Valentina Vescovi is covering the Latin America beat for Ad Age. Today she writes about the digital lag in South American markets. She also mentions the opportunity for growth.
Mauricio Mazzariol, founder of the Brazilian Bigman shop and, since last January, part of the Wieden & Kennedy team in Portland, Ore., says: “Brazil has a potentially huge digital market — 150 million Brazilians have mobile telephones, and the rate of hours spent on the internet is amongst the highest in the world.”
Even with the economic barriers technology imposes, Brazil has 38 million people with home internet access, according to a study by Ipope this month. And even after the explosion of the financial crisis, high-speed internet service grew 24% in comparison to February 2008. Despite Brazil’s digital vastness, Mr. Mazzariol warns, “Nonetheless, the country is also still in the process of maturing into the digital era; it is still far from Europe or the United States.” But “in absolute numbers, Brazil is as digitalized as Spain.”
Hmmm…I think we better translate AdPulp into Portugese (and Spanish).
