Acquired by Omnicom in 2016, the company has a new board and, according to the CEO, continues to do classic PR, but has advanced in other disciplines
CDN celebrated its 35th anniversary this Monday (10th) and promoted repositioning, including the renewal of the logo. Fabio Santos, the company’s CEO, says that this move is the consolidation of the changes that have taken place in the company since it was acquired by Omnicom in 2016, and accelerated in the last two years.
Although it has preserved its vocation of building powerful relationships, the agency has evolved and modernized in several aspects during this period. We continue to do the most classic PR with excellence, with all its deliveries, but we have advanced a lot in disciplines such as measurement, digital communication, influencer marketing and branded content, in addition to others, he says.
According to him, it was also invested in the growth of the data intelligence area and in the updating and creation of products. And the renewal of the human factor has been fundamental to all this transformation, of course. Half of our board and 70% of CDN professionals, in general, have joined and reinforced our team in the last two years, says the executive.
For him, change is a perception of the market context. In the world, especially in the United States, PR, as the expression condensed in the acronym (public relations) says, has always been much more than the press. In Brazil, in a very distant past, there was a split: press office is a journalist thing; public relations can only be practiced by those who have studied PR; marketing for those who studied advertising, says Santos, adding: In the new world, digital has shuffled everything and the market has been transformed. Which makes sense to say, today, that PR is a cross-cutting and broad communication discipline, supported by relationships with stakeholders, whoever they are and wherever they are. exactly what we do and deliver to our customers.
When asked if the press office was swallowed up and expanded its activities to other fields of communication, he simply says that the press office is still as important as it ever was, but it is no longer just for contact with journalists. This public is also impacted by digital actions or the so-called PR stunt, that type of action, generally surprising, that generates interest in those directly impacted, but spreads because it becomes news and is shared on social networks.
For him, in an environment as complex, multiplatform and dynamic as the current one, no single discipline can meet all the demands of brands. Therefore, our understanding and practice of PR are comprehensive, versatile, dynamic and transversal.
Santos also explains the concept The PR Powerhouse, adopted by the agency, which highlights the company’s ability to meet major brands with high demands, combining the strength of the relationship, producing relevant and effective dialogues with customer audiences. This becomes clear when we mention some of our clients: Pfizer, Samsung, Latam, SuperVia, Warner/Universal, Pacaembu and Braskem. It also translates the fact that we have multidisciplinary talents, working based on data, supported by technology, with monitoring and measurement of results. All to devise effective reputation-building strategies.
According to the executive, it is a way of showing that they are reliable and solid (there are several clients who have been with the branch for more than ten years), but also versatile and multidisciplinary, with products and services to meet the most diverse communication demands, whatever whatever the medium, format or platform.
The CDN will have an advertising campaign created by DM9, which, according to him, demonstrates the ability to build dialogue. Because we believe that a relevant impact on society and business can only be achieved when brands are open to exchange. Therefore, CDN is the agency capable of helping these companies and institutions navigate this context in the most powerful way: that of relationship.
He reveals that the campaign has an advertisement in print and a trousseau of pieces for digital media, including an institutional video that should help them tell the story of this repositioning.
Today, data is fundamental to any area and he knows that research and measurement drive earned, paid, owned and shared media strategies. And that performance data is constantly being translated into creation and content while guiding us through changes and tactical actions on each channel and with each audience. At CDN, we have the IQEM, an index measuring the quality of exposure of brands in earned average. an exclusive and proprietary methodology that combines artificial intelligence and human intelligence to measure the exposure of brands, the impact on their reputation and give monetary value to the communication results, he says.
For him, today, PR is more than ever a marketing tool. When I say that, I don’t mean to abandon the idea that PR has always been one of the main reputation building tools. But, yes, today there is no marketing without reputation. Furthermore, in a multipolar world, with diverse voices (today we are all media and we are all sources of information and opinion), the idea that it is possible to dominate the narrative through marketing and communication actions is a mistake. Santos says that a confused, complex and unstable world calls for dialogue today. the ability to listen and understand what stakeholders need, the ability to respond with facts, data and reasoned arguments to these demands. Now, that’s called a relationship. This is the PR beach, which is therefore essential for communication, he concludes.
