New minister changed team to also end internal disputes; will have to present to the population positive achievements of the government at a time of fiscal imbalance and changes in social networks
The new minister of Secom (Secretariat of Social Communication), Sidônio Palmeira, officially takes on, starting this week, the challenge of recovering the popularity of the president (PT) until the 2026 elections. The change in the sector takes place at a time of greatest distrust of financial agents amid a fiscal imbalance. Changes in social media can also make it difficult for the PT administration to react.
The advertiser’s inauguration as minister will take place at 11 am this Tuesday (14 January 2025), at Palácio do Planalto. With a low profile and averse to the spotlight, Sidônio did not want a ceremony, but Lula insisted that his arrival in government be marked by a public event.
Responsible for marketing the PT member’s victorious campaign in 2022, Sidônio has acted as an advisor to the president since the beginning of his 3rd term, in 2023. He has intensified his presence in Planalto in recent months. He designed the strategy for publicizing the spending cut package, in which the Minister of Finance, announced the measures in a broadcast broadcast on national radio and television, on November 27th.
In December, he produced and participated in the recording in which Lula appears alongside the president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo. In his speech, the PT member said that his government will never interfere in the decisions of the monetary authority and guaranteed autonomy to Galípolo.
Last week, shortly after being announced for the position, Sidônio reacted to a fake video with images modified by artificial intelligence of the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, defending the collection of taxes on Pix.
NEW PROFILE
The advertiser was Lula’s first option for Secom when he began to set up his 3rd government, in 2022. But the marketer refused the position because he did not want to leave his agency, Leiaute Comunicação, and other businesses in Bahia. He preferred to remain an informal consultant.
Although he could give opinions and advice, Sidônio did not have the final say in Secom’s decisions, which was the prerogative of the secretary’s head, Paulo Pimenta. Now, it will be your responsibility to remodel the government’s communication to make the population’s perception of the positive achievements of the Lula administration improve. He should also try to find a mark for the PT member’s 3rd term. The president’s allies point out that the difference now, with the change, is that Sidônio will be able to print his style, considered more pragmatic and objective.
Last week, in conversation with journalists, he defended Lula’s greater proximity to the press, through interviews and conversations, and more participation by the president and ministers on official social networks to show government actions.
Lula has been dissatisfied with his government’s communication since the beginning of 2024, but intensified his complaints at the end of the year. The speech was made on December 6 during a PT seminar. At the time, the president said that he had made a mistake in the area and that he would be forced to make changes. The speech was seen by PT members as a “public dismissal” of Pepper.
The president’s popularity is at its worst level since the beginning of his term. According to the PowerDatathe government 48% disapproval in December, compared to 45% approval. On Friday (10.Jan.2025), Atlas Intel a similar number: 49.8% disapproval and 47.8% approval. Also remember.
The evaluation of Lula’s personal work also worsened across the board, as shown in the infographic below:
One of the areas that the new minister wants to improve is the government. Assess that it is currently analog. But Sidônio will have two difficulties in this area. It will need R$200 million to hire digital communications companies and will face changes in social networks that could impact the circulation of information about politics.
On January 7, Meta’s owner, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that the company would end its fact-checking system and lifted restrictions on publications on its social networks: Facebook, Instagram and Threads. The justification was “restoring freedom of expression”.
A big tech also announced that it will start displaying more political content in users’ feeds. The measure has already taken effect in the United States and should reach the rest of the world in the coming days.
EXCHANGES AT SECOM
Sidônio made changes to the composition of Secom by appointing people who had already worked with him previously. Having close people around him was one of his characteristics during the 2022 electoral campaign. But the changes were also made to resolve internal disputes in the departments that make up the ministry.
How the Poder360 Lula gave carte blanche so that the marketer could end the “fiefdoms” existing at Secom. Of the 7 secretariats, only two were occupied by Pimenta’s direct recommendation: Ricardo Zamora, head of the Executive Secretariat, and Fabrício Lazzarini Carbonel, responsible for the Publicity and Sponsorship Secretariat.
The 2, however, will leave Secom. Sidônio appointed publicist Thiago César as executive secretary and Paulo Brito as advertising management. Another significant change that the marketer made was the press secretary, José Chrispiniano, who had worked as Lula’s advisor for 13 years.
In his place, Laércio Portela will take over, who was interim minister of Secom from May to September, when Pimenta took leave from his position to dedicate himself to an extraordinary secretariat created to help with the reconstruction of Rio Grande do Sul, hit by severe floods.
JANJA WILL LOSE ALLY
Another significant change that Sidônio is expected to make official in the coming days is the departure of the head of the Strategy and Networks secretariat, Brunna Rosa. She is linked to First Lady Janja Lula da Silva and manages the Presidency’s institutional accounts, such as the Government of Brazil () and Secom () pages. It is also responsible for internal government research.
His departure represents a break in the influence Janja exerted on government communication. How the Poder360 showed in May 2024, the first lady was in a dispute with 2 other direct advisors closest to Lula for total control of the president’s social networks.
She wanted Brunna Rosa to also control the publications on Lula’s personal profiles, which were in charge of Chrispiniano, on X (formerly Twitter), and the Audiovisual secretary and official photographer, Ricardo Stuckert, on Instagram. The division in the administration of accounts, however, remained.
Sidônio, however, maintains a good relationship with Janja according to allies of both. Since the election campaign, the marketer has usually consulted the first lady and accepted her ideas. Already in government, they exchanged views on communication actions, sometimes with the same assessment that there was a need to improve the way of bringing the government’s positive achievements to the population.
How the Poder360 the communications chief of the Recife City Council (PE), Rafael Marroquim, asked for Sidônio to take Rosa’s place, but he did not accept the position. Despite this, the journalist agreed to help informally with government networks and provide part of his team.
Marroquim takes care of the networks of Mayor João Campos (PSB), recognized as the most popular in the progressive field on the internet. His approach indicates the profile that the new head of Secom wants for Lula and the government.
Amid the changes, Stuckert will be retained. Lula’s photographer since the beginning of his first term in 2003, he is one of the people with the best access to the president. He was with the PT member throughout his government (2003-2010) and during his period outside the Presidency, including when Lula was imprisoned for 580 days in the Federal Police prison in Curitiba (PR). In the current government, he is the Secretary of Production and Dissemination of Audiovisual Content.
