Attacked, owner of Mynd says she is surprised by ‘lawless land’ – 01/20/2024 – Market

Fátima Pissarra has worked in the technology and communications markets for 25 years, but says that only now, when she became the target of attacks due to the association of her agency Mynd with gossip profiles associated with the death of a young woman, did she realize how the lack of regulation of the internet can destroy reputations.

“I didn’t know it was a lawless land at this level”, says the executive to Sheet.

In the interview, via video call, Pissarra states that Mynd makes money selling advertising and that 100% of the content on its contractors’ profiles, both people and news, are created by them.

Some keys to getting to know the executive better are in the book “Influencer Profession: how to be successful on and off the internet” (Harper Collins Brasil), released in 2022.

Pissarra dedicates the book “to all the people who believe they are influencers, (…) to all those who believe they can achieve (…), to all who don’t want to sleep, to all who are thirsty for things to happen and to transform the world”.

Among many tips, the author basically argues that “we are all storytellers”, “we are all communicators and influencers in essence”. And he recommends: “Everything is monetizable. That’s right, you can sell everything. Even your story. Don’t be afraid to sell content, be creative and create good storytelling to tell who you are.”

If contracts with governments are a tiny portion of Mynd’s revenue, Why have you associated with PT?
If you analyze Mynd’s casting, there are more people on the left. By themselves. It’s not up to us to be left or right. There are right-wing people too. We never restricted freedom of expression. We will never tell our agent that he will sell less if he takes a stand.

But in the artistic class you have more people on the left. I have nothing to do with this. And these people vote for who they want. I don’t know if that’s why it was seen like this, look, a united conglomerate of left-wing people.

Do you think it could also be related to the diversity policy that you emphasize so much?
For sure. We received a lot of attacks on our trans agents, who fight for LGBTQIA+ flags: “Look, Mynd supports trans people, what a horrible thing.” So, we were attacked a lot during this period also for the causes we embrace.

Mrs. says that it has no control over the content of the agents, but this case showed once again that cross-postings occur, in herds, by several of the profiles managed. How to avoid this? Don’t you think this is a problem?
The news has been like this since the world has been around, right? When you went to the salon that had Caras, Contigo, all the covers were the same news, remember? When I arrived at the salon, it was Xuxa’s birthday, I don’t know who’s wedding, it was always the same news, because that’s what people wanted to know.

I came from journalism. So I know that the news is the news that people are interested in reading. I believe that profiles replicate the news that generates engagement.

A second very important point: when you launch a lipstick that everyone wants to use, all the influencers advertise this lipstick en masse, the thing becomes popular, everyone talks about it. These are normal habits that the influencer uses for engagement.

The Instagram algorithm is what makes this become a machine that everyone is talking about. We did an analysis of some of our agent profiles, looking at the posts that get the most engagement. Most are posts on the same subject.

Does this case bring lessons that can change something in these profiles? And do you make any mea culpa?
There’s no way we can even have a mea culpa about this because we have zero interference.

We developed a code of ethics three years ago to prevent this from happening, [dizendo] that the news has to be validated. We have an ethics team within the company that provides information to agents and supplies those who ask.

Can this case shape or change the market in general, not only for Mynd, but guidelines, regulation?
I hope that a watershed will occur, especially in terms of legislation, right, because what I saw with this case, which shocked me the most, is how people can invent fake news, in series, about someone, about a company and emerge 100% unharmed.

So, I’m going to invent whatever I want, I’m going to invent that Mynd owns Choquei and damn it if Mynd released a statement that doesn’t own Choquei, damn it, I don’t read it, I don’t look at it, I I don’t care, I’m going to make up a lie and I’m going to say it over and over again, I don’t give a damn.

This to me is very absurd, because I didn’t know it was a lawless land at this level.

Do you think Mrs. and Mynd are being victims of something that some of these profiles end up doing?
For sure. I think we are being victims of fake news that these profiles that are posting about us practice.

But some Digital Banking profiles that Mrs. agency also do not practice?
What we have had to investigate to date is Garoto do Blog. We have never had a fake news report investigated from any other profile.

And how do I find out? If there is an investigation. In these cases, we leave immediately.

---

Fátima Pissarra, 46
Born in Curitiba and based in São Paulo, she has a degree in journalism and psychology. She worked at several companies (Claro, BCP, Terra, Nokia and Vevo) until creating, in 2012, Music2, Vevo’s representative in Brazil. In 2017, with publicist Carlos Scappini, she founded Mynd, which became the largest influencer agency in the country, with revenues of R$350 million per year. She was nominated for the Caboré award, one of the main awards in advertising, as a leader in the communications industry in 2021 (she did not win, but Mynd did, in 2019, in the Marketing Service category)