This article analyzes growth strategies in the context of digital transformation in all political, social, and economic scopes that were accelerated by the pandemic. The article also focuses on the specific case of digital native brands which have emerged in a disruptive way. The study was carried out by using electronic surveys from April 2020 to November 2021 of 50 professionals in leading technology companies and startups. The study takes into account the results obtained in research carried out during the last 8 years by combining both the methods of in-depth interviews and documentary analysis in tracking the strategies of technology companies. The results show that growth strategies in digital economy are focused on decision making based on data combined with creative actions such as digital content, influencer marketing, media, events, and newsjacking. This growth strategy is applicable to all areas, especially politics.

This article presents the results of a study carried out using data provided by professionals responsible for plan­ning and executing communication strategies for 30 leading companies involved in the digital economy of Barcelona, site of the Mobile World Congress technological trade show, which was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 health crisis. The results of the study, carried out electronically from 1–15 April 2020, show that 77% of the technology com­panies that participated in the study changed their strategic communica­tion planning during the first month of the state of alarm declared by the Spanish government on 14 March 2020. In 73% of cases, the strategy was proactive, although with a new orientation. The resulting mix of ac­tions included preparing and dissem­inating digital content, sending press releases, organising digital events, generating internal communication and, to a lesser extent, advertising, following a strategy that combined 60% of owned media, 27% of earned media, and 13% of paid media. Dur­ing the first month of the state of alarm in response to COVID-19, social media was the main communication channel for the digital companies that participated in the study, compared to print media, television, and radio. 30% of these communication actions used newsjacking techniques, tying their messages to the current situation of the pandemic. Keywords: digital communication, so­cial media, crisis communication, pub­lic relations, content marketing, event organisation, newsjacking.

Este trabalho debruça-se sobre o planeamento estratégico de relações públicas em marcas digitais de referência, que estão sediadas em Barcelona. Esta é a cidade anfitriã da feira internacional de tecnologia “Mobile World Congress” e, ao mesmo tempo, está em quinto lugar na Europa, no que respeita ao número de startups existentes. A metodologia qualitativa com o recurso ao estudo de caso foi a estratégia de investigação utilizada, a qual privilegiou a triangulação na recolha de dados através da realização de entrevistas em profundidade e da análise documental. Foram estudadas três marcas sustentadas no ambiente digital, cuja atividade se desenvolve no meio online. Os resultados do estudo mostraram que o planeamento de relações públicas das marcas digitais analisadas é realizado em quatro etapas: a pesquisa, o planeamento, a implementação e a avaliação. As ações de relações públicas destas marcas estão integradas em estratégias de marketing e privilegiam ações de publicidade, de marketing de conteúdo e de marketing de influência, que combinam a criatividade e a análise a fim de se atingirem as metas de growth hacking. As estratégias destas marcas procuram atingir metas de comunicação a curto prazo e as técnicas utilizadas orientam-se por uma abordagem de gestão por objetivos.