Aberje and Abracom present survey on the profile of communication agencies in Brazil

Service industry grows among providers, but the economic crisis is still a liability

The Brazilian Association for Business Communication (Aberje), in partnership with the Brazilian Association of Communication Agencies (Abracom) disclosed the results of the survey “Panorama of Communication Agencies in Brazil: structure, organization, and trends.” The goal was to show the communication market and other industries how these companies work and operate.

One of the survey’s highlights was the finding that the main challenges faced by agencies over the past 12 months are directly related to the country’s weak economy. The direct consequences of this trend are a reduction in customer budgets (mentioned by 84% of respondents), followed by the difficulty of maintaining or increasing company profits (72%).

Notably, the service industry was the one that most demanded new contracts in 2018 – 64% of agencies were hired by this industry. The service industry accounts for 42% of the communication agencies’ revenues, followed by the food sector (31% of hires and 16% of the revenue). The construction and civil engineering industry generated 27% of hiring and 16% of revenues. The industry that least demanded from agencies in 2018 was petrochemicals, with 3% of hiring and 4% of revenue. The country’s economic scenario is the main challenge for communication agencies in this market (64%).

The agencies that took part in the research operate in several communication segments, the main ones being: Digital and Social Media (85%), Press Relations (77%), Internal Communication (75%), Crisis and Risk Management (73%), and Corporate Affairs/ Institutional Relations (69%). Other highlights are Design (59%), Events (51%), Branding (49%), Reputation Management (49%), and Community Relations (48%).

According to 48% of the participants, the area of Digital Construction and Production showed the largest growth in 2018. As a result, 53% of the agencies bet on the growth of these operations in 2019. Segments that also showed growth last year are Senior Consulting (43%), Media Relations (40%), Risk and Crisis Management (33%), and Social Media Community Management (31%).

The survey points out that, for the next few years,  Marketing and Business Development are market trends for communication agencies. According to the survey, 63% of participating agencies indicate this segment as key to their business development, followed by Multimedia Content Creation (45%), Big Data Analysis (43%), Strategic Planning (36%), and Risk Management, Public Opinion and Public Affairs (33%).

Data collection took place between April and June 2019, through self-completion in an online system. The survey used a convenience non-probability sampling and included 76 agencies, including members and non-members of Aberje.