ALL EYES ON BRAZIL! HONORING THE BRAZIL 50

The Internationalist is honoring 50 marketing leaders in Brazil who are setting new standards for their own huge market and for the world. No doubt, these individuals will inspire the industry at large to recognize Brazil’s marketing significance, its easy embrace of our social/digital world, and its unique set of advertising and media solutions—all worthy of world class initiative.

These individuals represent some of Brazil’s most engaging brands. Some of THE BRAZIL 50 hail from multinational organizations with a long history of global brands; others are talented locals working for the country’s biggest marketers; some have Latin American responsibilities, but make their center of influence Sao Paulo. All share a passion for innovative and responsible brand-building. Without a devotion to excellence and desire to generate strong results, their brands would not have built long-term success in this extraordinary country.

These individuals represent some of Brazil’s most engaging brands. Some of THE BRAZIL 50 hail from multinational organizations with a long history of global brands; others are talented locals working for the country’s biggest marketers; some have Latin American responsibilities, but make their center of influence Sao Paulo. All share a passion for innovative and responsible brand-building. Without a devotion to excellence and desire to generate strong results, their brands would not have built long-term success in this extraordinary country.

Earlier this year, The Internationalist named Fernando Chacon, Chief Marketing Officer of Banco Itaú as one of our Internationalists of the Year. CLICK HERE FOR HIS PROFILE. He and Agency Africa helped us refine this list. The foundation of it originated from Marketing Consultancy Grupo Consultores through the results of their ongoing agencyScope studies which ask industry leaders to name top marketing talent. Others contributed, including Cortex Media, BBC, Publicitas, and other local partners.

The focus of The Internationalist is to connect the people & ideas in international marketing through content, intelligence, thought leadership, community, collaboration and influence. Since 2003, The Internationalist has been honoring those industry pioneers who further the role of multinational marketing as Internationalists of the Year, Innovators, Trendsetters, The 100, The Latin American 100, the Next 50, The European 50, The Asia 50, The China 50, now THE BRAZIL 50 represents the global importance of the country to marketing.

THE BRAZIL 50

Rodrigo Messias, Director of Marketing at ADIDAS and 2014 FIFA World Cup Project Director is a 15+ year veteran of Adidas with positings in the US, Germany, Argentina and Brazil since 2012. An athlete himself, a South American Swim Champion and a nine-time NCAA All-American, he has also championed the Adidas “All or Nothing Challenge,” a World Cup campaign which integrates Google Maps and Google Street View, for a unique branding experience.

Rui Porto, now media consultant for ALPARGATAS/ Havaianas, has served for 28+ years as the company’s CMO with all communications and advertising responsibilities, as well as Lawyer and Ad Man. He was part of the team responsible for the repositioning of the Havaianas brand in Brazil and internationally. Fifty years ago, the sandals were the workaday staples of the Brazilian poor; today, they have certainly surpassed their humble beginnings to become a “must-have” item everywhere in the world.

Mateus Schroeder is Head of Marketing for AMBEV’s Antarctica Beer, one of Brazil’s most important beer brands. Brazil is the world’s 3rd largest market for beer, and the tradition of brewing began with German immigration in the early 1800s. AmBev remains the country’s biggest brewer and owner of the Brahma, Antarctica, Bohemia and Skol brands. Mateus has spent the majority of his career at AMBEV in a wide variety of roles ranging from marketing to trade marketing to research and sales, and has served on a number of the company’s brands in Brazil and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Thiago Guedes Hackradt is Brand Manager for Skol 360, the popular Brazilian beer, and one of brands at AMBEV (Companhia de Bebidas das Américas or “Americas’ Beverage Company” or AmBev), the São Paulo-based brewer now a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Previously he held Brand and Digital Marketing roles for the company’s Guaraná Antarctica, Brazil’s iconic fruity-tasting soda, flavored with guaraná extract, which has a high concentration of caffeine.

Eduardo Tracanella, is Superintendent of BANCO ITAU Bank Marketing, and part of the team behind “The Great Transformation” campaign—an awe-inspiring commercial of national pride that shows the structures of a huge stadium emerging throughout Brazil to transform the entire country into a giant, all-inclusive soccer stadium. In addition to the extraordinary visuals, the stars in these commercials are the Brazilian people-- always a core concern of the bank. Sports, particularly football, is one of three pillars of the Itaú’s communications, along with Education and Urban Mobility.

