This week’s RoundUp brings the following stories: Brazilian DMP Navegg starts European operations in Portugal, Spain, and Italy; Instagram finishes pilot project to sell its inventory in Brazil; IAB Brazil launches training course on programmatic media.

Navegg debuts in Europe

The Brazilian DMP Navegg, founded in 2008 in Curitiba, has started their operation in the European market, coming from a background of three years of international operations in other Latin American countries. From their headquarters in Brazil, and in the United States, the company coordinates contracts in Argentina, Colombia, and Peru — and starts to reach Portugal, Spain, and Italy.

Currently, international revenues represents 30% of the company’s performance. They claim audience data of 200 million internet users in Latin America, clustered in more than 1,400 segments, such as buying intentions, demographic data, and the use of different technologies.

Pedro Cruz (pictured right), co-founder, Navegg, explains that the platform they have created was designed from the very beginning to support different countries’ audiences. “From the interface to the backend and processing rules, our platform works well with contents in Portuguese, Spanish, and English”, said Cruz in an interview with ExchangeWire Brasil.

Cruz defines the international expansion as a ‘natural move’, the same way it happened in Latin America. In 2012, the company signed their first contract in Argentina, with a local publisher, unlocking the access to international markets. Then, they realised that a portion of ‘made in LATAM’ content was accessed in countries outside of the region, like the United States — and this audience is exactly within the expertise of Navegg.

Now, Cruz reveals the same is happening in the south of Europe. There is a considerable amount of Latin American users in the continent. It represents an opportunity for the company, since this is exactly the audience that they know well, being able to cross data and generate useful insights.

However, he says this is only the start of their operations and they will not be restricted to Latin American clusters. “This is the door that is opening now, and our expansion will happen naturally. We aim for 50% of our revenue to come from international markets in the next year."

Navegg has already started their European trading — via local publishers like Terra Networks, with whom Navegg has a two-year relationship in Mexico and Brazil. The publisher also maintains operations in Spain. He said other partnerships have unlocked Portugal too, but he does not disclose the names of such companies.

It is true that Navegg will find a different scenario in Europe compared to their territory in the Americas. Data regulations and privacy concerns are way more restricted, according to European regulations, than Brazil or the United States. Yet, Cruz emphasises that they are technically aware and able to adapt to this reality and be in compliance with local rules.

He makes a comparison with their history: “Way before people start talking about these sort of rules, in Brazil we were already in compliance with IAB’s rules in the US regarding data and privacy. Our strategy in Europe is the same: We prefer being extra cautious instead of risking our operations from a global standpoint."

Meanwhile, the plan is to keep running international markets from their Latin American offices; however, as they grow, they will start studying the possibility of opening a European Branch. Cruz, who is Portuguese, says that this is ahead in the future, with nothing definite yet. “Until now, we have been growing without physically being in those markets. I think we see this opportunity [a local office in Europe], but for the long-term, maybe 2017”, Cruz said.

Instagram offers self-service platform in Brazil

Instagram’s pilot project in Brazil has ended and now the company opened its inventory to marketers and brands across the country through a self-service platform. Until then, only 20 brands in the country could buy spaces for their campaigns — which are shown for selected audiences’ timelines.

According to the company, 97% of campaigns during the pilot project had an increase in their brand lift and other metrics of branding.

The campaigns can be bought in a variety of formats, and the goal is to offer space for several sorts of business, since the self-service platform enables medium and small marketers to make their purchases as well. The roll out of the platform reached Brazil, Argentina and Mexico earlier this month, and other countries in LATAM should have access to the platform starting from 30 September.

Training: a new programmatic media course

IAB Brazil announced last week its own Programmatic Media training course. The main objective is to help the market to unlock skilled workforce in the sector, supplementing the current work developed by companies and universities.

The modules include the understanding of concepts, business models, and case studies. Aimed to agencies, marketers, and publishers, the course will have leaders of the local industry as teachers. Some of them are Emmanuel Martins, president, programmatic committee IAB Brasil; Paulo Planet, partner, Tail Target; Paulo Arruda, digital advertising director, Estadão; and Fabrizio Bruzetti, director, Xaxis Brazil.

The first group starts on 16 October. More information on IAB Brazil’s website (in Portuguese).