Contagious Spotlight on Latin America: July 2021 /

The Contagious team in Brazil picks its favourite campaigns from across Latin America over the past month, highlighting the creativity and strategy that makes the work relevant and interesting.

Sport is built on epic stories, but Aida dos Santos' is special: a poor black woman, she was the only Brazilian athlete to participate in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Dos Santos went to Japan alone, without money, a coach or a uniform to compete. Contrary to all expectations, she won fourth place in the high jump, becoming the first Brazilian finalist in Olympic games in history. Her fourth place was the best classification of a Brazilian athlete in the Olympics until the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Bringing this little known story to most Brazilians, the sporting goods chain Centauro invited fashion designer Carol Barreto to create and produce the uniform that should have accompanied dos Santos in her competitions. The athlete, now in her 80s, was gifted the items, which were also sold in a limited edition collection on the brand's e-commerce site.

Athletics in the land of football / Football monopolises conversations about sport in Brazil. With the proximity of the Olympic Games, Centauro elevated the Brazilian Olympic legacy, shedding light on a historic figure. The uniform That Never Existed signals to the ecosystem of sports brands and the general public that there are other things besides football – and that very often they have so little funding that to this day they put athletes in situations like the ones dos Santos experienced.

Taking the lead / Championing dos Santos positions Centauro as an engine of much-needed change. “The legacy that Aida left us needs to be remembered forever, with more value and recognition. We know that we cannot change the mistakes and attitudes of the past, but we must make changes now, from now on. Honoring Aida is a step in the attempt to give new meaning to a remarkable moment, but also a very sad one in her history and for so many other athletes", said Gustavo Milo, marketing manager at Centauro.

Data leakage, scams and frauds: cybersecurity is an urgent issue in Brazil. Earlier this year, two major leaks made headlines. One of them exposed information concerning 223 million Brazillians (the figure is higher than the country’s population because the leak included data of deceased individuals). To raise awareness on the topic, Locaweb, a Brazilian internet services and cloud computing company, created the E-Street' campaign. The ad takes the form of a hidden camera show, in which a car is shown unprotected on the street and actors steal objects from inside the vehicle, making an analogy with situations of digital vulnerability.

Popular appeal / Locaweb’s campaign draws attention to online security in a way that is relatable for many people. The "pranks" and hidden cameras were hits on local TV in the 80s and 90s. This type of film is part of the media imagination of generations of Brazilians and still attracts the public's attention. By opting for this format, Locaweb addresses a sensitive topic in a light and fun way.

Beverage multinational Diageo and Mercado Livre have teamed up to launch Speakeasy Market, a bar hidden within the latter’s e-commerce platform. Launching exclusively in the Mexican market, Speakeasy Market features well-known Diageo brands such as Johnnie Walker, Don Julio, and Buchanan's. In order to guarantee the exclusivity of the online liquor store, there are rules, such as maintaining the confidentiality of the website and only sharing the link with people you trust.

The initiative is the result of a partnership – between Mercado Ads, the advertising business division of Mercado Livre, and production company MediaMonks – created to find novel ideas and solutions within the Mercado Livre ecosystem.

LATAM on the rise / In 2020, Mercado Livre registered 22.6 million new users in Latin America. The conditions of the pandemic have made e-commerce the first-purchase option for millions of people – and initiatives like Speakeasy Market show Mercado Livre has its eye on growing offers for this large user base.

Hidden is better / The speakeasy concept – bars created during the Prohibition period in the United States – takes us back to an exclusive experience filled with mystery. In the context of e-commerce, Mercado Livre's "Speakeasy Market" is a fun alternative to engage small communities that still cannot meet in bars due to the pandemic, through a solution created and activated within the platform.