Black Friday has evolved beyond being just a day of aggressive discounts and has become a decisive moment for Brazilian retail. Beyond promotions, the main challenge for brands is to find efficient ways to reach the consumer at the exact moment they are willing to buy. In a digital economy saturated with stimuli and marked by increasingly tight budgets, the ability to communicate precisely has become as important as the price offered.
The current landscape makes it clear that e-commerce is a well-established reality. Gustavo Jota, a digital products specialist and executive at Ativos Capital, states that “The idea that digital commerce is the future is outdated. It is part of everyday life, just like having a website or a social media profile. On Black Friday, no one gets in their car to look for promotions. People rush to the internet.” According to him, the date merely reinforces a behavior that has already become standard.
RCS: The old SMS is now interactive
In this environment, new communication technologies have begun to take center stage, especially those capable of bringing the consumer closer to the brand through personalized messages. One of the latest bets is RCS, a protocol that transforms the phone's messaging inbox into a more interactive and secure channel, with buttons, images, and the brand's visual identity. Developed in partnership with carriers, this technology promises to occupy the space left by traditional SMS and deliver a level of credibility uncommon in digital marketing campaigns. “RCS arrives certified by carriers and the operating systems themselves. This eliminates the risk of spoofing and increases consumer trust, as they know that message is truly from the brand,” explains Jota.
Although still expanding, RCS is already showing significant results. In a recent campaign carried out by Ativos Capital in partnership with a digital influencer, the open rate was around 45%, even before the feature was available on all phone models. This performance caught the attention of large companies and agencies, which began to consider the channel as a strategic piece for high-impact actions.
At the same time, SMS – far from being an obsolete technology – continues to show surprising strength. With read rates exceeding 90%, it remains one of the most immediate and effective channels for Black Friday. Jota recalls a recent case: “A fast-food chain sent segmented messages minutes before lunch and increased order volume by 30% during that period. It's proof that SMS is still a powerful tool when used intelligently.”.
Automation to interpret data and hyper-personalize campaigns
Personalization, in fact, is the central point in the battle for attention. In recent years, companies have accumulated large databases collected from physical stores, e-commerce, and various other points of contact. Data protection legislation, while imposing necessary limits, did not make personalized marketing unviable; on the contrary, it professionalized the process. However, to extract value from this information, it is not enough to collect it: it must be interpreted. For a long time, this task was concentrated in large technology departments, data science teams, and complex Big Data Analytics projects, which proved costly, slow, and not always efficient.
It is precisely in this gap that CDP (Customer Data Platform) platforms emerge, such as Ativos Capital's EasyCDP, created to organize data, identify patterns, segment audiences, and trigger campaigns in an automated manner. “Companies were spending a lot of money to turn data into action. EasyCDP democratizes this intelligence: it centralizes information, identifies purchasing behaviors, and indicates the best way to communicate with each customer,” highlights Jota. According to him, the platform cross-references data from physical and digital stores and enables highly specific actions, such as sending a coupon to customers who only shop on their birthdays or targeting audiences that only open messages at night.
Instant responses to traffic fluctuations
Speed, however, is the factor that defines success on Black Friday. On a date when campaigns change hour by hour, companies need to respond instantly to fluctuations in traffic, conversion, and inventory. Therefore, in addition to robust solutions, Ativos Capital offers simpler alternatives, such as Disparo Pro, designed for businesses that need to act immediately. With it, it is possible to import lists, configure messages, and launch a campaign in a few minutes. According to Jota, “Black Friday promotions don't happen in planning; they happen live. If the shopping cart is empty or the offer isn't converting, the company can't wait. In 15 minutes, it can change the course of the campaign.”.
The competition is not just technological. There is a structural shift in consumer behavior in Brazil: the buyer's budget is tighter, and this turns competition into a direct battle for purchasing power, not just brand preference. “The Black Friday competition is not between products; it's for the consumer's budget. Whoever arrives first with the right offer wins that space,” states Jota. This dynamic allows smaller companies to compete with large retailers, provided they use their data and communication channels well.
In the near future, according to the expert, the trend points towards increasing integration with artificial intelligence, capable of accelerating analyses and automatically suggesting the best communication journeys. EasyCDP already uses AI to propose campaigns, predict behaviors, and reduce waste, a trend that is expected to intensify in the coming years. For Jota, “Companies that combine CDP with artificial intelligence are already pulling ahead of their competitors. Decision speed has become a competitive advantage,” he concludes.
