Date: 10.16.23 | Office: San Antonio, TX. | Category: Inside Chamoy by Meredith Kay | Photography by David Teran
BUSINESS WOMAN SHOWCASE
Growing up in Matamoros, Mexico, Fernanda and Lauri Revilla were truly raised to be bi-cultural. Their parents owned a clothing factory and clothing store on the Mexico side of the border, but the girls attended St. Joseph Academy in Brownsville, TX. This gave them the distinct advantage of becoming acclimated and well-versed in both their Mexican-Latin culture and the American culture as well.
Both sisters eventually attended U.T. Brownsville. Lauri graduated with a degree in Clinical Psychology, along with earning an associate degree in Spanish translation and interpretation. She then continued her education, earning her master’s degree in psychology at Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio. Fernanda received her bachelor’s degree in business and her minor in marketing, then continued at U.T. Brownsville and earned her M.B.A.
The entrepreneurial spirit has always been in their blood. Their parents owned a clothing store when they were younger and would encourage this spirit by allowing them to run a candy booth within the clothing store. This taught them how to run a small business and the value of planning and working hard.
“We saw the need for a marketing agency that understands the Hispanic Market and its subtle differences that require advertising messaging to be tailored and targeted to specifically speak to these unique audiences.”
Lauri stayed in San Antonio after graduating from Our Lady of the Lake, and Fernanda eventually joined her. In 2015, Lauri and Fernanda began doing freelance marketing and advertising while working out of Geekdom, an incubator and community of collaboration for entrepreneurs and start-up companies in downtown San Antonio. This was how their dynamic boutique advertising agency, Chamoy Creative, was launched.
Fernanda says, “We saw the need for a marketing agency that understands the Hispanic Market and its subtle differences that require advertising messaging to be tailored and targeted to specifically speak to these unique audiences.”
Lauri furthers this thought by saying, “We saw the gap, and we wanted to help marketers understand that there is a distinct difference between our local Hispanic market and Hispanic markets in other cities and countries. We never assume that all Hispanics are the same. There are many subtle and major differences, and if you don’t acknowledge those differences, then your message will be lost.”
The sisters partnered with Alejandro Perez-Segnini, who was born in the United States but raised in Caracas, Venezuela, and Oscar Peña, who was originally from Mexico City. The four of them embarked upon their journey to become a premier Hispanic marketing agency when they moved out of Geekdom and into their first office space in a building off Cevallos and South Flores. The agency began as a social media and digital marketing agency but quickly grew into a full-service advertising firm handling complete campaigns from creation through production and execution.
Fernanda and Lauri both light up with amusement and nostalgia when they recall, “We started with just $250 for registration fees, and the first two years, we worked until 2:00 a.m. and ate a lot of pizza trying to brand ourselves while branding our clients in their respective markets.”
Eventually, they outgrew that space as they began to expand and hire other employees, but those early years taught them how to work together and rely on each of their individual strengths. Their growth led them to a building on the corner of McCullough and Mistletoe, where they continued to grow, earning the business of some very large and impressive companies, like Uber, CPS Energy, SAWS, Community First Health Plans, Cerveza Sol, and CommuniCare Health Centers.
Fernanda says, “We are known for our ability to identify key insights and differentiate between the various Hispanic and General Market cultures, and we have become
very good at crafting unique marketing and advertising campaigns and messaging strategies that speak directly to consumers.”
Recently, Chamoy Creative achieved their goal of owning their own building when they purchased the building across the street, and they brought their unique character to the new space with design elements that are as playful and creative as Chamoy. In fact, the name Chamoy Creative was chosen because it embodies the idea of something that is uniquely Hispanic and culturally relevant, but it also afforded the opportunity to be creative visually, and as the sisters say, “Everything is better with chamoy.”
Chamoy Creative is truly a full-service agency and has the ability to provide its clients with 360° creative campaigns that yield results. They are very adept at taking an advertising campaign in English and developing a campaign in Spanish that will speak to a Hispanic audience with the same vernacular and dialects that a target market can relate to. Their campaigns are not only bi-lingual, they are bi-cultural as well.
Fernanda says, “We are trying to change the way that typical Hispanics are portrayed in mass-market advertising campaigns. We are not all the same, and there aren’t a lot of brands that successfully speak, understand, and connect with the Hispanic consumer.
The atmosphere at Chamoy Creative is lively, and it is very evident that everyone loves what they do and respects one another. The sisters have created an inclusive environment where everyone on the team is valued. They work very hard to develop creative campaigns for their clients that will achieve results, making their target audiences feel seen and heard by bringing messages that relate to each market’s individual and unique character and culture.
SAN ANTONIO WOMAN MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2023
Published on Oct 16, 2023
(210) 951-0222 • chamoycreative.com