US$ 518 million accounts may change hands in publicity market
Valor Econômico
A great amount of nearly R$ 1 billion (US$ 518.1 million) in funds to be invested in advertising and marketing is about to be defined within the next months. This is the potential of investment of ten great companies that have gone through recent processes of merger or acquisition. They are Sadia and Perdigão, Pão de Açúcar and Ponto Frio, Itaú and Unibanco, Santander and ABN Amro Real, Mabe and BSH (the owner of the Bosch and Continental brands). The doubt is in knowing if, or for how long, the brands purchased remain in the market and who will take care of the account: a new agency or the one which already renders services to the purchaser.
In the case of Santander, which purchased Real in 2007, the decision was announced this week: Talent, which already worked with the Brazilian operation of ABN Amro, integrally takes over the account of the new bank, currently R$ 150 million (US$ 77.7 million), according to the manager of strategy of the brand and corporate communication of the Santander Brasil Group, Fernando Martins. That meant the discharge of the two other agencies that took care of Santander (McCann Erickson) and Real (Lew, Lara). Talent needed to compete with five other agencies - besides McCann and Lew,Lara, Ogilvy, Euro RSCG and Giovanni+DraftFCB. The elected one was chosen by a commission that involved the communication team of the group, the procurement team and two members of the board of directors of the group in Madrid.
Regarding Banco do Brasil, which purchased Nossa Caixa last November, is in the beginning of the transition process. The traditional red, black and white of Nossa Caixa, so far controlled by the Government of São Paulo, is replaced by gray, with a blue and yellow link, the colors of BB. "We still don't know if we will keep the Nossa Caixa name, which presents important values for the public", says Dan Conrado, marketing and communication director of BB.
In the opinion of specialists, changing brands in the banking sector is quite a challenge: more than the sympathy, the new bank needs to convey confidence, mainly for the older customers not to feel uncomfortable. As for sectors such as retail and food, they fail by segmenting the market per social class, when more developed segments, such as the segment of cell phones, divide the public by consumption behavior.
In the advertising agencies, there is an atmosphere of uncertainty. In view of the mergers, there is the perspective the market may retract. But, for the time being, there is nothing certain in the front - except for the banks, the company undergoing merger should, before performing any kind of synergy, wait for the opinion of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense of the Ministry of Justice (Cade).