Preparing a Global Executive for a Brazilian Media Interview

Christopher Suttenfield, Co-founder, The New Standard.

Preparing a global executive for a Brazilian media interview starts with the audience, the facts the executive can substantiate and the language needed for a clear conversation. If you are working with The New Standard on public relations in Brazil, use the worksheet below to organise the preparation discussion. It covers a planned interview with business or specialist media, from the message sheet to unanswered questions.

How The New Standard prepares the briefing

Christopher Suttenfield, co-founder of The New Standard, describes the team’s preparation as a combination of journalist research, publication analysis and practical executive guidance. The team researches the journalist’s previous material on the relevant industry or topic and maps the publication’s editorial approach to understand the context for the interview.

The briefing includes potentially difficult questions, suggested statements for returning to the key points, and guidance on statements and topics to focus on or avoid. It also sets out the important messages the executive should highlight and any relevant professional information about the journalist.

Use that preparation to answer the journalist’s question clearly, then connect the answer to relevant, substantiated points. Guidance on difficult topics should identify disclosure limits and facts requiring approval. Keep journalist research focused on published work and relevant professional context.

Start with the journalist’s audience and interview format

Confirm the outlet, journalist, topic, expected duration, location or call link, and deadline with the appropriate contact. Establish whether the conversation is live, recorded or intended for a written article. Ask what the journalist wants to understand, while recognising that follow-up questions may go beyond the initial topic.

Review the journalist’s relevant published work. Identify what this audience needs to know about the company’s activity in Brazil. Replace a generic global presentation with the approved local facts that answer that need. Agree an internal objective for the interview, such as explaining a business decision, without treating a desired headline as something the company controls.

Build an evidence sheet the executive can actually use

Copy these fields into a working document. Complete them with approved information rather than turning the sheet into a script to memorise.

Audience and topic: Who is the interview for, and what question does the story address?
Main point: What should a reader understand about the company’s decision or activity?
Supporting facts: Which approved facts or examples support that point?
Source and owner: Where is each fact documented, and who can verify it?
Local context: What applies specifically to Brazil, and what describes the wider group?
Disclosure status: What is already public, approved for this interview or awaiting approval?
Language and terminology: Which names, technical terms, currencies and dates need explanation?
Open questions: Who will resolve an unanswered question, by what agreed deadline?

Keep a figure’s currency, period and scope beside it. Separate completed activity from a forecast or intention. Prepare plain-language explanations for technical terms and distinguish the executive’s opinion from a verifiable company fact.

Prepare for follow-up questions, not just the opening answer

Ask a colleague to challenge the draft answers. Which statement needs evidence? Where does the explanation become vague? What would a reader reasonably ask next? Practise answering the question directly, adding relevant evidence and explaining any limit to what is known.

A hypothetical rehearsal question

For an executive discussing expansion, a practice question might be: “What has the company committed to in Brazil, and what is still under consideration?” Build the answer from approved commitments and clearly separate them from proposals. If a date or amount is not approved, record that gap and identify who can resolve it. This is an illustrative exercise, not a quotation from a client interview.

Do not guess to fill an awkward pause or repeat a number the team cannot verify. If information cannot be discussed, prepare a truthful explanation of that limit. Confirm any proposed embargo or other interview conditions with the journalist in advance; do not assume that labelling a remark confidential makes it so.

Make the language arrangements explicit

Confirm the executive’s and journalist’s preferred languages. If interpretation is needed, agree the format and allow time for it. Give the interpreter the approved topic brief, names and specialist vocabulary beforehand. Rehearse with language support where possible so the executive can practise speaking in clear, manageable segments.

Check that the local and global teams use the same meaning for investment, capacity, market coverage and timing. For a remote interview, test the agreed connection and sound. Name a communications contact who can provide supporting materials and handle follow-up without interrupting the executive’s answer.

Connect the executive’s perspective to a documented story

In the Gestamp Piracicaba case, The New Standard arranged an interview under embargo between executive president Francisco Riberas and Valor Econômico around the opening of a Brazilian plant. The published case illustrates how access to a global executive can support a specific business story.

For your interview, identify the decision or expertise that makes this executive the appropriate spokesperson. Prepare the local evidence needed to explain it. If you are commissioning agency support, use our PR agency briefing template to specify preparation, language support, interview coordination and follow-up responsibilities.

Close the loop on facts and follow-up

After the interview, record promised materials and unanswered questions with an owner and deadline. Send only approved information through the agreed contact. If a factual error is identified after publication, provide the relevant evidence when requesting a correction. Do not assume a right to approve the journalist’s article or quotes.

Review whether the published coverage explains the intended subject accurately and reaches a relevant audience. Record any subsequent enquiries separately, with their source where known. An interview, a published article and a qualified business enquiry are different outcomes.

Contact The New Standard with the executive’s role, interview topic, expected date, outlet if confirmed and preferred language. Include the preparation already completed and the questions your team still needs to resolve.