BR Media, the ‘Broker’ for Influencers, Raises BRL 105 million
BR Media – A company that helps brands like McDonald’s and IFood to carry out marketing campaigns with digital influencers – has lifted 105 million reais during a round that will finance the merger and acquisition strategy, as well as the growth of new companies related to the creative economy.
In the round, João Brandão’s principal focused on B2B startups, Bridgeone, took a minority stake in the company. The capitalization was mainly basic, but a minor part gave a partial outing to former publicist Celso Ribeiro and Danilo Basso, a lawyer who worked in football teams.
Founded ten years ago, BR Media was born when “digital influencers” were not as relevant as today – and with the idea of monetizing the followers of footballers and athletes. “Social networks were already developing a lot, but the athletes did not see them as a way to generate additional income,” Celso at Brazil Journal told.
“A footballer can have 7 million followers on Facebook, but if Nestlé sends him a box of chocolates, he will post free.” In this context, the two entrepreneurs have seen the opportunity to act as an “intermediary”, to arbitrate the relationship between brands and athletes they were able to achieve thanks to the work of Danilo, which was in charge of the Service Legal teams such as Palmeiras and Santos when it was associated, by Martins Castro Montero Advogados.
Over time, BR Media has changed its business model, starting to work with influencers in general (not just athletes) and serving as a sort of influencer marketing arm for the brand. “Today, we are doing everything for brands regarding digital influencers,” said Danilo. “We manage the advertising budget and create the entire customer promotion strategy thanks to our internal bi team.
Then, we analyze the results of the campaign. “BR Media is already used more than 500 customers, including major brands such as McDonald’s, General Motors, Sanofi and Ifood. The company will win 200 million reais this year with an ebitda of 50 million reais. In three years, it expects to reach 550 million revenue and 150 million R $ in Ebitda.
“It is the company with the highest margin in the sector and the most diverse sites,” said Joao Brandao, director of Bridge One. “In addition, it is a sector with very great growth potential.” According to him, the huge gap that exists between the amount spent on digital media in the United States and Brazil is expected to fill in the coming years.
“In the United States, 50 to 60% of the population’s time is devoted to digital technology, and the share of the advertising budget devoted to digital technology is a bit like that,” he said. “In Brazil, 70% of the population’s time is devoted to digital technology, but only 30% of the advertising budget is devoted to digital.” In addition to his core business, BR Media already explores new professions in the creators’ economy.
One of them is put, a platform that automates the recruitment process of micro-influencers and Squid competition, which was bought by LocaWeb. Put – who was born at BR Media and was recently “refreshed” – has more than 30,000 micro -influencers in its base, divided into different categories.
When a customer wishes to launch a campaign, the team put in this base and makes a proposal for a group of taking micro-parties that makes sense for the campaign. Another recently created company is Farol, which intends to help influencers accelerate their careers, both in terms of organic growth and financial gain.
Farol also seeks to create new sources of income for influencers beyond advertising – for example, by creating native digital brands or by structuring the media for action transactions. “Brazil is sorely lacking in the management of the professional careers of these talents, which prevents them from developing,” said Celso, co-founder.
