Petrobras, the biggest Culture sponsor in Brazil
Petrobras prioritizes sponsorship for projects approved under the Rouanet Law, and which, thus, have prior Ministry of Culture approval to be carried out. The company sponsors projects approved under Article 18 of the Rouanet Law (which offers sponsors a 100% fiscal benefit) and Article 26 (through which sponsor benefits are limited to 30%, which is the case, for example, for all feature films sponsored by Petrobras). As well as Rouanet Law approval, Petrobras also has to submit the projects to the SECOM Sponsorship Committee (Sub-secretariat for Institutional Communications at the General Secretariat of the President of the Republic) for approval before being contracted.
Petrobras has been the main sponsor of Brazilian Culture since the 1990s. In 2006, given the company's record profits, the sums set aside for sponsoring cultural projects also reached record proportions: R$ 288 million. The evolution in the annual resources meant for Culture, as well as the part of this value that had fiscal benefits (the incentive portion) is presented below.
Petrobras is the biggest company in Brazil and the main sponsor of Brazilian culture. Apart from the projects in the Petrobras Cultural Program, year-round the company also sponsors Restoration of Architectural Heritage, Continuity projects and Institutional Opportunity / Relationship projects.
Architectural Heritage Restoration projects (an area not included in the Petrobras Cultural Program selection process) provide priority sponsorship for the restoration of listed buildings and others buildings of great historical, cultural and architectural importance to Brazil, and they also take into account the urgency of the restoration in question. The company also considers priority regions for Petrobras institutional and business relationships, as well as priorities indicated by IPHAN and the Petrobras Cultural Council.
Continuity projects are those through which Petrobras focuses on brand association issues. Cultural sponsorship is a method of communication by association: companies also sponsor cultural projects to associate their brands to the qualities of cultural activities (quality, innovation, joviality, passion, tradition, Brazil, pioneering spirit, etc.). This concept is also known as Attitude Communication. Sponsorship examples in this area include the Petrobras Symphony Orchestra, the Body Group, maintaining the Capivara Mountains Archeological Park (PI) and the Pixinguinha/Funarte Project. The list of Continuity projects is validated annually by the Petrobras Cultural Council: The projects that will be sponsored the following year are announced when the PCP annual tender is launched, and can be found in the Petrobras Cultural Program section.
Projects classified as Opportunity / Institutional Relationship refer to sponsorships agreed to throughout the year at Petrobras’ initiative. The analysis and selection of these projects include: qualitative merit, alignment with the Petrobras cultural sponsorship policy, the region that the activities will take place in, the audience reached and the impact on the community, the physical and financial budget presented, the results the project offers society, budget availability and interests revolving around Petrobras business and institutional relationships with priority regions and markets.
Part of the Opportunity / Institutional Relationship projects encompasses sponsorships based on the need to optimize fiscal benefits, especially in years when the company records profits much higher than anticipated.
The fiscal benefit limits (Rouanet Law) for cultural sponsorship each year are proportional to the Company's profit during said fiscal year (4% of tax due).
This "extension" to the incentive funding limit is used by Petrobras, at the end of the year, by contracting cultural projects received and analyzed during the year and held on file for such an opportunity, in the event that profits come in above expectations. It is important to note that these contracts always include projects that comply with Petrobras sponsorship policies, that have been approved by the Rouanet Law and the SECOM Sponsorship Committee (Sub-secretariat of Institutional Communication at the General Secretariat of the President of the Republic) and that seek to optimize use of the Company's fiscal benefit.