Although I have set up this blog to categorize the whole gamut of business journalism-related topics, I seldom find myself commenting on this aspect of my life in Sambodia … probably because I get paid to do this for a private client and tend to want to blow off rhetorical steam in my off hours.
It may also have to do with the fact that Brazil is not yet endowed with a wide and deep business press of its own. Its principal dailies — RIP, Gazeta Mercantil — are
Business weeklies tend to what friends of mine and I call «business porn» — or «supermarket tabloids for investment bankers.”
These consist mainly of (1) hagiographical profiles of business titans in the mold of Ayn Rand-style heroic individualists and (2) promotional hype for specific companies with only a murky explanation of selection criteria.
Where supermarket tabloids offer easy recipes for holiday dinners, these offer easy recipes for career success based on fly-by-night pop-psychological management consultants. In Brazil, the most read are
Of these, Exame– despite its connection to the systematically heinous Editora Abril — probably suits the serious business reader best.
I continue to wish there were more alt.business titles like Relatório Reservado, a Rio-based M&A tip sheet conceived and published by ex-members of the “festive Left” of the 1970s. Today’s edition flags extensive activity in talks to bring the giant sugar cane coop, Coopersucar, to market with an IPO sometime this year.
But I digress. In the spirit of blogging an offbeat and interesting business item per day — a New Year resolution — I really enjoyed this in-depth look at a major private-sector contractor working on this year’s Carnaval, called Dream Factory.
The profile is interesting, to start with, because the company provides very little information about itself on its Web site, but is being paid BRL 20 million to facilitate street carnaval celebrations by a reported 5 million people — in a state where policeman threatened to walk out for better pay during the annual celebration.
The story ran in today’s Valor Econômico. I translate.
RIO -Over the last four years, the involvement of Rio city government in street celebrations has contributed more organization and infrastructure, setting and enforcing tight schedules for street parades and providing better support, such as chemical toilets.
Nowadays, a celebration in which some 5 million people take to the streets is an operation costing BRL 20 million. Planning begins in September, when City Hall opens up the registration process for groups of revelers.
This year 425 blocs were accredited by the city to hold parades during a period of 37 days, starting with the first parade on January 26 and ending on the Sunday after Ash Wednesday..
For the third year now, Rio city hall has contracted Dream Factory, a firm specializing in the organization of large-scale events. Sponsored by the Itaú bank and Antarctica, a major beverage maker, Dream Factory will put a thousand traffic controllers on the street, along with 80 ambulances; it will accredit 7 thousand street vendors and guarante an adequate supply of chemical toilets with 15,000 installed all over the city.
“The guy who isn’t into street carnival also has the right to wake up the next day and find the streets clean and in order,” says Dream Factory CEO Duda Magalhães.
According to Magalhães, marshalling the necessary infrastructure is based on estimating the needs of each bloc. In addition, the city government relies on monitoring online social networks to get an idea of expected turnout.
“Riotur [the state tourism board] handles that and passes it on to us. It’s a real-time planning process”, says Magalhães.
Riotur, the city’s tourist board, says it finds it necessary to innovate constantly in an effort to make the festivities as orderly as possible. “Every day of Carnaval is comparable to the effect of a New Year’s celebration, to give you a basis for comparison.”, said Riotur street carnaval overseer Alex Martins.
A organização da festa teve um preço para os blocos. Alguns precisaram alterar os horários ou o local dos desfiles. Mesmo assim, os dirigentes de blocos acreditam que a festa melhorou, mesmo que eles tenham que bancar parte da conta. “O objetivo é tentar, de certa forma, fazer um caos organizado”, comenta João Avelleira, presidente do Suvaco do Cristo, que contrata 450 controladores de tráfego que ajudam a equipe disponibilizada pela prefeitura.
“O nível de exigências foi muito alto e difícil de ser cumprido, mas essa exigência fez com que os blocos se organizassem”, diz o produtor do Empolga às 9, Bruno Magalhães, que negociou com a prefeitura os horários de desfile do grupo. “O movimento foi bom, os blocos se viraram e o carnaval tá organizado”, complementa.
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