Marcos Scaldelai is the President of Brazilian consumer goods company BOMBRIL as of September 2013 after serving in a number of marketing roles at Bombril, as well as Bertin and General Mills. Established in 1948, Bombril is known for its cleaning products, particularly steel wool, which is simply known in the country as Brombril although the product is also manufactured by other companies. Bombril advertises that its steel wool as 1001 uses, and the phrase has become so popular that it is now an adjective for a person with many abilities or skills.

Ricardo Monteiro has long been involved with the Brazilian Advertiser Association and was also named to The Internationalist’s Latin American 50 in 2011 while serving as the Regional Communications Director at Reckitt Benckiser. He started his career at Procter & Gamble in Brazil in various procurement, marketing and media management roles.

Eduardo Bernstein is Director of Marketing at JBS Foods, The largest food processing company in the world as ranked by sales. He is a Brazilian marketing veteran who started as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble. In his 12 year tenure with P&G, he lived in São Paulo, Brazil as well, Caracas, Venezuela and Geneva, Switzerland. He also held Marketing Director roles at BRF/Brasil Foods and Telefonica.

Bianca Ribeiro is the General Manager of Communications for CLARO, the telecommunications provider available in over 2,000 Brazilian cities, and one of two operators to introduce the iPhone 3G in Brazil. “Claro” means “clear” and “of course” in both Spanish and Portuguese, and is part of Mexico’s América Móvil. She has nearly two decades of experience in the Communications and Marketing, as well as Promotions and Events and Sports Marketing, with companies like Claro, Oi, Rio Sul Shopping Center and Sony Music Entertainment (Brazil).

Adriana Knackfuss is COCA COLA’s Real time Marketing Director in Brazil, part of the company’s consumer connections division, designed to engage customers with brands through digital marketing and media—in real time. She joined the company in 2007 to lead the interactive marketing team after working with Globo.com.

Damian Pirichinsky is the Marketing Director of COLGATE PALMOLIVE, where he leads and manages the company’s Oral Care business marketing strategies. He has been with Colgate since 1995 and had most recently headed the Colgate Palmolive’s Worldwide Shopper Marketing strategies and capabilities. A global executive, he has been based in Brazil since 2011, and has also lived in Eastern Europe, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Argentina.

Since 2009, Ricardo Vasques has been Vice President of Marketing at DANONE Brasil with a turnover of USD $800+ million and the 10th ranked country worldwide in terms of contributions to sales. Prior to his VP role in his home country of Brazil, he spend five years at Danon Spain where he was responsible for a team of brands and marketing managers.

Cesar Augusto Tavares is the Brand Director of Activia and Head of Innovation & Health Affairs at DANONE. Activia was launched in 2004, and today accounts for one-third of the fresh dairy product sales in Brazil. Its World Cup ad, featuring Shakira with a number of star football players, is among the most-watched videos supporting the games. Cesar’s marketing career began at Unilever.

Ricardo Souza is Director of Marketing for D.E. MASTER BLENDERS 1753 in Brazil where he heads marketing, shopper marketing and R&D for such well-known coffee and tea brands as Douwe Egberts, Senseo, L’OR, Pilão, Merrild, Moccona, Pickwick and Tea Forte. Last month is was announced that Mondelēz International and Master Blenders planned to combine their respective coffee businesses to create the world’s leading pure-play coffee company. Ricardo has 20 years of experience in Marketing and Sales management positions within Latin America, and prior to his current role, he’s worked at Sara Lee, Pernod Ricard, Procter & Gambel, 3M and Accenture.

Tania Cesar is currently Marketing & Customer Marketing Director at DIAGEO, where she has worked in various marketing roles for Latin America and the Caribbean since joining the company in 1996. Among the many projects she has championed for DIAGEO, is the Johnnie Walker “Keep Walking, Brazil” campaign, which was one of the first to be developed and produced outside United Kingdom. Brazil is a key market for the company as it is among the 10 largest in billings and expects to be among the top 5 by 2020.

