Another Channel: The largest digital agency in the country, Mynd is experiencing a crisis with layoffs and losing influencers

One of the largest digital influence agencies in Brazil, Mynd is experiencing an unprecedented crisis in its history. In 2024, the company laid off almost 200 employees and lost more than 200 influencers from its portfolio. Employees fear the future for 2025. In conversation with the column, Fátima Pissarra, CEO and founder of Mynd, denied problems. “The year 2024 was perceived with a certain setback in influence,” he says.

The column had access to a series of documents, delivered by former employees who were dismissed. Farewells in WhatsApp groups have become common. This week alone, four professionals were fired.

According to reports heard, since February 2023, there has been a policy of cuts and restructuring at the company. That month, at a meeting, Fátima Pissarra, one of its owners, said that everything would be temporary.

What was being said at the time was that the company’s growth during the pandemic, driven by the increase in investments in digital marketing, had decreased with the reopening of commerce and the end of social isolation.

Investments began to migrate to other areas, such as out-of-home advertising (made on signs, airports, etc.), reducing the digital boom. The official justification was that the restructuring would serve to adjust the company to this new reality. According to Fátima, however, Mynd does not work out of home. “We are experts in influencer marketing”, he comments

However, the layoffs have not stopped since then. The almost 500 employees in 2023 increased to 400 in January 2024, according to an article published in Folha at the beginning of the year. Today, documents obtained by the column show that there are 233 employees. Fátima states that there are 320 professionals. “50% black people,” he says.

The situation at the company worsened recently, when Carlos Scappini took on the role of CFO, accumulating the role of CMO. On the day of the first big cut, in February 2023, the executive posted a photo on LinkedIn of a trip with his son, while dozens of people were being fired.

This attitude generated revolt and indignation among employees, who felt a lack of empathy and commitment in the face of the crisis. Currently, as CFO, Scappini is one of the main people responsible for determining the cuts, which continue at a constant pace.

Layoffs are frequent and occur almost weekly, generally affecting two or three people per day. Sometimes even two days in a row. Fátima says that the departures were due to restructuring. “We created areas, changed some formats, some worked and others didn’t and we had to readapt the teams, which is part of every company”, he comments.

Loss of relevant people

During these times, emblematic episodes emerged that demonstrated the tense atmosphere. In 2024, Mynd attempted to implement an internal restructuring called One Mynd, led by Cadu Aun, former director of sales and planning at X (ex-Twitter).

The project aimed to organize the company into teams focused on the main customers (Key Accounts). Specific hires were made for this initiative, but in October, just over six months after launch, the new hires were laid off, and the model was replaced by a structure of cells that house customers.

Adriele Gonçalo, ex-Unilever, who was Key Accounts manager, resisted the changes and does not even use the new cell name in communications.

After the departure of Banca Digital, which managed gossip profiles, Mynd created the Buzz project, with new management formed by Artur Moreno, administrator of the Fofoquei profile.

Despite this, Buzz suffered from the loss of customers due to the reputation crisis inherited from Digital Banking, damaging its performance and profit potential. A short Buzz campaign generates around R$200,000, across a scope of four profiles with four feeds.

The crisis also affected Mynd’s influencer casting. Among the lost names are Thelma Assis, Mari Maria, Gil do Vigor and others. Several of them went to ViU Hub, Globo’s digital influence company.

In January 2024, Fátima mentioned that the casting had 400 names, but in April this number had already dropped to 213. Currently, there are 163 influencers left, according to the October casting table obtained by the column. Fátima says, however, that the departures were smooth and that new important names arrived.

“Among the new influencers are João Silva, Beta Boechat, John Drops, Bruna Mariani, Luiza Mayers, Cenourinha, Gabisteca, Isabelle Nogueira, Menos é Mais, Priscila Alcantara, Raiza Costa, Zaynara, Vivi, Chico Salgado, Vítor diCastro, Cara de Sapato, Kaique Cerven, among others”, says the executive.

Mynd’s commission rate for house artists is 20% for advertisements. In other words, in a business worth R$100 thousand, R$20 million is transferred to Mynd.

For 2025, there is uncertainty. One of the hopes are deals involving Globo’s BBB 25, which starts in January. There are other negotiations underway. But employees understand that there is no positive outlook. Fátima Pissara, however, is optimistic. “We had our first upfront in 2024, increasingly showing our professionalization and expertise with the market and influencer marketing. For 2025 we will have our upfront again, focusing on our proprietary projects such as Plataforma Potências and the Prémio Potências, which was a great success of 2024”, he comments. Read the interview with Fátima Pissarra below.

