Currently, the agency is preparing to enter the market in Colombia, Argentina and Panama, in order to give service to the entire region of Latin America. Unlike five years ago, Barón assures that this time they have achieved the business stability they were looking for, with processes that allow them to set foot elsewhere without neglecting the operation in Mexico.
But something that represented a springboard for the company was the pandemic. In 2020, Band of Insiders grew in triple digits, a figure that had not been reached since its foundation. What happened? The growing need to gain a competitive advantage fueled the public relations and brand communications industry.
In accordance with The Business Research Company, the global PR market grew from around $88.13 billion in 2020 to $97.13 billion in 2021, reflecting an annual growth rate of 10.2%.
The forecast is that this increase will continue. According to the business research company, this sector will reach a value of 129,350 million dollars in 2025 and 149.440 million dollars in 2026which represents an annual growth rate of 9.8%.
The data show that the panorama not only benefited agencies like Band of Insiders, but the sector in generalas a well-crafted public relations plan helps to attract attention and increase the visibility of a brand’s product or service.
“Before, agencies worked with a limited number of media outlets, today we have a base that has quadrupledtaking into account the digital versions, new formats, influencers, more channels, through which we can communicate our clients’ messages and develop a storytelling which has many outlets,” says Barón.
Expansión (E) How do you think public relations have evolved after the pandemic?
Vivian Baron (BV): I would say that In the last 10 years, the public relations industry has changed a lot, but the evolution is much more marked since 2020 because everything has accelerated, although I think that the objective is still valid: the work in favor of the goals and objectives has intensified. customer goals. Today an important competition issue proliferates, so the correct management of communication from a brand to its audiences becomes more relevant.
Public relations is one of the industries that grew the most in the pandemic. All the investment that was in other areas such as BTL (below the line) moved to influencers and public relations, and since a possible recession is coming, it is expected that public relations and influencer agencies marketing continue to grow because we are also in charge of crisis management.
AND: What are the challenges of this industry in particular?
W.B.: Go as fast as the market goes, so that the adaptation is fast and efficient. We have to focus our service on digital, but it is also a digital operation in the sense that we have to become advisors to clients.
On the other hand, never in public relations would we have imagined that we would have an area of Paid Mediasometimes when developing influencer campaigns marketing You have to accompany the client with advice on how to enhance the content, and many times we also have to support that contract.
The door was opened for public relations to get involved in conversion issues, podcast, metaverse, content generation, insights and dating in general, and it has been a revolution for agencies. Somehow, the industry had spent many years in the comfort of how things were done, of sending out a bulletin and making a negotiation. Now you have to be constantly checking trends, putting ideas on the table. It is a challenge because there is always a learning and adaptation curve.
E: After triple-digit growth, how has your growth been?
W.B.: We have grown an average of 25% per year, less in 2020, where we grew to triple digits due to the rise in demand for our services, mainly influencer services. marketing. In the last year we have also invested in the area of human resources and starting this year we will begin to apply an annual survey of engagement.
Currently 69 people work in the agency, but right now we are doing final interviews to create different work cells that give attention to the Latin markets. The idea is to start making a more focused sale in order to provide a regional service. We will have three independent offices, one in Colombia, one in Argentina and one in Panama, and we will use alliances in case we need to go to another of the Latin markets.
The hiring will be of local talent because we have had to live experiences where the press releases are not tropicalized and the results are not achieved. As much as we speak the same language, it is not the same culture, which is why we want local people who have relationships built in each of the markets where we will operate.
At the moment we do not have any confirmed clients in these markets, but some of the pitches that are reaching us already have this regional theme, so we think it will be easy to start.
E. How has the make-up of your client portfolio changed?
W.B.: Initially, most of the portfolio was made up of consumer brands, but three years ago we took on the task of opening our corporate communication area, which is now fully consolidated. Being a more serious service, we did not know if there was going to be an identification with the agency, but today we have an important portfolio in this area.
The public relations industry in Mexico is not big enough to be able to have a specialization in a single sector. I think that one of the values of the agency is that we work for all kinds of sectors and that gives us more flexibility of thought and allows us to have more experience that we are offering to the diversity of clients.
E: Based on what criteria do you choose your clients?
BV: Until about three years ago, the reality is that 90% of our portfolio came to us without any sales effort. We selected clients in such a way that it was a company that valued the service. The second criterion is that there be a long-term commitment and we also wanted to build a portfolio of global clients, but without neglecting the growth of national brands.
E: Have you had a loss of clients that compromised the survival of the business?
BV: Until today, no. We invest a lot in the financial and administrative part of the agency. Usually we are the bank of the clients, a kind of lenders and sometimes we have to bear 120 days of payment. In 2019, an investment fund acquired 30% of the company, just to accompany us in that growth and we are waiting for these crisis situations not to happen. The fund is called Beamonte Capital.
I: How many clients do you currently have?
BV: We have a portfolio of 19 clients in Band of Insiders, including Grupo Heineiken, Adidas, Holcim, Scotiabank, Activia, Silk, Volvo, Hyundai and Cerveceros de México, with whom we already have a relationship of more than seven years.