Luis Cassio Oliveira is now the Director of Marketing & Communications at ELO, a credit card brand developed in 2011 by a number of Brazilian state financial institutions to provide a variety of credit, debit, prepaid services for lower-income consumers and for those who receive social benefits. Demand for the card has surpassed expectations and Elo is anticipating 15% of Brazil’s fast-growing credit card market by 2016. Oliveira has a long history of credit card marketing, and most recently spent 16 years as the Executive Director of Visa Brasil. Earlier roles included marketing positions at Citi, Credicard and Påo de Açucar.

João Batista Ciaco is the Director of Advertising & Relationship Marketing for FIAT Brazil and Latin America. He is responsible for the brand’s strategic planning; development and implementation of online strategies, including social networking interactivity; media planning, buying and post- buying; relationship marketing initiatives; and for implementing the CRM Project (Customer Relationship Management) in Brazil.

Sergio Giácomo has been Head of Communications and Institutional Relations for Latin America at GE since March. One of the original Latin America 50, his prior role was Director of Corporate Communications at Brazilian mining giant Vale, where he was considered to be the region’s most powerful Communications chief. He joined Vale in 2010 after spending almost a decade with Shell in both The Hague and Paris. A true Internationalist, his early years were spent on the agency-side with both Edelman and Burson-Marsteller in Europe, Latin America and North America.

Renata Guerra is the Marketing Coordinator for the Ipanema sandals brand at GRENDENE, Brazil’s largest footwear manufacturer with brands in the adult, adolescent, kids and baby markets. Currently the brands are available in over 90 countries. The brands are inspired by Brazil’s streets and beaches, as well as by the exuberance of the Brazilian people. Renata has been with Grendene since 2006 and is based at the company’s headquarters in Rio Grande do Sul.

Edson Shinohara has a sprawling role; he’s Head of Media, Regional Marketing & Marketing Financial Services at GRUPO BOTICARIO, Brazil’s largest cosmetic company and the world’s biggest cosmetics and perfume franchising network, founded in 1977 and with based on Amazonian plants ingredients. Edson started his career at JWT in media, and then worked in Marketing Services at Kraft before joining Boticário in 2011.

Claudio Oporto is the Executive Director of EUDORA, a new business unit of Grupo Boticário created with a multichannel sales strategy that includes ecommerce, retail outlets and direct sales. Designed for a modern woman, the brand’s tagline is “You have power.” Claudio has a long career in marketing. He’s been running Eudora for 5 years after spending an earlier 5 years at Natura, another leading Brazilian cosmetic company with a franchise focus. He served as Natura’s General Manager and also headed international business development where he implemented a strategy to enter new markets outside of Brazil. Earlier in his career he held management roles at Banco Itaú and ExxonMobil.

Cassio Pagliarini is the Marketing Director at HYUNDAI Motors Brasil where he leads all marketing operations. He’s an automotive industry executive with broad experience in both marketing and sales. Earlier roles included Marketing Director of Renault Brasil, following a long career at Ford Brasil Ltda with many marketing, advertising, sales and strategic business development roles.

Eduardo Bernstein is Director of Marketing at JBS Foods, The largest food processing company in the world as ranked by sales. He is a Brazilian marketing veteran who started as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble. In his 12 year tenure with P&G, he lived in São Paulo, Brazil as well, Caracas, Venezuela and Geneva, Switzerland. He also held Marketing Director roles at BRF/Brasil Foods and Telefonica

Bettina Walker Fladt is the Vice President of Global Marketing for Consumer Products at JOHNSON & JOHNSON and based in São Paulo, where she currently leads the SanPro business in Latin America, Asia Pacific and EMEA with responsibility for Stayfree, Carefree and o.b. brand equities and the pipeline of the three businesses. She’s been with J&J in Brazil since 2001, and has also managed their beauty portfolio (Neutrogena/ Roc / Clean & Clear / Lubriderm). Her first brand management role was with Reckitt Benckiser.

Daniella Brissac is the Marketing Director/Latin America for the Baby Care and Adult Personal Care divisions of JOHNSON & JOHNSON, and based in São Paulo. For the last seven years, she’s overseen marketing and communications strategy and regional campaign development. Earlier marketing and branding roles in her career have been with Whirlpool, Beiersdorf’s Nivea and Danone.

