‘Diversity isn’t political, it’s industrial’: Edgar Hernandez on why manufacturers want new playbook for enlargement

That difference is one thing Hernandez has spent a decade development a industry round. My Code is a corporation born from a industrial perception: that US Hispanic, Black, AAPI and LGBTQ+ communities had been underrepresented within the virtual advert ecosystem, no longer simply culturally however structurally. “The internet was broken,” Hernandez says, “and no one was fixing it.”

Since then, My Code has grow to be a quiet powerhouse. With over 1,300 publishers in its ecosystem, it reaches 95 million distinctive customers per month. Its providing spans information, technique, content material, distribution and, now, occasions and IP. “We’re not just selling media. We’re decoding culture. And then we help brands create meaningful connections at scale.”

Culture: no longer a development, a enlargement engine

That message is central to the corporate’s NewFronts presentation. “We’re celebrating 10 years,” Hernandez says. “And today, we’re showing the industry what the next 10 will look like.”

The proposition is a component media staff, phase perception engine, phase content material studio and phase tournament manufacturer. And whilst that may sound like a tangle of buzzwords, Hernandez is obvious: “Everything we do is about growth audiences – who they are, what drives them and how brands can show up in the moments that matter.”

These moments are an increasing number of going down outdoor conventional media. Take Soundcheque, a Latin music-focused video podcast that blends id storytelling with a playful guessing sport structure. Or the impending Creator Palooza, a three-day cultural competition fusing influencer advertising, song and market activations.

My Code could also be teaming with the NFL and Sony Music Latin, generating the entirety from Emmy-nominated options to IRL fan occasions at Art Basel. “The old model – media, ad break, product – doesn’t cut it any more,” says Hernandez. “The audience lives inside culture. You have to meet them there.”

A brand new media style

So what’s My Code? In conventional phrases, it’s a mashup of Condé Nast, Vox Media and a centered advert community. But the easier analogy may well be Spotify for tradition – an always-on ecosystem that mixes editorial, tech and information to ship curated reports to hyper-specific communities.

That machine has 3 key parts: intelligence (by means of My Code’s open-source Intelligence Center, which gives segment-specific white papers, class insights, and checking out gear to lend a hand manufacturers perceive target market behaviors), introduction (a studio industry spanning technique, ingenious, manufacturing and experiential advertising, with contemporary examples come with a marketing campaign for a countrywide store that flipped the script, telling the tales of Hispanic-owned manufacturers on retailer cabinets slightly than simply promoting the shop) and distribution (My Code was once based to mend an opening in adtech, particularly that multicultural audiences had been being poorly served with generic, out of place and even mistranslated advertisements – “The co-founder’s wife is Latina and was being served Spanish-language ads, even though she doesn’t speak Spanish,” says Hernandez. “That was the spark.”).

The corporate now companions with the likes of Sling TV and Mansa TV, serving to scale various content material on CTV platforms. It additionally works programmatically and at once with main manufacturers to put ingenious in culturally related environments – one thing maximum keeping corporate DSPs nonetheless combat to do.

The industrial case for cultural fluency

But if the tech is spectacular, the actual case for My Code is strategic. “Look at the data,” Hernandez says. “These are the fastest-growing audiences in the country. They’re driving GDP, starting businesses, buying homes. Gen Z is already 50% diverse. This isn’t niche – it’s the future.”

He attracts a pointy difference between DEI projects, frequently considered thru a social or HR lens, and industrial advertising to various audiences. “DEI is one thing, but diverse marketing is a business imperative. Confusing the two can be fatal.”

Brands that hesitate out of political warning are lacking the purpose, he argues. “One of the largest banks in the country told us, ‘This is our audience. We’re moving forward regardless of the noise.’ That’s the mindset we need.”

Advice for manufacturers? Start pedaling

So what does he say to the manufacturers which can be nonetheless caught at the sidelines?

“It’s like riding a bike,” Hernandez laughs. “You have to get on. You won’t get it perfect the first time, but the point is to try.”

That manner rethinking the entirety from casting to ingenious to distribution. “You can’t just repackage a 30-second general market ad and drop it on digital. You have to ask, ‘Where’s the nuance? Where’s the connection?’”

And as AI pushes us into an international of hyper-personalization, the chance handiest grows. “The infrastructure’s there. We have panels, data, creative firepower. It’s just about whether brands are willing to act on the insights they already have.”

A creator-powered long term

Closing the loop, My Code is now leaning laborious into the author financial system. At NewFronts, it introduced Culture Suite, a human-curated author community designed to focus on area of interest ability that’s shaping id throughout song, model and sports activities. “We don’t just cast them – we champion them,” says Tatiana Diaz, editor-in-chief of HipLatina and Remescla.

Add within the new Creator Palooza competition, the Remescla Colors World Cup content material platform and the impending My Estadio football initiative and it’s transparent the playbook is moving.

“In the end,” says Hernandez, “our audiences are the engine of growth. If you want to be future-proof, you have to be culture-forward. That’s not politics. That’s business.”