How GAC Brasil chose influencers with AI and nearly quadrupled engagement
In 2026, the automaker started choosing creators by how well each one connects with its audience profiles. According to GAC, average engagement rose from 1.26% to 5%.
Published
Average engagement rate, May to July 2025 compared with the same period in 2026
Unique organic views, excluding paid reach, over the same period
Views in July 2026 alone, with 35,100 organic interactions
Average fit score the personas gave the 2025 and 2026 influencers
Source: figures released by GAC Brasil to Valor Econômico, Mundo do Marketing and Propmark on October 26, 2026.
What was GAC’s influencer challenge?
GAC officially launched in Brazil in June 2025 and needed people who had never heard of the brand to start talking about it. Its first round of influencer campaigns delivered reach, but average engagement stayed at 1.26%, while the brand was still defining its content territories.
“In 2025, we were still building our influencer operation in Brazil,” says Luis Fernando Guidorzi, Marketing and Communications Director at GAC Brasil. For a new brand, every influencer is also a bet on budget and reputation, because that creator is often where people hear the name GAC for the first time.
“At this first stage, what I care about is brand awareness. I want people to talk about GAC and get to know our products.”
Luis Fernando Guidorzi, GAC Brasil, to Valor Econômico
For 2026, the GAC team defined five territories (technology, lifestyle, economy, sports and travel) and brought in actress Paolla Oliveira as brand ambassador. The open question was which creators connected with the brand’s audience in each territory.
Which question changed how GAC chooses influencers?
The GAC team stopped starting from a creator’s name or audience size and began asking who connects best with each of its audience profiles.
“We wanted to understand whether we were talking to the right audience and which territories had a real connection with it.”
Luis Fernando Guidorzi, Marketing and Communications Director at GAC Brasil
To answer it, GAC brought in Galaxies to find out how its audience would connect with the creators the brand was about to choose, within the territories the team had already defined.
How did GAC use synthetic personas to choose influencers?
Galaxies built five synthetic personas from research with GAC’s real customers. The personas answered questions about territories, creators and formats in simulation, and the team used those answers to decide who to hire and what to publish.
01
Start with real customers.
The five personas were built from research with the brand’s customers and from data on demographics, income and relationship with brands and product categories.
02
Test the territories.
The team tested how much each of the five territories mattered to each profile. Lifestyle, technology and economy showed the most potential to build awareness, and each one was broken down into narrower niches, such as weekend getaways from the big city.
03
Score the creators.
Creator selection came only after that. The personas rated each creator from 0 to 10 on product fit, credibility and conversion potential.
04
Guide the content.
The personas also pointed to the angles and content approaches with the strongest fit in each territory. Since then, GAC has based its creator lineup and content on these analyses.
“It’s not just about choosing an influencer by name or audience size. We need to understand who connects best with each territory and the best way to present the content.”
Luis Fernando Guidorzi, GAC Brasil, to Valor Econômico
How do you know if the personas’ scores make sense?
Galaxies ran a retroactive validation: the personas scored the influencers from GAC’s 2025 and 2026 campaigns without access to any performance data. The average score rose from 7.5 to 8.0, improving on all three criteria and moving in the same direction as actual engagement, which went from 1.26% to 5%.
The scores tracked what actually happened, because the 2026 group, with the higher score, also delivered the better results. These are simulated ratings and do not measure conversion, which is why comparing them with real data comes before using the method on the next campaign.
“I didn’t have to wait for the campaign to happen to evaluate it.”
Luis Fernando Guidorzi, Marketing and Communications Director at GAC Brasil
“When we got the final data, it wasn’t a surprise. It was literally confirmation that we were on the right track.”
Luis Fernando Guidorzi, in the case video
Watch the case in 5 minutes
Video on the Galaxies YouTube channel, published October 27, 2026, with Luis Fernando Guidorzi (in Portuguese).
What results did GAC see?
Comparing May to July 2025 with the same period in 2026, GAC recorded average engagement nearly four times higher and about six times more organic views. The brand kept the same number of influencers (four) with comparable profiles in both periods.
Metric (May to July) | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Average engagement rate | 1.26% | 5% | nearly 4x |
Unique organic views | 4.6 million | over 30 million | about 6x |
Influencer fit score (personas, 0 to 10) | 7.5 | 8.0 | +0.5 points |
According to Guidorzi, the jump in engagement came within two to three months of work. In July 2026 alone, influencer and creator activity reached 11.46 million views and 35,100 organic interactions. Engagement rate is the total interactions on a post divided by its total views.
