Business with a social conscience

Argus principal Zamawa Arenas told herself she would only stay to work in the United States after graduate school — and not return home to her family and friends in her native Venezuela — if she could find a job that could some way have an impact on people living in her new country. She believes she has found this with Argus, an advertising and brand strategy agency that focuses on work for education, health-care, nonprofit and government clients.

At the Seaport-based Argus, Arenas and her colleagues say they are serious about choosing the kind of clients they work with, to the point that the agency’s motto is “Work that Matters.”

In today’s media world with its sensationalism and bottom-line mentality, this might seem an impossible task, but Arenas sticks to her guns.

“I am not inspired to sell soap. I am inspired to make a difference in people’s lives,” she said.

This also means no clients that sell alcohol or tobacco or guns. So even if giants such as Budweiser or Philip Morris came knocking — companies that spend millions and millions on advertising and branding — Argus would not open the door.

Argus also has no consumer goods clients.

“What is essential to Argus is to do work that matters, that is our core value and core principle. That leads us to work with organizations that we respect and admire,” Arenas said.

Some of these organizations include Neighborhood Health Plan, a health insurance business that brings health-care coverage to Boston’s diverse communities; Children’s Trust, a family support organization that funds childhood development and creating nurturing family and community environments; and the Boston Housing Authority, which provides affordable housing to Boston residents.

Values matter

Argus does open the door for some business clients.

The agency works with Staples to help the office-supply company connect with the Latino market. It also works with Comcast in a similar fashion, helping to promote the cable-TV provider’s Spanish-language line-up.

Offering advertising, brand strategy and digital services, Argus is similar to other agency competitors, but its ability to connect clients with multicultural markets has given the business a strong reputation. Still, Arenas believes the company’s philosophy is the ultimate selling point.

And the growth of social enterprise and social entrepreneurism would suggest that Arenas is spot on. She says that the company’s values resonates with many clients and may, in fact, have drawn them to Argus in the first place.

But don’t think Argus is just trying to cash in on the growing trend. Arenas’ decision to stay in the U.S. and work for Argus came almost 20 years ago in 1997, not long after the company was founded by fellow immigrant Lucas Guerra, a native of Argentina.

“We have been doing this from the very beginning. It is not something we have picked up as a new trend,” Arenas said. “It has worked for us … We are proud of the work we do for our clients and we are proud in helping them advance their own issues and causes.”

Arenas knows her life could have gone differently if she had not chosen to stay in the United States all those years ago and instead returned to Venezuela, a country that is now embroiled in turmoil.

She is the only member of her family that lives here — with her parents and two siblings back in Venezuela. She tries to visit once year, but does not see herself returning for good.

Aside from the business opportunities she is presented in the U.S., she is also drawn to what she calls “the independent spirit” of Americans and the opportunity to thrive professionally as she has.

Arenas got a taste of life in the U.S. at an early age when her parents came to Pittsburgh for graduate school when she was just seven years old. They spent five years here before returning back to their homeland.

After high school and university in Venezuela, Arenas quickly secured a job working as a program director for HBO Latin America. She held this job for about five years, but felt the United States calling and jumped on the opportunity to attend graduate school at Boston University, following in her parent’s footsteps.

Considering the beliefs Arenas puts to work professionally with Argus, it is also no surprise that she is involved in several community support organizations outside of the office. She is a Boston Public Library Trustee and a founding member of the Latino Legacy Fund, a partnership of local Latino philanthropists and leaders, the Boston Foundation, and Hispanics in Philanthropy that is building a $1 million endowment fund to support Boston-area Latino programs.

“It is a real rewarding experience to get to a place where I can give money and create a fund and give back to the community,” she said.