- ular. Boxing, baseball, and lucha libre,
a flamboyant style of wrestling, are among other popular sports through- out the country.
ABUNDANCE OF ARTISTRY
This pulsating reactor of diversity has given the world some of its most orig- inal and influential art. Pre-Columbi- an Mexican treasures are revered for their creativity and sophistication and are celebrated at the National Muse- um of Anthropology in México City. Among the best-known modern artists are Frida Kahlo, a gifted but tragic fig- ure who principally painted self-por- traits, and her husband, Diego Rivera, who was well known for his many in- fluential murals. Other international- ly acclaimed artists include José Cle- mente Orozco, who helped lead the revival of Mexican mural painting; painter and sculptor Rufino Tamayo; and David Alfaro Siqueiros, whose murals reflected his Marxist ideology.
The other arts thrive in Mexico, as well. Mexican cinema has a long and illustrious past, dating back to the Mexican Revolution. While motion pictures have flourished artistically at various times, the contemporary era of great Mexican film can be said to have begun in 1992, with the enormous popularity of Like Water for Chocolate. Today, the “triumvirate” of directors Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, and Alejandro González Iñárritu ri- vals any national cinema in the world.
Not to be overlooked is Mexican ar- chitecture, which has influenced the world with innovative design from
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