Brazil companies in the driving seat as they tune in to the power of branding

As São Paulo’s notorious rush hour grinds into gear, a radio presenter at Mitsubishi FM clicks play on Rod Stewart’s ‘Maggie May’, and prepares for a discussion with listeners called, ‘Is your dad 4×4?’

The radio station is funded by, and named after, Mitsubishi Motors the Japanese carmaker known for its 4x4s and is an example of Brazil’s culture of branding things from soap operas to pop concerts.

In another studio, traffic reports are coming in from four reporters and a helicopter for Rádio SulAmérica Trânsito – a 24-hour traffic radio station named after an insurance company. The studios run their own TV and radio stations as well as providing bespoke operations for clients such as SulAmérica and Mitsubishi Motors.

Branding is huge in Brazil. Football commentators frequently plug lists of sponsors in the middle of games. During one of last year’s episodes of Big Brother, contestants sang a song in praise of the flip-flop maker sponsoring the reality show.

While the stations refuse to discuss figures, it is clear radio is an effective medium in a city that spends much of its time in a traffic jam.

“It is impressive how well branded radio works and it is really cheap,” says Antonio Rosa Neto, a media consultant from São Paulo’s Dianet agency.

Brazil’s 3,600 radio stations attract huge audiences but just 4 per cent of the country’s advertising – compared with the 60 per cent swallowed by TV, says Mr Neto.

A 30-second TV ad can cost R$360,000 (US$192,000). But for R$500,000, Mr Neto estimates, you could run a branded radio station for a week.

Oi, one of Brazil’s biggest mobile phone operators, launched the country’s first branded station in 2002, and now have 11. “We believe Oi Fm helps the brand represent itself as a lifestyle,” the company says.

SulAmérica, a company known for health insurance, says SulAmérica Trânsito helped it to reposition itself in the car insurance market. It was fifth in the market in terms of customer recognition, but “with the launch of Rádio SulAmérica Trânsito, we went to number two”.

Mitsubishi says its station “took us to a mass audience which we’d never done before. You make contact with your client or potential buyer, and they are constantly remembering the brand Mitsubishi.”