98FM was a decaying radio station in Rio de Janeiro after years of leading the FM ranking since the late 1970s. Research identified that the station looked old and outfashioned in the eyes on the public. The main goal was to rebrand the FM station, visually aligned with a new musical mix of and audience growth.

We spotted a strong opportunity for brand rebirth in the young lower classes of Rio’s suburban and “favelas” areas, which profited from Brazil’s rapid economic growth over the past five years. This was accompanied by a deep behavioural change, which we called Affirmative Attitude.

The new brand switched from an 80's logo to a led-light beat of the stereos and the musical power of the “baile funk” (Brazilian funk parties) wall of sound. The match was explosive. Something that they could really relate to.

Based on this concept, we implemented a heavily graphical and behavioural brand, re-baptising the station as BEAT98 and pushing it from 5th to 2nd place in overall FM audience in just three months, followed by the impressive advertising revenue growth. Marketing analysis indicate that the leadership is reachable in the next two years.