Norma Orcí is no longer with us, but at the same time she is still as present as ever because she achieved, in her own words, her mission in her life: “to capture our hearts”.
Co-founder with her husband Héctor of the Orcí advertising agency, a family business 100% owned by ethnic or racial minorities, Norma Orcí has left a deep mark on an industry that for decades considered the Latino market as a second-table dish.
“Norma Orcí was not just an industry veteran, a pioneer or an advertising leader who broke borders and shattered ceilings…she was that and much more! Norma was a matriarch whose legacy lives on in the work exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, in the paths she paved for Latinas in advertising, and in the enduring agencies she and her family built,” noted the Hispanic Marketing Council.
Norma recounts in her biography that when she started as a beginner copywriter at Noble & Asociados, the largest advertising agency in Mexico at the time, the most important thing she learned was that the ultimate goal of each ad was to “build and strengthen the relationship between the brand and audience.”
To achieve her goal, Norma discovered that her job was to “find the best way to connect with the audience, how the brand fit and improved her life.”
And she also realized that to achieve that goal, she had to chart her own path by creating her own agency in West Los Angeles in 1986, an emblematic year because in November of that year President Ronald Reagan signed the Reform Act and Control (Simpson-Mazzoli Act) to regularize millions of undocumented migrants.
“When my husband Hector and I began addressing the US Hispanic market, we expressed this philosophy as ‘Capturing Share of Heart®’. This not only guides our creative team, but also helps our clients understand their Hispanic audience and the important role emotions and relationships play in brand selection and perception.”
That year of 1986, the United States government chose a small emerging agency to convince millions of migrants of the need to regularize their immigration status and become full members of American society: the Orcí agency.
One of the most memorable images was that of the national symbol, a bald eagle with open wings embracing men and women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Judging by the results – more than 3 million migrants applied and 2.7 million were approved – the publicity campaign was a success.
Although in its beginnings the agency was dedicated exclusively to the Latin market, demographic trends have led Orcí to transform into a multicultural agency, hand in hand with the new generations of the Orcí family.
In addition to being a co-founder, Norma served as Creative Director and President of the Orcí agency. During her management, she was deserving of innumerable awards and recognitions not only for her professional work but also for her philanthropic work.
But perhaps for her, her most valuable legacy was the seed she left in the people whose hearts she touched with her talent and humanity, all of which validates her philosophy of life: “No one remembers what you say; they remember how you made them feel.”
