There is an old symptom in national branding, a veiled discomfort in sounding Brazilian, an almost automatic desire to appear importedtranslated, neutral. Brands with names in English to sell in the neighborhood, packaging that imitates the aesthetics of Stockholm, manifestos that could have been written anywhere in the world but here.
For decades, this passed for sophistication. It was fashionable to look like a foreigner, it was professional to lose your accent. When the brand tries to talk to everyone, it stops belonging to someone. And belonging, in 2026, became the scarcest asset on the market.
Brazil became one of the few countries capable of exporting culture. Music, food, aesthetics and humor travel. Informality becomes language, popular creativity becomes a reference, improvisation becomes admiration abroad. And even so, a brand can be born in Brazil and do everything to make it seem like it was born nowhere.
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Shame as a strategy
For years, the Brazilian formula for appearing competent was the same: remove the color, stretch the font, translate the name, neutralize the culture. A poorly pronounced English in the slogan, a Scandinavian reference in the packaging, a generic manifesto on “transformation”.
The reading was that the Brazilian consumer only bought what seemed from the outside, that the “made in Brazil” was a testament to Brazil’s inferiority and that, in order to grow, it was necessary to disguise Brazil.
This logic formed two generations of brands. And it also created, without anyone noticing, a market of brands that were indistinguishable from each other. Less Brazil. More boring.
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The accent became a differentiator
In McKinsey’s State of the Consumer 2025 global study, carried out with more than 25 thousand consumers in 18 markets, the consultancy points out that 47% of consumers worldwide consider local companies important in purchasing decisions. In Brazil, this rate rises to 63%, behind only Mexico and India.
It’s not about putting green and yellow on the packaging, using samba in the film or turning diversity into an image bank.
It’s something deeper: transform origin into point of view, territory into experience, culture into perceived value. Nobody asks for a smaller, local or folkloric brand. Ask for truth and belonging.
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The lesson that came from outside
Ironically, Sol de Janeiro arrived teaching classes. Brand created by an American, first sold in the United States, purchased by the L’Occitane group in 2021 for US$450 million.
In the fiscal year ending in March 2024, global net sales reached €686 million, an increase of 157% in a single year, starting at €26.1 million in 2022. Brazilian Bum Bum Cream, Cheirinho, Carnaval — name in Portuguese, Brazilian attitude, packaging that vibrates with design.
It was necessary a foreign brand teaches that Brazil is the productthat smell, heat, joy, body, party and intimacy are not clichés. They are brand territory. Meanwhile, national brands are still spending their rebranding budget to look a little more Nordic, a little less tropical, a little less Brazilian.
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From mongrel syndrome to caramel pride
The research “Brazilities: how many Brazils can fit in Brazil?”, by MindMiners, confirms what the market preferred not to see. The study interviewed 2,400 people between February 28 and March 6, 2025 and showed that 77% of the population feel some kind of pride for being Brazilian.
More than that: 48% say they would buy more from brands that better represent their regions and cultureswhile only 40% know a brand that represents their region well. When the scope is the entire country, only 51% believe that there is a brand that represents Brazil well.
Consumers recognize value in cultural representation, but find few brands capable of delivering it. Taking over Brazil means growing.
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Brazil is no longer a problem to hide, it has become a raw material to export. Anyone who still tries to appear like a country they are not will continue to compete at a disadvantage with foreign brands that discovered what we are before us.
Losing your accent was the shortcut of a generation. Having an accent will be an advantage next time.