Marcos Bonfim is the Head of Media Planning for MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL., a role he’s held since 2007. His career has been focused on identifying and developing better opportunities for communication products and brand building for multinational brands. He has received several awards for the re-launch of the Mondēlez TANG brand. Earlier roles included media positions in Brazil for HSBC Brasil, Coca-Cola and Gillette.

Vanessa Giannotti is the Advertising Manager, of NATURA, Brazil’s second largest cosmetic company by revenue and a founding member of the Union for Ethical BioTrade. Natura manufactures and markets eco-friendly beauty products, as well as household and personal care products and solar filters. Using a direct sales model, the company has over 1.2 million consultants throughout Brazil, Latin America and France. Vanessa has been with Natura since 2006; her earlier roles were at Motorola Mobility and Fischer America.

Lilian Miranda is the Business Unit Director of NESTLE coffee products for the past six years. She has a broad marketing and sales background in both the Food Services and Retail sectors. Prior to Nestlé, she spent almost nine years with Sara Lee’s Hillshire Brands. Earlier roles included brand management positions at Parmalat and multinational agribusiness and food company, Bunge.

Marcio Carvalho is the Marketing Director at NET Services. The telecommunications company is also Brazil’s largest cable television operator and the first mover in “triple play” or broadband internet, fixed telephony and pay TV. Since 2003, Marcio has been focusing on marketing and innovation at NET, while leading NET`s convergent offering strategy and helping the company to construct a new dynamic for telecommunication and entertainment segments in the country. NET quality is now part of popular language given an ad campaign that talked about “not NET, but like NET.” When something is the best, it is “NET.”

Alex Rocco is the Director of Marketing Communications and Advertising for NEXTEL, the wireless services provider and subsidiary of Virginia USA-based NII Holding. He just kicked off a new campaign for the company this April to symbolize a new phase in its digital cellular development. Alex has long been involved with all things digital. He served as President of the IAB Brasil’s Marketing Committee, with prior marketing and sales roles at iG/Internet Group do Brasil and UOL/Universo Online Ltda.

Eric Albanese is the Consumer Communications Director at Rio-based OI, (Portuguese for “Hi”), Brazil’s largest telecommunications company and the 2nd largest in Latin America in terms of both subscribers and revenue. It was formerly known as Telemar. Eric made the transition to the telecommunications marketing in 2011 after being a marketing director in the beer category for such companies as Anheuser-Busch, Inbev and Ambev. He was also part of the global launch of Brahma Beer in 2004.

Nora Mirazon Machado is the Marketing, Innovation and Consumer Engagement Director at PEPSICO BEVERAGES Brazil. Today, she leads core Pepsi businesses from strategy and innovation to marketing. A Pepsi veteran who started at the company in 2005 when she developed and launched the H2OH! Soft drink in Brazil, she also has over 20 years of multinational marketing experience, including marketing positions at Cadbury Adams and Danone.

Patricia Kastrup is the Vice President of Marketing for PEPSICO FOODS Brazil, a role she’s held since 2011. The product portfolio includes global snacks such as Lay's, Cheetos, Fritos and Doritos, as well as local brands like Lucky snacks in Brazil. Patricia has extensive consumer marketing experience with Marketing Director and VP Brand Marketing Roles at Calro, Heineken American, Kraft Foods and an early role in marketing at Coca-Cola from 1993-1999.

Mariana Ribeiro Bieler is the Media Manager at PETROBRAS, the Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. known for its technology is deep-water exploration, it is the largest company in the Southern Hemisphere by market capitalization, as well as the largest company in Latin America by revenue. Mariana has held her Media role at Petrobras for the past eight year, following at media position at Globosat.

Gabriela Onofre is the Marketing & Communications Director for PROCTER & GAMBLE Brazil. She is a P&G veteran, starting at the company in 1998 as a marketing manager who launched Ariel as a new brand in the Brazilian market. During her tenure at the company, she has had regional management roles for the laundry and baby care categories—ranging from strategic development to communications to P&L responsibility. She’s also had early involvement with shopper marketing and reputation building for both the corporate brand and all P&G brands in Brazil.

