“A little bit of Pedro in my life, A little bit of Enzo by my side, A little bit of André is all I need, A little bit of Thiago is what I see, A little bit of Davi in the sun, A little bit of Vitor all night long, A little bit of Marcelo here I am, A little bit of you makes me a woman”…
As you can tell, I’m having a ball with my boys from Brazil, especially now that I’ve managed to charm my way into Rio de Janeiro’s famous Copacabana Palace.
To be honest, it’s a little bit over the top even for me; there’s more bling in here than at your average industry awards do, but if it’s good enough for Tom Cruise, Marilyn Monroe, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert de Niro, Orson Welles, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers, and, er, Justin Bieber, it’s good enough for Busty.
Not that it’s a complete jolly, you understand; the days when you could just laze around on the beach supping pink champagne and eyeing up the locals are long gone…just ask any Campaign reporter in Cannes. And, never one to miss an opportunity, my esteemed editor has been very insistent that I check out the burgeoning local direct marketing scene.
First stop, the Associação Brasileira de Marketing Direto (ABEMD) – that’s the Brazilian DMA to you lot – to meet El Presidento, Efraim Kapulski. What a lovely man; not quite as good looking as our very own Chris Combemale (how are those DMA Awards ads coming along by the way, Mr Gorgeous?) but he certainly is a charmer and they do have a magazine which puts the UK marketing press to shame.
Published monthly, ‘Marketing Directo’ runs to nearly 60 pages – bigger than The Drum, Marketing, Campaign and Marketing Week that’s for sure – but old McKelvey will be pleased to know there’s no equivalent of this august website, offering the best news, the best views, the best reviews, the best indepth articles, the best profiles (blimey this is going on…), and, of course, how could I forget, the best gossip column in the country.
I’ve also been checking out the local agency scene. Bangboo do some banging stuff, while the staff at Huge and Talent certainly live up their names. I’ve even offered to set up “Decisiono-Marketing” over here but for some reason my boss thinks I’ll spend the whole time playing keepy-it-uppy on the Copacabana – as if.
Mind you, must dash now, the boys have arrived. As Lou Bega might have sung: “One, two, three, four, five, Everybody in the car, so come on let’s ride, To the liquor store at the end of the street, The boys say that’s where all the guys meet, They say they want some Trashy Blonde, And I’m on a promise of a big diamond, Some they say such talk is cheap, but I want it deep like I had it last week…A little bit of Pedro in my life, A little bit of Enzo by my side…”
You can also follow Busty on Twitter @BustyIdol