Jeff Herrera has been appointed to the newly created position of vp multicultural marketing for Universal Studios Home Ent. (USHE), to oversee the crafting and implementation of marketing strategies aimed at Latinos, African-Americans, and other ethnic groups. Herrera will work closely with USHE's sales and marketing departments to develop strategies and programs as well as play a key role in identifying and implementing partnership opportunities between USHE and its NBC Universal sister company, Spanish-language television network, Telemundo.
"With over 70% of U.S. households now owning at least one DVD player, the home entertainment market knows no age, gender, cultural or language barriers," said Ken Graffeo, evp, marketing, USHE, to whom Herrera will report. "Jeff is a talented and savvy marketing professional and we are confident that his unique insight and expertise will play a critical role in Universal's continued success going forward."
Herrera joined USHE in 2003 as vp, retail marketing. He was responsible for overseeing all retailer account-specific promotions including media based promotions, in-store events and third party partnership marketing with major retailers including Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Blockbuster.
Previously, Herrera was department head/vp, partnership marketing/new product development at Visa USA, responsible for successful merchant deployment of Visa's multi-million dollar initiative. Herrera also established consumer advertising and marketing alliances with AOL/Time Warner and Bertelsmann.
Before Visa, he served as director, partnership marketing at Webvan, an Internet grocery company. In that capacity, he was responsible for all online and offline strategic partner marketing executions and partner relationships with such major consumer packaged goods companies as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nabisco.
Universal Studios Home Ent. is a unit of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios. Universal Studios is a part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Ent., NBC Universal owns and operates the NBC network, the fastest-growing Spanish-language network, a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled by Vivendi Universal.
