Publicis Groupe announced on Tuesday its acquisition of BR Media Group, a Brazil-based influencer marketing company with a network of around 500,000 creators. The deal is part of Publicis’ strategy to strengthen its influencer division and follows similar acquisitions by other holding companies in the influencer marketing space. BR Media Group includes companies like Space, a creative studio for brands and creators; Mis, a creator recruitment and management platform; and Farol, a creator agency providing content creation and business intelligence services.
Celso Ribeiro, co-founder and CEO of BR Media, will remain as the company’s CEO after the acquisition. Publicis plans to integrate BR Media’s technology, which has access to over 5 billion data points from 50 sources, to enhance its data management and marketing platform capabilities. This integration aims to improve audience targeting and streamline influencer campaign management.
Minda Smiley, senior analyst at eMarketer, noted that acquiring service-based agencies is a common approach as influencer marketing becomes more sophisticated, allowing agencies to continually adapt rather than treating influencer marketing as a peripheral service.
Publicis strengthens influencer marketing division
The global influencer marketing market is projected to reach $33 billion in 2025, tripling in size since 2020.
Brazil is a rapidly growing influencer market, with a significant share of global Instagram and social media influencers. Digital influencer advertising spending in LATAM and the Caribbean was expected to surpass $1.12 billion last year. Jamie Gutfreund, founder of creator-focused consultancy Creator Vision, emphasized the benefit of rapidly expanding Publicis’ creator agency offerings and gaining geographical footholds through acquisitions, stating, “It’s faster to buy than to build.”
This acquisition continues Publicis’ strategy of enhancing its data capabilities in the region, following previous acquisitions such as adtech platform Retargetly in 2022 and tech company Practia in 2023.
Latin America, a steadily growing market for Publicis, saw a 30.3% growth last year. Analysts suggest that the creator marketing space holds potential for personalized content delivery at scale, an area CRM giants might eventually explore. The competitive landscape has led to mid-sized agencies being absorbed into larger companies or pivoting to focus on niche areas.
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