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Imagination expressed through elevated originality, vision, and creative excellence …Seeing what others don’t see.
American Family Insurance
National Pork Board
HCCA
Illinois Office of Tourism
Abbott
ComEd
Gift of Hope
Royal Prestige
Hanes
SPAM
Herdez
Chicago White Sox
OUR DNA
We embrace a consumer-centric model that converges where imagination meets science. Our approach fuses creativity and performance to build exceptional brands.
The model leads with in-depth consumer insights to develop innovative marketing solutions that reach hearts and minds within a converging consumer landscape.
Within this unique model, our Branding and Persuasive Content Development Team use a proprietary process called The 4th Dimension™, an engaging holistic approach that reveals new ways of connecting brands and consumers at their core.
Celebrating over 40 years of entrepreneurial thinking
The contribution that our work makes has built strong clients, passionate employees and positive industry relationships. Our independence means innovative thinking with an enterprising spirit that keeps us nimble while allowing us to work side-by-side with other marketing communication partners.
Over the years our entrepreneurial spirit has made us the leading independent MARCOM group serving the U.S. and Latin America. Along the way, we have created a legacy of many firsts by making our clients the priority and by staying true to our mission.
To view our history, click on our Timeline
We bring together people with different perspectives to solve complex issues and turn them into opportunities for measurable growth.
Our writers, art directors, creative directors, developers, data scientists, analysts, persuasive content strategists, researchers, planners, videographers and project managers are made up of people who are as passionate about the success of their clients as they are about their own personal achievements. It’s this professional approach that results in projects and campaigns that exceed expectations with award-winning ideas.
Everyone at SJG possesses. We call it the, “Can-Do Entrepreneurial Spirit”, and it flows through their passion, talent and life’s work. We encourage everyone on staff to take charge and “own it” for the client and their personal achievement. All of our staff is groomed to balance creative thinking and analytical rigor. At the end of the day, it’s all about tangible results and growth.
The Power of Knowledge
With over three decades and 45 categories of experience, SJG and its divisions were marketing pioneers within the multicultural communications industry and over the past decade have evolved to specialize in complex market communication solutions. Over this period and through our best-practice solutions we have compiled a vast digital reference library that allows us in-depth insights into the new consumers of today.
The Experience to See
We helped build the road to “Total Market” communications strategies. Our ability to recreate ourselves and evolve with today’s ever-complex and growing consumer landscape explains why we have endured. Being part of this landscape and fully understanding business environmental changes has opened new revenue opportunities for many of our clients.
The Imagination to Create
SJG’s imagination is expressed through an elevated level of originality, vision, and creative excellence inspired by the pursuit of fresh innovative ideas. When clients need to get a complex marketing program started, turned around or taken to the next level, they choose SJG because of who we are, where we’ve been and what we’ve achieved.
George L. San Jose - President and Chief Creative Officer
George L. San Jose is the President and Chief Creative Officer of The San Jose Group (SJG). A seasoned adman, George specializes in brand and creative strategy development. The agency he leads focuses on lifestyle and behavioral marketing solutions providing brand strategy, message development, persuasive content and ideation across digital, social and advertising channels. As a true visionary and entrepreneur at heart, George founded SJG in 1981 to help brands reach new complex markets.
Recognizing the evolving U.S. consumer landscape over the years - and that today’s consumers are more complex and diversified than ever before - George has been on the forefront of the emerging trend to develop creative content that is lifestyle and behavioral centric. Passionate about the power of creation, he developed the agency’s holistic marketing approach, Convergent Marketing Solutions, which discovers new ways of connecting brands and consumers to their core purpose through the application of “Global Truths.”
George leverages decades of experience in overseeing the creative and strategic direction for the agency’s clients. His motto is, “If you can imagine it, we can create it.” He has developed consumer engagement tools that consistently deliver results for his clients while providing award-winning marketing communications. His relentless pursuit for innovation, strategic and convergent solutions have translated into a little over $6.5 billion in incremental sales for SJG clients and has earned the agency hundreds of creative awards and recognition from industry leaders and peers.
Vision | Mission
To establish ourselves as the leading independent provider of innovative marketing solutions that transcends culture, borders and language.
To provide entrepreneurial marketing solutions to all of our clients’ business objectives.
1981
SJG is officially born. The legacy begins.
Interest rates are at 21%
1982
Launched the first national
Hispanic in-community retail
program
Across 450 stores and 30
markets Capri Sun
New Television Company
Home
Box Office
1983
Developed the first Hispanic
retail-driven promotional
program. Promoted 150+ annual
community events.
Coca-Cola
Camcorders
are introduced
1984
Developed the first
comprehensive
on/off-premise promotional
efforts for the Hispanic
market.
Promoted 250+ annual community events.
Anheuser-Busch
Apple releases the
Macintosh
Personal Computer
1985
Sponsored the first multi-ethnic
citywide festival in Chicago.
Over 150M attended
Pan American Festival
One of the biggest
marketing fiascoes:
COKE CHANGES
ITS FORMULA
1986
Developed the
first Hispanic vendor program.
Walgreens
1/3
of Americans
own a VCR
1987
Brought the First National
Hispanic Rodeo to the Midwest.
Anheuser-Busch
The
Simpsons
debuts
1988
Established the First Hispanic
national stand-alone
marketing consulting
firm in the U.S.
San Jose Consulting
CDs outsell
Vinyl records
for the first time
1989
Developed an in-house Spanish
media measurement
system for the top 30 ADIs
SMRA™
Teenage
Mutant
Ninja Turtles
become an overnight success
1990
Created the first Hispanic national
stand-alone public relations
agency for the U.S. Hispanic market.
