93% of Brazil's advertising market is made up of small and mid-sized agencies. Alone, they are disappearing.
Not dramatically. Quietly. A client here, a talent who left there, a forced merger somewhere else.
Until one day someone said: what if we didn't disappear alone?
The independence trap
The independent agency is fast, creative, attentive, yet it can't compete for big accounts because it doesn't have the "size". Losing an account worth R$ 50,000 a month is fatal.
The conglomerate competes for everything, but it's slow and bureaucratic, and it loses creators to the independents.
Both models are failing. The small one dies slowly. The big one survives as a bureaucracy.
The numbers
Created in March 2025, the Círculo de Agências Independentes (Circle of Independent Agencies) now brings together more than 190 agencies.
- R$ 1.68 billion in combined annual revenue
- 97% run on their own capital: nobody is anybody's subsidiary
- More than 50% were founded from 2020 onward
Through the jugaad lens
Jugaad is doing more with less: solving problems with creativity, collaboration and limited resources.
The Círculo isn't a growth option. It's a survival mechanism. And it isn't a merger: each agency keeps its identity, its margin, its autonomy.
The conglomerate added structure and got slow (Insight 02). The Círculo subtracted isolation and gained scale without becoming a conglomerate.
How it works in practice
1. Connection & Collab. You don't do video? Someone in the Círculo does. A squad assembled in 48 hours.
2. Business & Market. How much to charge, how to handle taxes, which tool: decisions that kill the solo agency now come with support.
3. Visibility & Advocacy. A voice at tables a single agency can't reach: ABA, ABAP, CENP.
4. Future & Next Level. An award dedicated to independents, judging business, agility and impact.
Signs your agency is in the danger zone
- Do you lose big accounts because you don't have the "size"?
- Can you no longer afford the tools you paid for two years ago?
- Could one lost account force layoffs?
- Is a conglomerate courting you for a merger?
If you answered yes to two or more, joining forces isn't an option. It's a necessity.
Conclusion
The Círculo didn't save anyone out of charity. It saved them because we realized we only stay alive together.
An agency that's alone in 2026 is on a countdown. An agency that's in a network isn't.
This isn't a trend. It's survival.
