Profile: Guadalupe Cano, Chief Executive Officer, Visual Latina

Guadalupe Cano always wanted to have her own agency someday. She was 17 when she began working at her father’s agency, and her sights were set on making a difference – on an international stage.While studying sociology at the University of Buenos Aires and then advertising at the Universidad del Salvador, she worked at global agencies JWT and McCann Worldgroup. In 2003, she co-founded Visual Latina and quickly became a trusted and passionate leader in shopper marketing, paving the way for many others to challenge the status quo and make a positive impact through their actions and leadership.Cano takes pride in her role in building a minority-owned and independent company from scratch, leading overseas expansion and supporting 80 employees across six offices worldwide. She also recognized early on the need to evolve with the global, digitized shopper transformation. “I opened Titan7 as an in-house digital and tech production company that would drive engagement and conversion in the digital environment,” she says.Believing it was all possible was the key to making it happen, Cano says. “My dad was an excellent role model, reflecting that effort, dedication, trust and passion are the winning combination,” she says. She’s always believed in “walking the streets” to gain a depth of understanding of the marketplace – it’s how the agency gained the trust of its first client, Coca-Cola, in Mexico.She also values every partnership, fostering meaningful relationships with clients as well as her own team to make strides together within the industry.Cano concedes that 2020 was a difficult year to be an independent agency leader. “I promised myself I would do everything in my power to maintain everyone’s jobs, and to date I have kept that promise,” she says. “We’ve strategized to help maximize client’s budgets, and quickly pivoted as we produced digital solutions like chatbots that can help small store owners be able to sell in their communities during the pandemic.”Cano was recognized as a Woman to Watch by Ad Age and Ad Latina in 2019. In 2020, the Association of National Advertisers included Visual Latina in its first list of Certified Diverse Suppliers for Marketing and Advertising in the U.S. Cano is an active advocate of women’s leadership through organizations such as the Path to Purchase Institute and the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, participating as a speaker across various advertising groups and mentorship programs.She also supports the Voy con Vos program in her native Argentina, helping children in need gain access to school, as well as Wheels of Happiness in the U.S., helping with its content and social media.

Profile: Guadalupe Cano, Chief Executive Officer, Visual Latina

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