Chief data media officer participates in the expansion of the agency’s martech area
Publicist Rafaela Alves was already experimenting at home with the combination that would transform her into one of the most admired media and data professionals on the market.
I am the daughter of an engineer and a visual artist, that is, I have always been stimulated by a universe of analysis with a relevant dose of creativity, recalls the chief data media officer at AlmapBBDO.
With a 24-year career, the executive is now involved in expanding the agency’s martech area, set up a year ago. With an internalized team, we pivoted from attribution modeling to the development of proprietary algorithms, he says.
For Rafaela, innovation is much more about failure than absolute success. Understand why in the following interview.
Career
This year, I have been working in marketing and advertising for 24 years. I carry a DNA of restlessness, which naturally brought me closer to innovative and transformative processes. I directed my career towards chairs that would allow me to pursue this career path. I have always sought to have a cross-sectional view of the marketing discipline. To build a generalist view of communication strategy, I completed cycles in different areas within advertising, such as media, data, digital acceleration, research and e-commerce. This background allowed me to develop a holistic view of communication strategy.
Influence
I am the daughter of an engineer and a visual artist, that is, I have always been stimulated by a universe of analysis with a relevant dose of creativity. The consequence of this union is that my greatest motivation is to participate in transformations. Breathing in the new as a source to expand the result is my biggest driver. Data and media are the practical application of this motivation. Organic disciplines, they are present in a granular way throughout the communication journey. The possibility of creating new angles of action, within the same universe, takes me out of my comfort zone daily. The capillarity of action is what fascinates me most about working for brands.
Base
Telecom was one of my main schools, where I spent more than ten years, and had my first contact with data and digitalization. I participated in the startup process of TIM in Brazil, which was still called Maxitel, in the integration of the Claro brand, leading nine media and communication hubs. Furthermore, I was part of the development of Gol Linhas Areas’ e-commerce platforms and LOral Brasil’s digital acceleration. At AlmapBBDO, over the last two years, I have led the media and data team to manage multiplatform strategies, with one of the main missions being to accelerate the full funnel vision observed for our clients.
Motivated
My path to advertising was the opposite. I started my career focused on the corporate communications area, with a journalism background, which was my first degree. I quickly realized that what motivated me was the strategic construction of communication aimed at brands. Being an advertiser is always in a state of avant-garde. This is the only way we can accelerate marketing.
Transformation
There is a lot of talk today about modernization and the application of technology in routines. But advertising has always been oriented towards implementing innovation and disruption, but these applications were carried out using a different nomenclature. Without a doubt, my motivation is to breathe this constant process of resignification and transformation.
Layers
Today, we talk about the union of media, data and creativity as if this trio were an advent of the digitalization process, but the truth is that the industry has always been governed by them. The difference is that before the layers of information were shallower. The benchmark for the communications market has always been a great idea (creativity and insights), visibility (average) and the result, that is, the impact generated on the brand, plus the result in sales (data). Currently, the tracking layers have increased exponentially. Access to consumers’ journeys, through media signals, as well as real-time measurement during the strategy execution process, allows surgical analyses.
Read the full interview in the November 27, 2023 edition
