Rodrigo Neves concludes AnaMid’s first chapter after four years of building Brazil’s digital market

In September 2022, 29 leaders from different regions of Brazil launched a project aimed at strengthening connection, representation and dialogue within the country’s digital market.

Four years later, the AnaMid, National Association of the Digital Market and Industry is closing its first leadership cycle with around 400 members, more than 300 events held, over 15,000 professionals reached and activities spanning 20 Brazilian cities.

Leading this effort was Rodrigo Neves, CEO and founder of VitaminaWeb, founder of AnaMid and the organization’s first national president.

Rodrigo led the association from its creation in 2022 through the transition to the 2026-2029 leadership, when Vinícius Melo took over as national president.

The transition brings to a close a four-year cycle marked by the association’s development, national expansion, events, knowledge creation, new institutional initiatives and closer ties between different segments of the digital economy.

A journey built within the digital market itself

Rodrigo Neves’s role in creating AnaMid is directly connected to his professional journey.

As head of VitaminaWeb, a company that has been active in the digital market for more than two decades, Rodrigo has witnessed different phases of the transformation of the internet and technology in Brazil.

Corporate websites, e-commerce, digital marketing, social media, media, data, automation, digital transformation and, more recently, artificial intelligence are all part of a market that has changed many times in a relatively short period.

That experience also led to an important realization: despite the sector’s growth, there was still room to strengthen the organization and institutional representation of the digital market.

AnaMid was born in this context.

The idea was to bring together professionals, companies, agencies, platforms, publishers, brands, startups and experts working in different parts of the same value chain, who did not always have structured forums to discuss shared challenges.

From 29 founders to a national association

The first leadership team faced the challenge of turning an idea into a national organization.

Over four years, AnaMid grew its membership to approximately 400 members and held more than 300 events, reaching over 15,000 professionals.

Initiatives took place in 20 Brazilian cities and involved a network of approximately 60 professionals across the country.

Around 20 resources for the market were also developed, including research, handbooks, guides and e-books, along with more than 40 institutional agreements and partnerships.

For Rodrigo Neves, the numbers help put the work into perspective, but they do not sum up what happened over those four years.

“It’s difficult to sum up four years in numbers alone. There were thousands of hours, dozens of trips, hundreds of gatherings and many people involved. But to me, the most important achievement was helping build a truly national association, one capable of bringing together professionals, companies and organizations that are part of Brazil’s digital market.”

Rodrigo notes that AnaMid’s goal was always to create a point of connection for an extremely diverse ecosystem.

“AnaMid was created to connect this ecosystem, spark discussion, produce knowledge and represent a market that needed to talk more among itself. We spent 1,460 days immersed in this work.”

A market that needed to see itself as an industry

One of the challenges from the beginning was showing that the digital market is made up of more than just technology companies and agencies.

It encompasses a much broader value chain.

Developers, software companies, agencies, consultancies, publishers, content creators, platforms, data companies, martechs, adtechs, e-commerce businesses, creators, marketing professionals and countless other specialists are all part of this economy.

This fragmentation makes the market extremely dynamic, but also makes it harder to organize.

One of AnaMid’s goals was to broaden this understanding of the ecosystem.

Instead of discussing marketing in one place, technology in another and media somewhere else, the association sought to bring these different areas closer together.

This perspective also reflects VitaminaWeb’s own journey. Over the years, the company has expanded beyond technology development, bringing together strategy, technology, data, content, marketing and innovation.

Mergers expanded AnaMid’s representation

Another important development during Rodrigo’s leadership was the integration of other organizations representing the market.

AnaMid integrated the Brazilian Association of E-commerce Agencies, APAGE, and the National Association of Publishers of Brazil, ANPB.

These moves expanded the association’s representation and brought new segments into a single institutional structure.

Following its merger with ANPB, AnaMid also began organizing the Brasil Publisher Awards, now entering its third edition.

In parallel, the Brasil Digital Awards was created, expanding recognition to include different companies, professionals and projects in the digital market.

The two awards have their own categories and goals, while forming part of a broader framework for recognizing initiatives developed across the ecosystem.

Four years in which the market also changed completely

Perhaps one of the most significant aspects of this story is the context in which it unfolded.

The AnaMid of 2026 represents a very different market from the one in 2022.

Artificial intelligence went from an experimental topic to part of companies’ everyday operations.

Generative tools transformed content production, programming, customer service, data analysis and automation processes.

Retail media gained momentum.

New content production and distribution models emerged.

Search engines began incorporating AI-generated answers.

And topics such as privacy, security, copyright, professional development and regulation became increasingly important.

For Rodrigo, this pace of change reinforces a fundamental characteristic of the digital market: it is never finished.

Technologies change.

Platforms change.

Behaviors change.

And companies need to build the ability to adapt continuously.

From digital transformation to digital maturity

This perspective also informs another area of Rodrigo Neves’s work.

In addition to being CEO of VitaminaWeb and founder of AnaMid, Rodrigo is president of the Instituto da Maturidade Digital, an organization dedicated to advancing discussion of how companies develop their ability to operate in increasingly digital environments.

The idea starts with a simple observation.

Adopting technology does not necessarily mean a company is digitally mature.

An organization may use artificial intelligence, CRM, automation, data, digital media and various platforms without truly integrating these technologies into its strategy.

The challenge is less about simply adopting tools and more about developing processes, culture, governance, people and decision-making capabilities.

This discussion has also become part of the institutional vision developed over the past few years.

Passing the baton

With the end of the first leadership term, Vinícius Melo is taking over as AnaMid’s national president for 2026 to 2029.

Vinícius was part of the previous administration as vice president of Expansion and begins the new cycle with priorities that include strengthening regional chapters, expanding business opportunities for members and broadening the organization’s institutional relationships.

Rodrigo Neves will remain part of the association as vice president of Institutional Relations, continuing primarily to lead efforts related to the representation and coordination of the digital market.

For him, the change in leadership is part of the organization’s own maturation.

Building an association does not mean creating an organization that depends on one person.

It means creating an institution capable of continuing to evolve, bringing in new leaders and beginning new cycles.

A journey that is also part of VitaminaWeb’s history

For VitaminaWeb, AnaMid’s journey also represents an important chapter in its own relationship with the market.

The company was founded and grew alongside the transformation of Brazil’s digital environment.

And over the course of that journey, Rodrigo Neves’s work has extended beyond the company itself.

The creation of AnaMid was an effort to contribute to the institutional development of the market in which VitaminaWeb operates.

Because a more developed market depends on more than good companies.

It also depends on shared knowledge.

On dialogue.

On professional development.

On representation.

On institutional relationships.

And on people willing to dedicate some of their time to building the ecosystem itself.

After four years, AnaMid is entering a new phase.

And Rodrigo is concluding his first term as president with an organization that is much larger than the one that began in 2022.

That’s 1,460 days of building, more than 300 events, thousands of professionals connected and dozens of initiatives developed.

The role changes.

The work continues.

About Rodrigo Neves

Rodrigo Neves is CEO and founder of VitaminaWeb, an entrepreneur and digital market professional with more than two decades of experience.

He is the founder and first national president of AnaMid, the National Association of the Digital Market and Industry, which he led from 2022 to 2026 before becoming vice president of Institutional Relations.

He is also president of Instituto da Maturidade Digital and works on initiatives related to technology, digital transformation, data, artificial intelligence and the development of Brazil’s digital ecosystem.