Santos is one of the most important football teams in Brazil, known worldwide not only for the titles won, but for two great sports celebrities of all time. ‘King’ Pelé, “the greatest athlete of the century”, in the words of Rafael Soares, the club’s marketing director, and “the greatest player today”, Neymar. “In Vila Belmiro we used to joke that 'lightning strikes in the same place twice'. And another one of the new generation comes, Rodrigo, who just won the Champions League with Real Madrid and also a revelation for Santos,” he described.
The executive admitted that the 'third ray' was precisely the arrival of PixBet as a master sponsor of Santos. “PixBet has been a great partner of the club. We are very happy with this partnership. It is a bookmaker that has arrived with great force in football and the contract was very positive for both parties.”
GMB – How has the partnership with bookmaker PixBet been for the club?
Rafael Soares – It has been a great partnership with PixBet, which is our master sponsor. We had a company in the sector, which was in the shoulder blade and, in the renewal of the contract, we thought we could win a better contract for the master. We worked on some possibilities in the market and three good proposals emerged for Santos. The most attractive one for Santos was PixBet and we closed the contract for men's, women's and base categories. It was a big deal.
Also because Santos is an excellent product!
Truth. Santos is in the best square in Brazil for media, which is São Paulo. It is a club with national and international power, which is very attractive for the brand to have this strength and the media that Santos carries with it.
Not to mention that it has an iconic figure in world football, which is ‘King Pelé’. That alone gives Santos even more punch to conquer more and more space in the sports betting market!
I won't even say that Santos is lucky, because it has the blessing of having Pelé. He is the greatest player and athlete of the century. In Vila Belmiro we used to joke that 'lightning strikes the same place twice', because the greatest football player of all time is from Santos, but the greatest player today is also from Santos, which is Neymar. So, Santos is a club that has been releasing idols one after another. Right now a new generation is arriving, which is Rodrigo, winner of the Champions League for Real Madrid. He's another boy from Vila, so Santos has the strength to launch stars to leverage the whole world.
So is the third ray PixBet, which arrived to provide fundamental support for the further development of Santos?
Undoubtedly. PixBet has been a great partner of the club. We are very happy with this partnership. It is a bookmaker that has arrived with great force in football and the contract was very positive for both parties.
And what actions are you developing with them to reinforce this positioning?
We have a very busy day of ideas with PixBet. We activate them not only on our podcast, but also on lives, athletes and, of course, on the uniform, which is the flagship. There's a lot of strength in that and there's a lot of exploration in the digital realm on social media. We are always top 3 or top 5 in Brazil in terms of engagement on social networks, where we have been working very hard to promote bookmaker PixBet.
So the only thing missing is the regulation of sports betting for this sponsorship and the partnership has grown even more!
We understand that the project under debate will end up passing to bring more security to everyone: clubs, brands, partners and bettors. This debate is taking place and while it doesn't end, Santos is following the legal procedures to have a good partner with us to generate revenue for the club and also for the partner.
Source: Exclusive GMB
