Larger agencies increase slice of advertising cake
Valor Econômico
The ranking of the largest agencies and advertisers of Brazil in 2010 shows there was growth in the level of concentration of the resources invested in media by the market. According to data of the Inter-Meios Project, coordinated by the Meio & Messagem Group (M&M) in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the participation of the 50 largest advertising agencies in the investment grew from 58% in 2009 to 63% in 2010, the highest rate registered at least in the past five years. It is estimated there are between 5 thousand and 8 thousand companies of the area in the country.
Those five points are equivalent to R$ 3.5 billion (US$ 2 billion) more generated in media actions made by those companies in 2010. In the group are companies that operate, in media, from R$ 70 million (US$ 43.8 million) to R$ 2 billion (US$ 1.25 billion) a year. In the group of the ten largest in the sector, however, the share did not grow: in 2010, they invested R$ 7.7 billion (US$ 4.38 billion) in media, 30% of the total - the same as in 2009.
According to the survey, the 50 largest agencies invested R$ 16.2 billion (US$ 10.1 billion) in campaigns in the country last year, 27.8% more than in 2009. The calculation includes the discounts negotiated between the advertising agencies and the media. The fact those agencies manage the accounts of some of the brands that invested the most in media in 2010 helps explain the increase of the concentration. Besides, in that group are agencies with participation of foreign capital, which benefit from the policies of global alignment of accounts.
Among the highlights in the survey are the agency Euro RSCG Brasil, owner of the Reckitt Benckiser account (which increased the spending on media in 92%). Euro went from the 19th position in 2009 to the 11th in 2010. Multi Solution, agency that is not among the top ten, but has the Petrópolis account (which spent 71% more) went from 24 to 17 in the ranking.
Minor changes aside, the raking is still led by Young & Rubicam (investment in media, with discount, grew 5% and achieved R$ 1.9 billion/US$ 1.1 billion), the agency of Casas Bahia. The retailer remained as the country's greatest advertiser - R$ 1.2 billion (US$ 681.8 million), slight increase of 3%. WMcCann, created from the merger of W/ and McCann in 2010, appears in the fourth. JWT climbed two positions and went to third place last year.
Among the 300 largest advertisers in the country, the disbursements in media actions totaled R$ 25.6 billion (US$ 14.5 billion) in 2010, reveals the survey - 18% more than that registered in 2009. While Unilever, owner of Seda and Omo, increased only 1% its investments, Procter & Gamble and Reckitt increased the values in 96% and 92% respectively. "Both need to spend more if they want to make some noise in the market" says José Carlos Salles Neto, President of the M&M Group. Unilever has already invested high amounts in media in the country, so the comparison basis is high and the rate of growth, more timid.
As regards the media, the television registered a strong growth in the volume invested by the advertisers. As the M&M Group had already said in February, the channel has been responsible for 63% of the whole sum invested in 2010, "a record rate for the past few years" says Neto. In the first quarter of the year, the participation of the TV reached 64.3%.