3 Brazilian brands with sizzling content marketing

Brazil has a booming economy, and with a country of 198 million people, there are loads of great brands – many of them not internationally recognised. But it’s fair to say that when it comes to great content marketing, some of the biggest Brazilian brands are masters at playing the content marketing game. Here, we looked at 3 of them to see how they use their unique jeito (style) to create content that engages their audiences.

Havaianas

Havaianas are in the fashion retail business, and rely heavily on visual content – they have a good balance of boards on Pinterest, from boards showcasing their merchandise, to boards devoted to the kind of feelings they want to inspire in their audience – namely a love for all things summer. Since their product is not overly expensive, and trends change from season to season, their sales cycle is quite short, relying on emotionally based decisions. Their content taps into the love of summer, and uses the brevity of the season to make a quick sale.

User generated content

They are also masters of user generated content – from fashion bloggers to everyday people, Havaianas know that it’s the people who wear the brand that tell the best stories and create the most compelling content. These photos and videos, created by fans, generate better brand awareness and create more engagement than if Havaianas had created the media themselves. The Instagram/Twitter campaign #followthesummer has been responsible for a multitude of fan photos that showcase the famous flipflops. As for the content Havaianas produces itself, numerous videos on their YouTube channel show tips on how to wear your Havaianas, and sneak peeks backstage at product photoshoots with celebrities. These sneak peeks especially tap into the audience’s desire for secret or exclusive content. While Havaianas would do well to embed the videos on their store site instead of just on their Youtube channel, their website does offer a nifty experience.  A cool little game called ‘Havaianas Ink’ lets users move the icons around to make their own art, after which they can save it to use as a screensaver or wallpaper. Top Tip If you worry that this is only a tool at the disposal of mega brands, don’t fret. User-generated content can be employed by smaller brands as well. Don’t be afraid to ask your customers for reviews (great for building trust and for improving your SEO), or entice them to tag photos or videos as part of a competition. Happy clients are your best salespeople, so let them create the bulk of the content.

Target demographics

Havaianas also understands where to find their target demographic – Facebook. They create content, visual and highly topical, exclusively for their Facebook page which has over 5 million likes.

Finally, all of their content adheres to their strong brand identity – internationally, they’ve been very successful in cultivating the archetypal Brazilian personality – sunny and warm disposition, forever young, and always up for a good party, be it in the backyard or on the streets of Rio.

Guarana Antarctica

This Anheuser-Busch InBev-distributed soft drink brand goes out of its way to not only create content for digital consumption, but to actually develop its own digital software. Guaraná knows that marketing can be very powerful when you think outside your brand. In 2012 it created the ‘Ex-lover blocker’ app, a way of blocking the user from making the impulsive and poor decision to call or text their ex lover. Not only did it generate significant mentions on social media, the app itself was a big success and managed to generate more brand awareness by giving its target demographic something totally different. In addition to apps, Guaraná Antarctica creates a lot of gameified content – not only around promotional competitions, but also with Alternate Reality Games. In 2007, their ARG about a fictional company set to destroy the Amazon had over 70,000 registered players and generated huge amounts of environmental awareness.

Things that go so well together

They also know that their drinks aren’t usually consumed on their own, and have therefore created a multitude of content around food (especially the salgados street snacks like pastel that go so well with a cool drink). Top tip Do you have a product that is the peanut butter to your jelly? Is there a particular lifestyle that goes along with your offering? Think about the other interests and needs of your clients to create distinctive content.

Banco Itau

You wouldn’t think a bank would produce very exciting content – let’s face it, no one looks at mortgage rates and thinks ‘this would be great as a video’. But Banco Itaú creates a variety of videos that aren’t simply uploaded commercials.

Tug on those heartstrings

They produce several series around their campaigns: #issomudaomundo (this moves the world) and #issomudaojogo (this moves the game) are 2 examples of great series that tug on the heartstrings. These videos tap into emotions of national pride, and the love Brazilians feel for their families. Their videos generate lively commenting - even a comment from Fabio Coelho (President at Google Brasil)! This is the type of content that gets people talking about life, love, and ultimately about Banco Itaú. If it looks as though Banco Itaú is really jumping on the World Cup bandwagon, it’s because it can. They are official National Supporters of the World Cup, and have definitely used every opportunity to showcase their support for the Brazilian team. Top tip Don’t just analyse how to get your clients to notice your brand, pay attention to the other things they care about in life. Create content aimed at the bigger picture and in time, #issomudaseumarketing (this moves your marketing). Want hot content marketing without the sweat? Let us know via [email protected]!