In a meeting this Thursday (17), the advertisers’ entity re-elected the board for a new two-year term.
Nelcina Tropardi was re-elected for another two years as president of the ABA (Brazilian Association of Advertisers). The election took place this Thursday (17) during the entity’s board meeting.
In an exclusive interview with PROPMARK, Nelcina talked about the plans for the new mandate in the entity, the movement of good practices in the advertising market, in addition to a possible return of the ABA to Cenp (Executive Council of Standard Norms) – the association left the Cenp in January last year, after deliberation by the national board.
What will be the strategic pillars of your management in the next two years at the helm of ABA?
This management will be marked by the challenges of contemporaneity, one of them being the hybrid work model. Virtual and in person together is no longer a temporary effect, whether for work or for holding events. And this reality has an important impact on the life of an association, that is, on how to continue to be a point of support and contact for members, both face-to-face and virtual. In any case, we cannot go back, we have to relearn how to work in this new dynamic. Let’s face challenges, yes! But we will continue to support our associates in the main impasses of this new model. It will be necessary to review the role of leadership, learn to give autonomy and freedom in remote work, seek new skills and new productivity indicators, be careful with the mental health of employees, know how to communicate efficiently, without noise to engage employees, work so that there is no loss of belonging to the home office, reinforcing the office’s purpose of promoting connection between people, and understanding how not to lose talent with the return to corporate buildings.
Did ABA hold many virtual events during the pandemic and now, with the return to face-to-face, will the entity continue to bet on hybrid events?
As far as hybrid events are concerned, I believe we can only win. As we still live in a scenario of uncertainty with the pandemic, this model is the best solution for holding events and amplifies the reach with the participation of more people, from all over the world, in a virtual way. On the other hand, when it is possible to participate in face-to-face events, people will enjoy more in-depth conversations, promoting that networking that makes all the difference to the evolution of the journeys. For these face-to-face events, everyone must continue to follow the safety protocols for the prevention of Covid-19, such as temperature measurement at the entrance, use of masks and availability of gel alcohol throughout the event space, in addition to reducing the number of of participants. It is necessary to have a management team working in face-to-face events with a focus on ensuring control of public flows and compliance with measures.
Last year, ABA led the movement of good practices in the advertising market. Now, what will be the next steps?
This year, we will focus on the implementation of this Guide, which is so important for the evolution of marketing, continuing with the constant open dialogue with the market and with our active Working Groups (WGs). On the agendas of ABA initiatives, in this management we will act on themes that also guide the WFA (World Federation of Advertisers), an entity to which ABA is affiliated and follows a joint agenda, and which are necessary for the evolution of our market in the face of challenges of contemporary society and new business models and connections, with emphasis on Brand Safety, a theme that ABA has already been pioneering, with the launch in 2021 of the “Guide to Brand Safety Standards + Adequacy Structure”.
At this Thursday’s (17th) board meeting at the ABA, you made room for Cenp to present its moves. Does this mean that the ABA is returning to the entity?
We invited Luiz Lara and Silvio Genesini to present their plans for the new Cenp so that we can closely monitor these important developments. Their participation in this ABA Board of Directors Meeting does not mean that we are returning to Cenp. It represents the continuity of the dialogue that we have had with the new Management of Cenp to accompany its effective evolution. The ABA may, in the future, evaluate its return to Cenp, which will depend on the body’s next steps in its restructuring.
Does this new management have more women or men? And how many leaders of this new management come from marketing or institutional relations or the legal areas of the associates?
The new management is made up of 63% women and 37% men. Of the 63 members of the new management, 71% come from marketing, 16% from institutional relations and 13% from the legal areas.
How is the ABA handling Brand Safety?
The ABA remains aligned with the WFA agenda, which has been treating this issue as a priority since last year to support brands in the face of contemporary society challenges, impacted by digital transformation, media evolution and new connections. In 2021, ABA participated in the debates of the GARM (Global Alliance for Responsible Media), the WFA alliance, which brings together several market players in favor of responsible media, through its Media Committee. We were featured in the WFA global newsletter, released on May 18, 2021, as Brazil was the first country to have locally articulated the GARM movement with initiatives that became a global benchmark among other national advertiser associations, in addition to maintaining a dialogue perennial in the Brazilian market, through which experiences and ideas on best practices in this field are exchanged.
What advocacy fronts has ABA been working on?
In this biennium, from 2020 to 2021, ABA acted on more than 110 advocacy fronts, contributed to 8 Public Consultations, manifesting itself through 14 different positions on various topics, exercising its collaborative role and sharing with its associates about 160 weekly newsletters with updates on legislative activity in Brasília. The Entity plays a fundamental role in defending responsible marketing and freedom of expression, which are fundamental pillars that we defend hard, so that we will continue to act on important fronts to promote the most effective defense of the common interests of advertisers, namely the freedom of commercial expression, together with the main stakeholders of our market, be they constituted authorities, public bodies or representatives of civil society. The restriction of freedom of communication, intrinsic to some bills and government initiatives, reduces the level of investments, causes monetary losses associated with the restriction of supply and price increases for advertising, legal uncertainty and an increase in litigation and judicialization. The ABA’s performance implies less regulation and less risk of judicialization, defending the existing legal framework and self-regulation as sufficient guarantees for the defense of ethical and responsible advertising. Thus, the strong positive impact on the Brazilian economy is one of the main results of ABA’s Advocacy work.
