Bridging the Diversity Divide in Advertising - Business Leaders Convene in New York at the First National EXPO of Ethnic Media

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2005--How do businesses reach America's exploding immigrant and minority markets? On June 9 in New York, New California Media, the Independent Press Association and Columbia Graduate School of Journalism are hosting The First National Expo of Ethnic Media to explore strategies for communication between business, government, community organizations and the ethnic media that represent more than 50 million ethnic Americans.

Attendees at the Expo networking lunch will meet leaders from around the country, showcasing their most successful marketing campaigns, and will choose from workshops and roundtables to discuss the role of ethnic media in advertising, journalism, community building, and political campaigns. Professional development workshops will look at the challenges facing these media and the organizations that need to connect to them, including Use It or Lose It - Capturing the Swing Vote Through Ethnic Media, and The Internet Edge of Advertising -- Can Ethnic Media Catch It?

“This is the critical challenge to everyone in communications today, and ethnic media are key to the answer.”

The newest edition of the NCM National Directory of Ethnic Media will also be released along with the results of the first national multilingual poll documenting the reach and impact of ethnic media.

The ethnic media -- who are collectively reshaping the face of communications in a country where minority populations will outpace the majority by 2050, according to the U.S. Census -- will convene with advertisers and business leaders to strategize on strengthening old and building new collaborations.

Featured speakers include leaders from McDonald's, Pfizer, Comcast, Boeing, NBC/Telemundo, Bank of America, Ford Motor Company, American Association of Advertising Agencies and Asian American Advertising Federation.

Special guest presenters include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, renowned Hispanic pollster Sergio Bendixen of Bendixen & Associates, FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, veteran New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Leonard Rodriguez, former Associate Director to the Office of Political Affairs in the White House.

"In a global society, how do we communicate with each other?" asks NCM Executive Director Sandy Close. "This is the critical challenge to everyone in communications today, and ethnic media are key to the answer."

For more information about the First National EXPO of Ethnic Media on June 9, 2005 at Columbia University in New York City, go to http://expo.ncmonline.com or call toll free 1(877)NCM-EXPO.