San Jose Public Relations
World
Wide Web
debuts
1991
Created the first advertising
agency network exclusively serving
the U.S. and Latin American
markets agencies
The San Jose Network
Soviet Union
breaks up
1992
Launched the first integrated
advertising program to reach
Hispanics in both the
U.S. and Latin America
ACE Hardware.
Guatemala's
Rigoberta Menchú
wins the Nobel Peace Prize
1993
Developed the
first national Hispanic
corporate relations program.
Anheuser-Busch Companies
European
Union
is created
1994
Executed the single largest
most comprehensive U.S.
Hispanic direct mail campaign.
Dropping 750M pieces.
Sprint
NAFTA
is born
1995
Developed the first Hispanic,
merchandise allocation tier
system for a food retailer.
Dominick's
Hispanic Americans
boycott ABC's failure to
provide Latino programming
1996
George L. San Jose
becomes co-founder and first
elected director of the
Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies
(AHAA)
U.S. hosts Summer
Olympics in Atlanta, GA
1997
Developed a holistic approach
to fully integrate an
advertising brand message
across all consumer touchpoints.
Total Market Solutions™
World loses
Princess Diana
1998
Perfected a sales projection
ROI model defined by
acculturation/usage index level factors.
Volumetrics™
The 4th Dimension™ is born
Pope John Paul II
visits Cuba
1999
Developed the first consumer
behavior model by lifestyle,
socioeconomics and ethnicity
LifeMapping™
World population
reaches 6 billion mark
2000
Created a series of brand development
insights for optimal advertising impact
BrandScape™, Brand Bible™
and Soul Manifesto™
Human
genome is deciphered
2001
Developed the first "corporate to
church" multi-dimensional
in-kind program.
Sixty-seven churches
ComED
9/11 terrorist
attacks on the U.S.
initiate War on Terror
2002
Became the first Hispanic
agency to win an
IABC Spectra award
Hanes Hosiery
Euro Currency
Debuts in 12
European countries
2003
Became the first Hispanic agency
to win IABC Gold Quill award.
San Jose Public Relations
National Pork Board
Apple Launches
iTunes Store
2004
Became the largest consortium
of Hispanic MARCOM companies
serving the U.S. and Latin America.
San Jose Network Ltd.
Bush is reelected as President of U.S.
2005
Became the first and only
Multicultural agency to win two
IABC Gold Quill awards in one year.
San Jose Public Relations
National Pork Board
Bush signs
Central American
Free Trade Agreement
2006
Became the first and only
Multicultural agency to win
the 2006 EFFIE® award
National Pork Board
Twitter
introduced publicly
2007
SJN's Creative Inner Circle is
enabled to elicit and provide real-time
creative conceptualization from its
top creative directors throughout the U.S.
and Latin America.
AOL, once the largest
ISP in the U.S., refocuses as an
advertising business
2008
SJG rolls out "BuZone", a web portal
designed to replace the traditional
FTP site with a secure platform for
clients to review and approve creative work.
Barack Obama
elected the first African-American
President of U.S.
2009
SJG wins its first Telly Award for a
general market TV spot, "Baseball".
American Family Insurance
Advertising
conglomerates
begin selling off the Latam agencies
2010
SJN + TAAN sign strategic alliance
and become the largest independent
network of MARCOM agencies
in the world.
iPad hits the market,
iPhone 4 is rolled out
2011
30 years of accomplishing
unprecedented marketing results
for its clients. Launches pro-bono program,
"Giving as We Grow,"
extending its services to
non-profits organizations.
The U.S. finally
caught Bin Laden,
the master mind of the 9/11 attacks
2012
First multicultural agency
to fully develop and integrate
advertising campaigns
simultaneously across the U.S.
and Latin America.
The Mayans were wrong,
the world did not end
2013
SJN reaches its
first $1B in billings
The Mobile phone is
the standard tool for commerce
2014
Clients demand a centralized,
accountable marketing
services group. Is this the comeback
of the fullservice agency?
The "film-like" HD4 digital
replaces 35mm as the new
standard of quality
2015
As predicted,
the full-service model
makes a comeback
with holding companies
leading the charge
at the corporate level
Apple looks to
dominate wearables
with the launch of
the Apple Watch
2016
SJG prepares to build the
agency roadmap
of the future:
Remote, Global, Connected
Fake news
infects Facebook
2017
Clients explore the
potential of Voice
to understand
use cases
and limitations
The rise of
Cryptocurrency
and
Blockchain
spreads like wildfire
2018
Clients explore how
the Cloud can
transform their business
Amazon Go launches
rethinking how we shop
starting a retail arms race to
win consumers on convenience
2019
Clients continue to
shift budgets into digital
as consumer behavior changes
and the landscape grows
even more complex
The WeWork debacle changes
how companies operate: From
Growth at all costs
to focus on
Profitability and
Unit Economics
2020
Manufacturers rush to
centralize eCommerce
and build performance marketing
capabilities
COVID-19
accelerates eCommerce
penetration by 5 years
2021
Clients demand a
total market solution
that address
complex and nuanced
cultures at
global scale
Companies build
accelerated roadmaps
for advancing
digital transformation
and shifting their workforce remote
2022
Commerce advertising
becomes a dominant
growth channel
for Consumer Goods manufacturers
5G
ushers in a new era of companies
delivering tech and services
not feasible before
