by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) Sao Paulo: Day 3 of the 2014 AdForum Worldwide Summit.
Santa Clara – a fully integrated local agency, independent and founded in 2006. They focus on the full holistic solution as opposed to defaulting to an advertising solution. In fact the one partner spent is first few years in the industry as a PR practitioner so his approach is much broader and more strategic.
They are very strong on planning and position themselves as business solution consultants as opposed to simply an ad agency. They also believe in working with – not for nor against – clients. There is no master/servant relationship here.
Other beliefs include conscious capitalism and in brands that have purpose. They also believe in facts and numbers – and even more in the people that know how to read both.
Refreshingly intelligent with some excellent case studies that demonstrated real effectiveness.
NEO GAMMA/BBH Wonderful building in the heart of an industrial area – previously a Bic Pen factory remodelled. High 
performance creativity and connected specialism is what differentiates them. Such was the level of importance of our visit that the whole of the global top team was present at the meeting.
Their presentation was superb and quite frankly – BBH is in a league of its own. They demonstrated their full integration through the recent win of the global BA pitch. In the final there were two agencies – after a six month process – Sapient Nitro (born digital) and BBH. Such was the strength of the BBH integrated offering that BA was able to achieve their objective of consolidating all of their advertising needs into one agency – where previously their digital needs were serviced by Ogilvy One while traditional was looked after by BBH.
Borghi/Lowe Product of a recent merger Borghi Lowe is the second largest agency in Brazil (first is Y&R) and one of the most important agencies in the Lowe network. It has 310 employees, is able to conduct small and big campaigns for large and small clients, be they multinationals or local regionals , the agency has the largest media research division in Brazil.
Africa Fascinating and definitely one of the highlights of the Summit. An agency called Africa in Brazil. Founded by one of the top entrepreneurs in Brazil, the agency was named International Agency of the Year by Advertising Age very recently.
Africa positions itself as a “hand made agency” with 12 – 13 clients and these clients are serviced by the five partners in the business who are all hands on. What is interesting is each of these clients has a designated room space within the agency which they may use to work in or brief the agency staff in as they wish. The concept is a Relais & Chateau for clients.
They think and act global, are fully integrated – off line and online – and have offices in New York, San Francisco and Rio. They have also been recently rated as the top creative original agency in Brazil – by their clients – according to the survey conducted every two years by Grupo Consultores (more about them in my wrap up later).
ABC Group ABC group own 14 ad agencies in Latin America including Africa and a 40% stake in DM9 (60% owned by DDB). They are a small holding company group with a strong flair for social responsibility. Will continue to grow their network in South America and the owner plans to develop his network through the acquisition of PR companies as well as start up agencies. Strong digital capabilities (content) via Pereira O Dell.
DM9/DDB One of the foremost creative agencies in Brazil, who led the creative upsurge in the country some 15 years ago. Now jointly owned by ABC Group and DDB. Quite a lot of the new work they showed us was for the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
Ogilvy/DAVID Highly successful agency here in Brazil with wonderful campaigns, effective results and high quality people. Just what we would expect from Ogilvy. DAVID – however – is a new concept and new network that has been started in Sao Paulo and is gradually going to expand into other parts of Latin America, able to handle client conflict and to develop new ways for Ogilvy.
The Ogilvy Sao Paulo CEO shared his concerns over the forthcoming world cup. Construction of the stadiums, transport etc is not the issue. He believes that the issues will be around the readiness of the mobile network infrastructure to handle the influx of people. Apparently the mobile networks are under developed and have not kept pace even with the growth of the Brazilian economy so it is anticipated that this will be even more pressurized during the world cup.
Pereira O Dell With a female director in the Rio de Janeiro office* (one of the only senior women we met in Brazil in advertising – sadly) and an average age of 28 for the partners, Pereira O Dell is a “born digital” agency with a strong devotion to content and activations.
A quick round-up of my take on the good, the bad and the ugly of advertising in Brazil:
THE GOOD
A big range of agencies from the large networks to the smaller entrepreneurial ones
Strong infrastructure within the industry
High levels of creativity and commitment to the business
A growth economy which does not show many signs of slowing down
Well positioned within Latin America and Latin America as a whole is a very exciting continent
English is the second language in business so communication is not an issue
Huge opportunities for ambitious people
THE BAD
Very few senior women in the industry
Brazil still a “ macho” environment
Lots of people leaving Brazil as they are not happy with how the government runs the country
Corruption in government and the police force is prevalent
THE UGLY
Sao Paulo is not a beautiful city
Traffic horrendous
Lots of poverty and slums – mixed in with the affluent city dwellers
Would I go there again – yes in a heartbeat!
Best
Johanna
@jomcdowell
#adforumsummit
* Correction: Johanna met with Liliane Badaró, the director at their Rio de Janeiro office, but her title is not that of CEO. The agency’s CEO is Andrew O’Dell (San Francisco).
Currently MD of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), Johanna McDowell has been in marketing and advertising since 1974, with experience both on the agency and client side of the fence. She held directorships in South African and British ad agencies until being appointed MD of Grey Phillips Advertising in 1988; and built Integrated Communications, a PR-driven marketing communications company that went from zero base in 1991 to an R8-million-fee turnover by December 2004.
After graduating in marketing and business studies, Johanna’s experience spanned large corporates, including UK and SA banking, manufacturing and retail, along with a 15-year stint in two of the largest ad agencies in SA and in a medium-sized agency in the UK. As such, she is well-placed to offer commentary on marketing and advertising from a local and international perspective. Follow her on Twitter at @jomcdowell.
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