Brazil’s Tech and Soul has found surprising ways to score points for clients, including using an original song to launch a bank and soccer jerseys to support a Holocaust Memorial.

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Such ingenuity helped the 35-person Sao Paolo shop–which, unlike many rivals, bills for ideas, not media commissions—boost revenue 4 percent last year despite a Brazilian recession that predates the pandemic. 

Launching C6 bank for millennials was a challenge, particularly given a survey showing they’d rather go to the dentist than watch bank ads. Tech and Soul commissioned an original pop song that drew 2 million downloads and 1 million new accounts in three months.

Intolerance against minorities has grown in Brazil, where the Minister of Culture was fired for lifting phrases from a Nazi speech for his own use. Amid this, Tech and Soul boosted attendance 20 percent at Sao Paulo’s Holocaust Memorial last year by getting the Corinthians soccer team to place a Star of David above the logo on its jerseys.

—Jack Neff