Revista Problemas Brasileiros – EN

In 2015 the magazine began to be edited and produced by FecomercioSP. From that new beginning until 2019 I served as Content Director of Revista Problemas Brasileiros, responsible for the magazine’s editorial direction, for its dialogue with authors, specialists and institutions, and for strengthening its critical identity during a period of intense political, economic and social change in Brazil. In those years we produced special issues, among them one made up entirely of comics journalism.

From 2020 I moved into the role of content consultant and partnerships lead, contributing strategically to the development of special issues, institutional engagement, the magazine’s presence at national and international events and the expansion of its editorial reach. Among other projects, that role took shape in the conception, distribution and activation of PB’s 60th-anniversary issue, winner of the Prêmio Aberje 2024.

I continue in that role today, while also following the magazine’s full production cycle, from print through digital to social media. The case below focuses on the 60th-anniversary issue.

60th-anniversary special issue — winner of the Prêmio Aberje 2024

Context and editorial positioning

Founded in 1963, Revista Problemas Brasileiros (PB) is one of Brazil’s longest-running and most respected analytical publications. Published by FecomercioSP, it has established itself as a pluralistic space for reflection on Brazil’s major structural challenges — economic, social, political, cultural and environmental — sustaining, across six decades, a commitment to critical thinking, to democracy and to deepening public debate.

Published in print every two months and updated daily online, PB has become a point of reference not only for business readers and opinion formers but also for academia, libraries, universities and national and international events. Its archive of more than 490 issues is frequently cited in research, academic work and school and university examinations.

The editorial challenge: marking 60 years without losing critical depth

Issue #475 (June/July 2023) marked the 60th anniversary of Revista Problemas Brasileiros. The central challenge was to turn the magazine’s own history into a thread for analysing contemporary Brazil, rather than settling for a purely commemorative approach.

The editorial proposition was to revisit six decades of change in Brazil, from the 1960s to the present day, through the critical lens PB itself had built over that time. The aim was twofold:

• to draw out the value of the magazine’s analytical legacy;
• to demonstrate its editorial relevance today, speaking to new audiences without sacrificing depth.

Strategy, curation and content production

The project called for extensive historical research and editorial curation, drawing on more than 450 previous issues, many available only in print in specialist archives.

Over roughly three months, the team analysed content, historical contexts, shifts in perspective and recurring themes running through Brazil’s history.

From that material, the special issue was structured as a single extended analytical narrative, bringing together:

• political and institutional change;
• persistent social inequality;
• education, work and economic development;
• environmental and urban questions.

The content combined historical analysis, classic reportage and interviews with specialists, while holding to one of PB’s editorial hallmarks: giving space both to intellectuals and policymakers and to the concrete effects of these questions on everyday life in Brazil.

Circulation, partnerships and institutional activation

Beyond distribution to FecomercioSP’s institutional mailing list, the special issue was conceived as a strategic asset for relationship-building and institutional positioning. It was presented and distributed at significant national and international events, including:

• Fórum Mackenzie de Liberdade Econômica (Mackenzie Forum on Economic Freedom);
• Conferência Ethos 360º, where over 1,000 copies were distributed;
• the IV Congress of the Association of Brazilianists in Europe (ABRE) in Lisbon, which brought together researchers from more than 50 universities across the United States and Europe.

In these settings, PB reinforced its role as a bridge between academic thought, the productive sector and international public debate. At the ABRE congress in Lisbon I presented the content of the special issue in a dedicated session, extending the magazine’s reach and its critical readership beyond Brazil.

Results and recognition

The 60th-anniversary issue stands as an editorial landmark for Revista Problemas Brasileiros. Its main outcomes include:

• broader reach among new audiences;
• PB strengthened as a point of institutional editorial reference;
• strategic use of the magazine as a tool for partnerships and event presence;
• bronze medal at the Prémio Lusófonos da Criatividade 2023, in the Social Issues category;
• winner of the Prêmio Aberje 2024 — National category, Special Publications.

More than a print publication, Revista Problemas Brasileiros is today a content platform that brings together critical thinking, quality journalism and institutional engagement. The website extends its reach with original content updated daily, holding to the editorial coherence built over more than six decades.