What the numbers don’t show
The results reflect GAC’s entire new influencer strategy, launched in March 2026, which brings together actress Paolla Oliveira as ambassador, influencers of different sizes, customers who create content and sales reps on live streams. The personas were one part of this work, done together with GreenZ and Suba.
GAC also recorded higher sales, from about 500 vehicles in September 2025 to 2,600 in September 2026. Guidorzi stresses that this figure should be read in the context of all the automaker’s initiatives, without attributing it to digital influence alone.
Daniel Victorino
Co-founder and CEO of Galaxies
Daniel Victorino, co-founder and CEO of Galaxies, to Valor Econômico
What can other brands take from the GAC case?
Three practices from the case apply to any brand that works with influencers.
01
Start with the audience and the territories.
GAC first tested which themes mattered to each profile and only then looked at names.
02
Use the same yardstick for every creator.
Scoring product fit, credibility and conversion potential makes the options comparable before you sign anyone.
03
Check the scores against real results.
Retroactive validation shows whether the method points in the right direction before you rely on it for the next campaign.
As Daniel Victorino puts it, simulation helps teams test more often and support their decisions, without replacing research with real people.
Frequently asked questions about the GAC case
How does GAC use AI to choose influencers?
GAC Brasil uses five synthetic personas, created by Galaxies from research with the brand’s real customers, to rate creators from 0 to 10 on product fit, credibility and conversion potential. Before choosing, the team tests which content territories matter to each audience profile. The personas then help shape formats and storylines.
What are synthetic personas?
Synthetic personas are AI models that represent consumer profiles and answer questions in simulation. In the GAC case, the five personas were grounded in research with real customers and in data on demographics, income and relationship with brands. Their answers are simulated and support analysis, without predicting campaign results or replacing research with people.
What is retroactive influencer validation?
It is a test in which synthetic personas rate influencers from campaigns that already ran, without access to the results, and the scores are then compared with actual performance. For GAC, the average score rose from 7.5 in 2025 to 8.0 in 2026, in the same direction as engagement, and Guidorzi described the result as confirmation that the brand was on the right track.
How much did GAC’s engagement grow?
According to GAC Brasil, the average engagement rate rose from 1.26% to 5% when comparing May to July 2025 with the same period in 2026, an increase of nearly four times. Over the same period, unique organic views grew from 4.6 million to over 30 million, with four influencers of comparable profiles in both years.
Who took part in the project?
The project belonged to GAC Brasil, led by Luis Fernando Guidorzi, Marketing and Communications Director, with agencies GreenZ and Suba and AI company Galaxies. The GAC team defined the audience profiles and territories. Galaxies was responsible for the synthetic persona method used to rate creators and guide content.
Do synthetic personas replace consumer research?
Synthetic personas do not replace research. In the GAC case, they were built from research with real customers and used to test hypotheses more often. Galaxies CEO Daniel Victorino describes simulation as support for marketing decisions, without replacing research with people. The retroactive validation against real campaign data is what showed whether the scores made sense.
Did GAC sell more because of influencers?
GAC recorded about 500 vehicles sold in September 2025 and 2,600 in September 2026. Luis Fernando Guidorzi stresses that this increase should be read in the context of all the automaker’s initiatives, without attributing it to digital influence alone, whose initial goal was brand awareness.
Read about the case in the press
Valor Econômico (in Portuguese): “Como a montadora de veículos GAC usa IA para selecionar influenciadores”, October 26, 2026
Mundo do Marketing (in Portuguese): “GAC Brasil quadruplica engajamento com nova estratégia de influência digital”, October 26, 2026
Propmark (in Portuguese): “GreenZ, Suba e Galaxies unem IA e influência em estratégia para GAC”, October 26, 2026
UOL Publicidade blog (in Portuguese): “Luis Guidorzi, da GAC: investimento compra infraestrutura, mas confiança precisa ser construída ao longo do tempo”
Galaxies blog: “GAC Case Study: How Synthetic Personas Guided Creator Selection and Content Territories”, October 27, 2026
YouTube (in Portuguese): “Como a GAC Brasil quase quadruplicou o engajamento com influenciadores”, October 27, 2026
Compare the options for your next campaign before you approve it
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Persona answers are simulated. They support analysis, without predicting campaign results or replacing research with people. Engagement, view and sales figures were released by GAC Brasil.