In July, Patrón named its first culture agency of record, a small shop named More than Words. It's a trend that's gaining traction—in August Taco Bell named Cashmere, now part of Media.Monks, as its culture AOR—but the role of a culture agency isn't often clearly understood.

Now, months into their relationship, Ad Age discussed with both the agency and the client the work More Than Words (MTW) is doing for Patrón. While MTW's remit includes Latin-influenced projects for the tequila brand, the marketer is taking a broader view of culture.

“Culture motivates what society thinks, does, consumes and talks about, paving the way for the future,” said Allie Bostwick, global director of communications, culture and brand partnerships. “Working with MTW as our culture agency is about making sure we have the right opportunities at the table and are focused on how our brand can strategically engage and align with specific pockets of culture.”

Added Bostwick: “MTW works hand-in-hand with my team to look at the levels of culture, macro trends, and then find ways for our brand to connect with consumers, whether that’s in moments that bring forth dialogue and connection through shared interests or by leveraging partners across various verticals to spark new ways for a brand to exist within them.”

While the small agency of seven people has only been around since 2018, it has been involved in a number of collaborations and projects that involve high-profile artists such as Adidas’ sneaker collaboration with Latin star Bad Bunny, which sold out in minutes, and Anheuser-Busch InBev's Michelob Ultra 2019 Super Bowl ad from FCB Chicago that featured Latin artist Maluma. This year, MTW helped bring Mexican-American pop star Becky G to appear in a regional Super Bowl ad for the same brand created by Wieden+Kennedy New York.

The agency also helped launch HBO Max’s Latinx-focused audience initiative called HBO "Pa’lante!" last year, which translates to “Forward!” in English. Part of that effort included MTW launching a pop-up activation in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan called “House of Bachata” that included holograms of Bachata icon Romeo Santos as a promotion for his shows on the streaming platform.

Ad Age spoke with MTW’s co-founders Diana Dotel and Matt Ferrigno about their background in the entertainment industry, what being Patrón’s culture AOR entails, the keys to successful brand partnerships, and more. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
 

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How did your agency get started?

Diana Dotel: Before we joined forces in 2018 to form MTW agency, I worked primarily as a promoter. I focused on the expertise in Latin in music and Matt was on the record label side and artist management side, working on brand partnerships for a lot of artists across genres. So that's when we saw that there was an underrepresentation. I thought Latin artists didn't share the same opportunities on brand deals and even towards sponsorship. Latin artists were catching up when it came to ticket sales, but that was not aligning with endorsements or partnerships. So I saw a way to solve that problem head-on by educating brands on the power of Latin artists. Even before we incorporated, we landed the Maluma Michelob Ultra deal. It was the first of its kind and now in terms of the partnership, we're in the fourth year. 

Matt Ferrigno: What was cool about that was that he was the first Spanish-speaking artist in a Super Bowl ad. It showed brands that they could put a Latin artist in general media ads and since then you've seen that a little bit more in the mainstream. What brought [Dotel and me] together is really having complementary skills. Her curating concerts and live experiences at the biggest magnitude and then myself spending my entire career working on brand partnerships for some of the biggest artists in the world from Nicki Minaj and Lil’ Wayne to working at Maverick and working on stuff with Madonna.

Who are some of your biggest clients?

Dotel: The Romeo Santos work was something that was personal because I'm Dominican. That was with Warner Media and HBO. We still have HBO as a client. We're actually working on their new DC title called DMZ. We have an ongoing [sneaker collaboration] partnership with Bad Bunny and Adidas. On Feb. 9, the new [color combination] dropped which is beautiful. We also have the Becky G work with Michelob Ultra. We also have Amazon as a partner.

What role did you play in the Becky G Super Bowl ad?

Dotel: With Michelob Ultra, we are one of their partners through their music partnership with Synergy Productions, and we basically find their talent and build out their Latin piece. Quite honestly, even in the first year with Maluma, it was taking a risk at that time because he didn't have any music in English. But it was something that we knew would work. We pushed and we knew the power of Latin music, and it was successful. So when this year came around we had worked with Becky G before so we positioned Becky for that role. 

What type of work do you anticipate doing for Patrón?

Ferrigno: We're really excited about the opportunities to work with them because there's such a legacy and history with the brand especially when you talk about music culture. If you think about it, just being in so many song lyrics in the 2000s to being involved in so many events and nightclub life, Patrón has been ingrained in music culture. But as the culture AOR, culture is everything that moves society and tastes around us. That is Web3.0, fashion, art. It's not just exclusive to music, It's all these other things that are moving the conversation around us. What we're looking to do is really identify the places that make sense within the culture for the brand. It goes back to the point of not trying to do too much and trying to go outside of what doesn't make sense for the brand—that it's core and focusing on those areas to really storytell. To create and empower versus just doing sponsorships and putting the logo places without really having a role in creating moments. 

What is the key to successful brand collaborations?

Ferrigno: It’s about brands really understanding who they are and that the partnership actually makes sense for their brand. With Bad Bunny, we brought that opportunity to Adidas many years ago. It took them a little while to understand, but they started to see his impact on culture. His fans wore the sneakers and he wore the sneakers. So there was a partnership there that made sense for everyone. For example, we had [Patrón] sponsor the Latin Billboard Music Week last year. They were the official tequila partner. It made sense; it's tapping into the Latin roots, and it was in Miami during Hispanic Heritage Month. When you're creating these collaborations, whether it be brand and artists or brand platform, we think that it's really in the storytelling aspect of it, not just the headline.

What are the misconceptions that still exist when it comes to appealing to a Latin audience?

Ferrigno: For all brands, it's about taking time to understand the nuances of certain cultures and communities. A third-generation Mexican American living in L.A. is much different than a first-generation Dominican living in New York City and I think that when we work with Patrón, or AB InBev, those smart and forward-thinking brands, they listen and understand and they tailor their marketing as such. They're not just looking at it as a data set.

Dotel: I think that's why important to hire agencies that can identify and understand multicultural marketing. It's something that seems very obvious, but to be honest many brands are not doing a good job of this right now. 

Has it gotten easier to incorporate Latin artists in brand partnerships?

Ferrigno: We really pride ourselves in action and the work that we do and what we represent, but we feel like we started a trend and there's a lot of work to back it up. Great business leaders see patterns. And Diana and I saw patterns. We saw that hip hop was doubted for so many years, but was so impactful. And we started to see that pattern within Latin music. And we're seeing it play out as we thought it would, and it is getting easier—way easier— and you're seeing a lot more of [brand integration with Latin music].

Dotel: It’s definitely not where we would want to [be], but it's definitely gotten better. 

What's the next step in raising awareness of the importance of reaching Latin audiences?

Dotel: It’s about continuing the education. It's been an education process with every deal we've done, even something so simple as the “House of Bachata” in Washington Heights, it only made sense. But it's definitely also working with more talent, a lot of brands look for the pie in the sky, the big names, but it's also about focusing on the ones coming up. It's also about bringing on different talent, not just musicians.

What are some artists or trends you think brands should be aware of?

Dotel: I'm excited in seeing more female representation, that's something that we haven't seen for a while. Rauw Alejandro is incredible and someone that we haven't seen. Myke Towers is someone that is very different. I definitely see a new genre that is going to go mainstream. I really believe that Dominican Dembow is something that is going to grow. We saw it with El Alfa and this is just the beginning. We don't get a lot of opportunities for those artists. It really depends on where there is alignment for different brands, but there's so much that we definitely want to bring to the forefront.

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