Jaime Cacharron is Head of Marketing for Latin America and the Caribbean at RED BULL, a São Paulo based position that he’s held since 2013. He moved to Brazil from Red Bull Spain, and has more than 10 years of experience in worldwide marketing, product management, advertising and branded content.

Paula Nader is the Director of Brand and Marketing at SANTANDER Brasil where she leads both the B2B and B2C marketing efforts covering all customer and market segments and channels, services and products portfolio, managing a team of 50+ skilled members and a R$ 350 million annual budget. She has 20+ years in marketing and branding at banking industry with senior positions at Banco Nacional, Unibanco, BankBoston, ABN Amro / Banco Real and now Santander, where she developed and deployed the strategy to merge the Banco Real and Santander brands, coordinating a cross discipline team of 100+ members and a countrywide operation involving branches and all other distribution channels and brand touch points.

Carlos Paschoal is the Marketing Officer for SONY ELECTRONICS. He has been a part of Sony since 2004, and is a Senior executive with extensive experience in marketing and business development in the fast moving consumer goods, home appliances and electronics industries. He has also been highly successful in the restructuring of businesses, launching new categories and products, developing distribution networks and key accounts and improving teams’ effectiveness. Prior to Sony, he worked at Whirlpool and Citibank. His degree in Business Administration and his Masters in Corporate Finance come from Brazil’s Fundação Getúlio Vargas. He also has specializations in Management Economics from the University of Cambridge and Strategic Negotiations from the Harvard Business School .

Eduardo Costa is the Marketing Director of TAM AIRLINES, the Brazilian brand of LATAM Airlines Group and the largest Brazilian airline by marketshare and fleet size, although not the country’s flag carrier. Eduardo Costa has been with TAM since 2012, and is a senior marketing veteran with 20+ years of leading marketing teams, as well as managing business plans, demand generation and product innovation in such companies as Nestlé, Natura, Boticário, Scalina in Brazil and throughout the region.

Lylian Brandão is the Director of Advertising and Brand Sponsorships for TELEFONICA Latin America, with an international marketing role in the 14 countries where the company operates. Her marketing career with Telefónica began in 1999. The Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider has operations in Europe, Asia, North and South America. It is the sixth largest mobile network provider in the world. Telefónica operates the Movistar mobile phone brand throughout Latin America, and owns a majority stake in Brazilian mobile operator Vivo.

Livia Marquez is the Director of Advertising and Brand Management at TIM, the Brazilian subsidiary of Telecom Italia Mobile, an Italian telecommunications company. TIM started in Brazil in 1998 and became the first mobile company in all Brazilian states. It has a national reach of roughly 93% of the country’s urban population. Much of TIM’s marketing is focused on Brazil’s passion for football, especially as mobile devices are increasingly used among fans—at matches as well as throughout the day.

Mauro Madruga is the Director of Marketing for UNIMED-RIO, the Brazilian medical work cooperative and health insurance operator considered the largest of its kind in the world with over 100,000 affiliated doctors, 386 branches and over 15 million beneficiaries. Mauro is also Director of ABA/Brazilian Association of Advertisers Rio Chapter and Vice President of ABMN/Brazilian Association of Business Marketing. He began his career at the agency W/Brasil.

Bety Tichauer is the Senior Marketing Director at VISA in Brazil where she focuses on brand development, product marketing, strategic planning, agency management, media and research. She’s been based at Visa in Sao Paulo for seven years, following her Marketing Director role at Visa Mexico. Interestingly, she started her career at Visa Brasil as a trainee, evolved to marketing manager, then move to Turner Broadcasting for and a year and half before moving to Visa Mexico.

Cristina (Cris) Duclos is the Marketing Director for VIV, the Telefónica company in Brazil and the country’s largest telecom. Cris led the process of integration of Telefónica and Vivo brands throughout the country with a campaign to reposition the company with the "connection like no other" signature. Other initiatives have included the development of the "I Live Selection" platform and the "Plus 3G" and "4G" and "Live Forever" platform for Prepaid customers. She is an 18 year veteran of telecommunications marketing with past roles at Claro and BCP.