Agency guided by the union of creativity, data and digital media reinforces investment in the Brazilian market, one of the fastest growing in the world
Conversations about the metaverse multiply, but the talk only spreads “buzz, to capture users”, criticizes Wesley Ter Haar, founding partner of Media.Monks, a structure created from the merger with MightyHive and introduced to the market in August 2021. by Martin Sorrel’s S4Capital, with the promise of bringing together creative content, data and digital media. In September, Media.Monks plans to open a new office in Brazil, one of the fastest growing markets in the world. The expectation is to end 2022 with an expansion of about 30%.
“We see many opportunities beyond the media investment in TV. We want to encourage brands to innovate with a team of Brazilian talents working in partnership with professionals from all over the world”, says Ter Haar. Immersive and integrated experiences are underway for projects announced soon.
Specialist in virtualization, the executive was the first president of the Cannes Lions Digital Craft jury, in 2016, when the category was launched. The prestige was repeated in this year’s edition. It was Luciana Haguiara, executive creative director of the agency, who presided over the judgment of the works. FCB Brasil won the only trophy of the national delegation in the area. He returned with Bronze for Black Characteres, created for Revista Raça.
Characters not occupied by tweets were automatically filled in by a black voice and posted on Twitter, with references to names from the black movement in literature, art, sports and journalism. The Grand Prix went to Virtue Worldwide, from New York, with Backup Ukraine, to Polycam/Unesco. The application developed by the agency allowed millions of Ukrainians to recreate monuments destroyed by war, which will be stored in the cloud.
“Digital is where life happens”, reflects Ter Haar, in an exclusive interview with PROPMARK. The founding partner of Media.Monks says that the discussion about how much time a person spends on digital is innocuous. What matters is the value of activities as relevant as physical interactions. “The metaverse gives meaning to conversations, communities and people who rediscover themselves. This is life,” she assesses.
Understanding the role of the brand for consumers is critical. But, in this learning phase, it takes patience to get a return. “Don’t expect magic. There is a lot of interest from everyone, however, people must be realistic about the results”, he ponders. Having a clear purpose also helps. “What is the brand trying to do? What does this action mean? Looking for a specific value”, he asks.
Ter Haar considers the example coming from the luxury market obvious. The brands’ understanding of culture explains the industry’s pioneering spirit in the metaverse, favored by resources such as NFTs – acronym for Non-fungible Tokens – capable of elevating the concept of customization intrinsic to the world of Lux. “It’s a natural extension of that space,” she says.
From the integration of content, data and technology, strategies emerge capable of guaranteeing the coveted differentiation pursued by brands. “We always start from the analysis of what is possible to do by combining skills”, says Ter Haar. The realization of projects depends on professionals who understand the opportunities identified in each of the areas.
Exponents of technology and creativity make use of this mix of disciplines to extract references, synthesize information and investigate behavioral trends. “The amount of change that has happened in the last two or three years in our space is incredible,” he recalls. Handling different visions of such a broad scenario renews the cycle of building brands that, in Brazil, finds reinforced investments by Media.Monks as of this second semester.
