Big News for Brazilian Business

I've always believed that emerging markets, like Brazil, India or China, will need to build strong global brands and not only become commodity powerhouses.  So, I was very happy to hear yesterday's announcement that JBS-Friboi (Brazil's beef giant which acquired Smithfield Beef last year and Swift & Co. back in 2007) just acquired Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride and merged with Betin - another Brazilian meat company - to form the World's largest meat producer. Big news for Brazilian business.

From a purely marketing standpoint, the question is...

Will JBS-Friboi be able to build a company with global brands that resonate emotionally with consumers aroung the globe?

Brands managed by Brazilian companies, many of them amazingly successful locally, haven't been that successful becoming truly global.  I'm curious to see if JBS-Friboi will change the game...

The return of a snack classic

A lot has been wirtten about how retro is cool and how some . I'm a huge fan of the movement (probably why I bought a New Beetle when they first came out and why I drive a Mini Cooper today). Well, here at PepsiCo Brazil we're also riding the retro wave by bringing back a snack classic from the 80's and 90's: Doritos Original.

Since 2001, the only Doritos flavor sold in Brazil has been nacho cheese (in the famous red bag) and earlier this year we launched Sweet Chili as a limited edition (in a striking silver bag). Answering the call from hundreds of Brazilian fans who have posted that they want the return of Doritos Original, in the following days we're bringing back the classic tortilla chip that comes with just the great taste of yellow corn in its famous yellow bag. And to go in true retro style, we even decided to use the old classic Doritos logo from the 90's.

One of the fun things about social networking is that marketers can quickly identify and respond to consumer requests. We had tons of fun last year producing a 5kg bag for die-hard Doritos fans and now we have a chance of bringing back a classic from the past.

A brand all about guy gets girl

The new site for Axe® body deodorant in Brazil is graphically awesome, perfectly on target and is generating a lot of buzz within the local blogsphere.  For those who manage teen brands, this is definitely work worth learning from.  As you know, the brand is all about boy gets girl and the site embodies that from every angle possible.  There's even a very cool online game called 'Billions' that tests a guy's ability to get girls (I'm happy that our Doritos® brand is featured as a billboard within the game).  

Axe is a great example of a brand laser-focused on a very defined demographic with a perfectly crafted positioning. Well done. 

Branding... a big challenge for BRIC's

Going through the latest Global Fortune 500 list, it's clear that we're entering a new world order with companies from BRIC countries rising on the global scale.  What is still missing is the branding piece.  With very few exceptions, like China's Lenovo (debuting at No. 499) which acquired IBM's computing division or India's Tata (No. 315) which has made headlines all over the world with an aggressive automotive strategy, there's seems to be a long way to go in the development of brands that will become the Apple, Toyota, HSBC or Nokia of the future.  In many cases, there seems to be a generic, risk-free approach with strong nationalistic overtones with names like China National Petroleum, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Indian Oil, State Bank of India or Banco do Brasil, instead of creating brands that can be differentiated and make a statement. BRIC companies wanting to move beyond borders may need to look at South Korea and learn how they were able to create some remarkable global brands in the past 20 years, like Samsung, LG or Hyundai.