KookyPlan

If Americans outsource to India (because of language, cost & skills), and Japanese outsource to China (for language*, cost & skills)…where do Brazilians go for outsourcing?  Where can Brazilian companies go to cut costs?

My idea is that there is an opportunity for the NE region of Brazil to transform itself into the “outsourcing capital of Brazil”, focusing on delivering remote services to the (more expensive) southern part of the country.

Clearly, the NE region of Brazil could service the more expensive SE in terms of language and costs, but what about the necessary skills?  Im not sure about the availability of enough educated workforce, but if it doesnt exist yet, then it could be an area for strategic investment by the government (targeting education specifically for call centers, BPO, etc).

When looking at long term “comparative advantage”, the NE of Brazil clearly has all of the ingredients to transform itself into the “outsourcing capital of Brazil”.   My thought is that companies in southeastern Brazil could “outsource” to the NE of Brazil….where labor rates are much cheaper than in the South / Southeast.   Idea:  turn the NE region into an outsourcing hub to service the (much more expensive) Southeast region of Brazil.

* In Northern China, in a city called Dailan, there is a massive Japanese-language focus, with a huge center for Japanese outsourcing.  Read more here

Brian D. Butler Pernambuco, development BPO, call center, development, Marketing, outsourcing, Pernambuco, Recife

Sand castle advertising

One idea that I thought was interesting comes from inspiration after reading a post from “SpringWise“, an excellent source for inspiration….(see original content below)

How it could work in Brasil:

I was thinking that a small, local advertising company could be set up in any of the numerous beach cities that scatter the Brazilian coast… and they could make advertising out of sand, on the beach each morning…before the herd of sun bathers and tourists arrive.

You could sell the advertising space to companies that want unique advertising (to reach tourists and locals rich enough to go to the beach during the day).  Use a graphic designer to design a logo.  More complex designs are more expensive.   Then, once the design / price is set…

Send out your team of sand-castle builders (no different than hiring workers to build custom furniture) with buckets of water and small plastic shovels…design, and take a photo.  Charge the company.

So as to not wear out your welcome by local authorities…just pick a different part of the beach, oh…and maybe do a free ad now and then for the local tourism market (put it up on line, make it fun).

Note:  in South Beach (Miami), there is a team of sandcastle builders that are actually a neat tourist attraction for the city.

Expand to cover all of Brazil…

For the true entrepreneur…here is what I would do…

Instead of just thinking one city…think of executing this model to cover all of Brazil.  Sell the ad designs to international brands that want to have their logos pop up all across the country…then use the internet +local teams to put sand-castle designs in Rio, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador…and in smaller beach resort towns such as “Porto de Galinhas”, Pipa, etc…

Think big, and good luck…

Inspiration: from “SpringWise“

Realising that green concerns are here to stay, British media agency Curb offers nothing but low-impact advertising. Its clean advertising service (similar to Street Advertising Services and GreenGraffiti, which we featured earlier) uses rainwater to clean logos into grubby pavements, and has been joined by a four other services that are both novel and easy on the environment.

Curb creates sand sculptures of all sizes; burns patterns and logos into wood using magnifying glasses; and offers a ‘logrow’ service to cut logos as big as 30m wide into turf. Although each service is handcrafted, the agency is adamant that images are produced exactly as created digitally. Last but not least, graphics can be projected on falling sheets of water to create a memorable display. Household names have already used Curb’s services: Adidas was immortalised in grass, Volkswagen commissioned a sand sculpture and Barack Obama’s face was etched into wood.

We’re happy to see that ‘cleanvertising’ has been expanded into an entire portfolio of green(er) advertising options. Curb claim to be the world’s first and only media agency to be doing this exclusively. Which indicates that there’s space for others in different regions. Start blasting, sculpting, cutting and burning!  Website: www.mindthecurb.com

Brian D. Butler Advertising, Recife, Tourism, environment Advertising, branding, development, environment, investment idea, Marketing, Recife, springwise

Ok, maybe not the “best”, nor is it even “land” (yet)…but it would surely make one heck of an investment…

Im talking about the “land” over the ugly canals / rivers running through many Brazilian cities (such as Recife, where Im located).   Ok, so…its really just empty space right now…but with a little “out of the box” thinking…maybe really out of the box… you can see that empty space in the middle of the city could make for a really great investment.

Attributes:

1. (a) really cheap, and
2. (b) near heavily populated areas, and
3. (c) something the city would probably love to cover up (at least the tourism minister would!).
4. so…its cheap land, near populations, with a government that would love to bring in developers.  Thats a good combination.  But, would it work

For example..one block off the beach in “Boa Viagem” , there is a disgusting poo-river that separates the beach from the condos. Wow, thats the kind of “river” that scares away foreign tourists.  But, what could be done about it?  Burrying pipes under the ground would be too expensive….

But then I saw a solution….half way between downtown and the rich neighborhood of Piedade…there is a “Shell” gas station which was built on a covered island over the top of the creek.   You see…they built their business ontop of the river…giving them access to both main roads, and lots of available customers.  In addition, they cover up the ugly / stinky river of poop.  Great situation.  Win-win.

What could be built on this “cheap land”?

I’ll bet you that the “land” over the river is extremely cheap…if the right developer came along, they could buy up the rights…cover the creek just like Shell did, and put businesses there.

Just one block off of the beach, with rich condos on either side… it looks like a great investment to me.  You just need to figure out who put up the Shell station, and how they negotiated the land purchase / lease…and do the same.

Benefit to the city:  covering up the poop-river would increase the attractiveness for tourism.  Plus, by having a “bridge”, you would increase the value of the land on the other side, and would further the development of land across the river (if you had a nice/ easy way to cross the river to go to the beach…and didn’t have that stinky river there… the land would be more valuable, and more condos would be built, which means more taxes for the city, etc).

Hope someone tries this one…not just in Recife but anywhere.  Instead of seeing the river as an eye-sore…or as lost space…think of it as the cheapest “land” in Brazil…and go develop on top… good luck!

Links:

• Pernambuco
• Brazil real estate market

Brian D. Butler Pernambuco, Real Estate, Recife development, environment, investment idea, land, Pernambuco, Real Estate, Recife, river