A The Led quer virar referência em retail media (sem brigar com o OOH)

The Led, founded in 2010, has spent 16 years building infrastructure for screens in shopping centers, retail stores, and out-of-home media companies such as Eletromidia and NEOOH. Now, the company wants to transform these assets into media, rather than competing with its clients in out-of-home advertising (OOH). Richard Albanesi, the company's founder, believes the potential for retail media in Brazil is immense, with the sector expected to grow from 2.3% of digital advertising in 2020 to 16.3% this year and up to 22.2% by 2030, according to eMarketer.

To capture a piece of this market, The Led recently acquired TailyAds, a two-year-old company founded by Heitor Pontes, who will now serve as the company's director of new business. The acquisition complements another M&A made last year: the purchase of Retail Media, a company that had been selling ad spaces inside stores, bringing The Led a team, inventory, and relationships with advertisers.

With this move, The Led will now commercialize and monetize the advertising displayed on its screens. Albanesi states, "Our future is to put as many digital panels as possible in Brazil and help our clients monetize it." This is a significant shift for a company that once rented LED panels for shows, fairs, and corporate events when the cost of fixed LED installations was too high in Brazil.

Albanesi encountered the market during his first trip to China at 13 years old, accompanying his mother, Alcione, who founded FLC Lâmpadas and sought new products. After costs for the technology fell, The Led began making fixed installations, delivering end-to-end projects from metal structure and assembly to software, content, and maintenance.

Along the way, Albanesi accumulated projects that became showcases for the company, such as the LED tunnel at Shopping Cidade Jardim and projects for companies like Riachuelo, Galeria Magalu, and current Nubank Parque, some of which received advertising awards. Now, Albanesi's plan is to accelerate. Last year, The Led received a R$150 million investment from Kinea, the first significant contribution to accelerate the company's new growth phase.

Today, the company has 15.5 thousand screens in about 5.5 thousand stores, and is expected to reach 20 thousand screens by the end of the year. Albanesi says the company spends between R$80 million and R$100 million on capex annually, and its top line is growing by more than 30% a year, aiming to double in size within three years.

Retail media is the next step in this expansion. Currently, about 80% of the company's revenue comes from the core business of screens and infrastructure, while the remaining 20% comes from media monetization – The Led's primary asset in this vertical is the Grupo Pão de Açúcar. Albanesi believes this ratio will change gradually, not because the screens business will shrink, but because he believes media will grow faster.

Albanesi is certain he does not want to compete with the OOH companies he has served for years, such as Eletromidia, NEOOH, and RZK. He says The Led will continue providing infrastructure, installation, and maintenance for these clients and does not intend to compete for urban mobility or metro and airport installations, for example.

Albanesi explains, "We are competitors of any media vehicle, since we are fighting for this advertising money. But we are not competitors of the OOH market."