Sprint is expected to name Miami-based Alma to handle its fast-growing U.S. Hispanic creative account. The Hispanic market is a major priority for a company with a CEO, Marcelo Claure, who is Bolivian-American, and a newly-hired senior VP, Roger Sole, who is from Spain and has worked for the last 13 years as a telecom marketer in Latin America. Sprint’s U.S. Hispanic review included at least a half dozen agencies. Alma referred calls to the client, and a Sprint spokesman said in an email: “At this moment, we don’t have anything to announce.” Hispanic market execs familiar with the pitch said the final step was a shootout between Alma, the winner, and Y&R’s Hispanic agency Bravo, which until this year was a major AT&T agency. Other agencies involved in the review were Inspire, the incumbent on Sprint’s Hispanic retail business, independent shop Zubi Advertising and LatinWorks. The Community (formerly called La Comunidad) was also involved at an early stage but didn’t continue in the Sprint pitch. LatinWorks had previously handled the launch of an AT&T brand called Aio in 2013 that AT&T discontinued after buying Cricket Wireless a year later and deciding to focus on growing that brand. Cricket’s Hispanic account, as well as all Bravo’s remaining AT&T business, moved to Omnicom’s Dieste in April. The agency is hiring 40 people to hire the new telecom account and Alma is expected to need to hire a similar number for the Sprint business. Continue reading at Adage.com