Professionals from companies such as Index, CDN, InPress Porter Novelli and Grupo BCW Brasil analyze the transformation scenario
Social networks have changed the way content is consumed around the world and, consequently, forced agencies to review their concepts. Or rather: your placements. Many of them, which debuted in the market focused primarily on PR, today define themselves as full service.
This is the case with Index, founded in 1996 as a press office and which, this week, announced its new positioning: full service communication agency.
From now on, the company’s spotlight will be on creating narratives on channels and platforms. In practice, Index will also offer data intelligence, creation and planning services.
“Audience attention is at stake, being fought over by all brands, people and creators all the time. This is why PR, when integrated with other communication solutions, has been gaining more and more strength and visibility in the strategy of brands and companies”, explains Taciana Veloso, co-founder and co-CEO of Index.
However, Index is just one of several agencies that, for a few years now, have started to position themselves like this: full service. With more than three decades in the market, CDN is another example. CEO Fabio Santos says that the company has undergone a transformation in recent years, especially the digital one.
“Today, CDN is a full service communication agency dedicated to building, strengthening and relevance of the image and reputation of brands and institutions in this communication ecosystem, which is increasingly fluid and complex”, he says.
The way people consume and produce information are some of the reasons that made the agencies expand their areas of operation, thus contributing to the customer’s journey within the current scenario. And the customer journey, irremediably, goes through social networks.
“The expansion of the areas of operation is a market need, not a growth driver”, he guarantees. “Remaining attached to the traditional press office would be the same as being condemned to shrink”, he adds.
InPress Porter Novelli is yet another agency that, in recent years, has expanded its operations and today has 15 areas, including media, planning, creation and the newly created Thought Leadership.
“This area aims to create thought leaders ready to engage and inspire in the current context of constant transformation”, says Roberta Machado, CEO of InPress Porter Novelli.
And the result of the transformation has been positive for the agencies. At InPress, from 2015 onwards, the client portfolio tripled, according to the executive. “They understood that our work today consists of a 360º set of strategic initiatives”, says Roberta. Currently, the agency has around 150 brands under its care and a team of 400 professionals.
REALITY
“It’s not a trend, it’s a consolidated reality”, says Fabio Santos, from CDN, about the migration to the full service scope. Also according to the executive, today’s agencies are oriented towards building, strengthening the image and reputation of brands and companies.
“Furthermore, if you analyze from a more holistic point of view, the sector has so many tools and disciplines, which work together or separately, that it is normal for the territories between the activities of companies to cross”, he emphasizes.
Letícia Veloso, partner and CHRO at Index, believes that the reality of the market calls for increasingly agile processes on the part of the agency. “The omnichannel communication is a trend that we believe for brands to consolidate themselves as platforms for content, knowledge and entertainment”, he says.
Integration is also a point that weighs heavily on the organization of all communication processes, in the opinion of Roberta, CEO of InPress. “All these changes aim to ensure efficiency, agility and flexibility, which are essential to respond to increasingly complex needs. We are structured to act on a day-to-day basis as the very high-level strategic consultancy that our customers need”, he emphasizes.
Rosa Vanzella, co-president of Grupo BCW Brasil and Máquina CW, also sees the movement as a path of no return. “The request for a complete communication management is in the briefings, in the conversations with prospects, in the special projects that become increasingly constant in clients that still operate only with the PR fee”, he concludes.