According to the documents analyzed, there was a loss of employees and influencers. Do you confirm? What is Mynd’s current situation? Mynd continues to operate normally, always innovating and looking for solutions that serve the market. We are experts in influencer marketing, and as this is a dynamic market, always undergoing changes and innovations, the company remains in the same league, changing when necessary, making quick decisions and restructuring when necessary.

The year 2024 was perceived as a certain setback in influence, both due to a still polarized country, which made brands take a step back from working with influencers and seek more traditional media, but it continues to be a market on the rise. and evolution. Another important change to be highlighted was the growth in demand for niche influencers, influencing brands’ investment in this profile, which works with content more related to the brand’s territories.

Today, Mynd has 320 employees, 50% of whom are black. We had layoffs and hirings throughout the year that occurred due to the readaptation of areas and structures. This is because we have been constantly changing since the end of the pandemic, always adapting to market changes and needs. In this sense, we create new areas, change others, close others, a common process in the operation, which needs to be sustainable and viable. We made major investments in technology structures that adapted a series of services into automated tools.

As for our casting, we had influencers leave and also new arrivals, always with calm conversations and total transparency with everyone. We continue as partners with all of them, as well as other agencies in the market, as Mynd does not only sell its managed influencers, we work with everyone in the market according to the brand’s brief.

We had the entry of many new influencers, always in a healthy way of working, making both parties happy and satisfied with the relationship and the quality of the work delivered. Our contract with all influencers has no departure time, everyone is free to leave immediately if they wish. We don’t have a fine and we don’t have a deadline, as we always believe in a healthy relationship in which everyone is happy, and even outside of Mynd we work with everyone who has been in our casting or not with the same affection.

Among the new influencers are João Silva, Beta Boechat, John Drops, Bruna Mariani, Luiza Mayers, Cenourinha, Gabisteca, Isabelle Nogueira, Menos é Mais, Priscila Alcantara, Raiza Costa, Zaynara, Vivi, Chico Salgado, Vítor diCastro, Cara de Sapato , Kaique Cerven, among others.

Why have there been so many layoffs since the beginning of the year? The layoffs were due to restructuring. We created areas, changed some formats, some worked, others didn’t, and we had to readapt the teams, which is part of every company. One Mynd had a year-round implementation plan, we moved the planning, curation and service areas into the commercial cells, and no longer separate areas within the company.

We unify the commercial cell groups with the entire structure within each team. We also automated some financial, intelligence and data, curation and process processes, which allowed us to reduce teams. The cells of the commercial team do not have “names”, they are portfolio divisions led by market executives, led by our commercial director Stefania Brito, who came from the entertainment market, and by our CMO José Cirilo, who also leads the artistic and has been with the company for 3 years.

One Mynd’s planning, which is not to have separate centers, but rather centers that work together serving and developing within their clients, continues normally within the planning. We never had 500 employees, our workforce at the beginning of the year was 380 employees and today it is 320.

Has the loss of relevant names affected Mynd’s business in any way? No, because Mynd doesn’t just work selling its casting, we have other areas of activity. We are experts in influencer marketing and serve brands with curation projects, which include hiring any influencer on the market, according to the brand’s brief. We continue to sell former agents, as well as influencers from other agencies, we work with all the agencies on the market, just as they work with us.

What happened to out-of-home investments (advertising on signs, airports, etc.)? Mynd does not work with out of home. We are experts in influencer marketing.

What are the company’s plans for 2025? We had our first Upfront in 2024, increasingly showing our professionalism and expertise with the market and influencer marketing. For 2025 we will have our Upfront again, focusing on our proprietary projects such as the Potências Platform and the Potências Prize, which was a great success in 2024.

We are also structuring new fronts of action, still in accordance with what we see as market movements and new needs, and we will launch these projects on Upfront more focused on market development, influencer marketing and the brands’ relationship with the large base of influencers that are available today.

We also focus on the school and course market for new influencers, in addition to new fronts that we have seen are constantly growing and we are looking for market partnerships and acquisitions to add to Mynd, always seeking to lead the market with trends.

Furthermore, Billboard is growing and consolidating itself in brands and the music market. The magazine’s focus is musical entertainment. We are not a vehicle for complaints or investigations, and therefore our editorial line is to develop the music market, support artists, publicize their work and encourage the growth and development of the market and the music industry. We will never release news that is unverified or denied by artists. We are committed to serious journalism.

We will have news to be announced at Upfront in February! And Mynd reinforces that it values ​​and has always valued respectful and transparent relationships with its employees, customers, partners and suppliers.