Brazilians take the lead online

The International Herald Tribune takes a look at the reasons why Brazil has such strong hold online.

At Cannes, Brazilian ad agencies won 25 of 93 awards in the online advertising category, that's over 25%. And yet online or interactive advertising accounts for only only 2% of the total annual ad spend - approximately $3.6 billion - in Brazil.

According to MSN, Brazil's internet advertising is growing at an annual rate of more than 30 percent.

Low costs favor Brazil in another way. Because online ads cost much less to produce than many other forms of advertising, marketers with small budgets figure that it may be the best use of their money.

"The cost of some individual television ads would be a very good-sized account for us," said Atila Francucci, chief creative officer at the São Paulo office of WPP Group's JWT agency network.

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Sérgio Valente, president of DM9 é DDB (the agency that won Grand Prix for Henkel's Loctite Super Bonder glue), said the agency took a pragmatic approach to advertising. He sometimes adapts a popular marketing tactic, offering clients a free trial period. If the ad doesn't work, they pay nothing; if it does, they pay double.

"I'm an artist when I get out my guitar and sing, not when I make advertising," he said.

Francucci said there might be another reason for Brazil's Web strength. JWT and many of its Brazilian rivals remain "full-service" agencies; that is, they handle both the creative and media-buying duties on an account. In most other countries, those roles have been separated, and marketers sometimes complain that their media buyer steers them into expensive television advertising because that offers the highest commission.

"There's no one outside the agency telling us, 'We bought this or that space, now create something to fill it,"' Francucci said.