Energizing the passion: the importance of sportive marketing in Latin America

Latin America is a region recognized for the abundance of civilizations and cultures that go back millions of years. But, however vastly different its peculiarities may be, the territory shares one big passion: sport.

Within this context, we can talk about sportive marketing, which, over the last few years, has potentialized sport and entertainment in the region.  Soccer can be considered the most common example due to its legion of fans that go to the stadiums, in addition to the most prominent competitions in Latin America.

It is worth highlighting that the finalists of 2021 Libertadores and South American, which were all Brazilian teams, invested heavily in partnerships, and social media marketing while having strict control of their finances to achieve success and become examples for the whole of Latin America. 

Latin America doesn’t only breathe soccer. There are other popular sports, such as basketball, that people love. The NBB (Brazilian Basketball League), which had its first season in 2009, brought Brazilian clubs into the spotlight in the major competitions of the region, matching up to leagues from Argentina, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela. 

Is important to highlight that in the season prior to the pandemic, the league was viewed by a wide audience, having the third most views in the sports rankings.

We also have baseball, a sport well known in the United States, with most of its influence being in Central America and The Caribbean due to the fact that it imports many players. According to a 2021 report from The New York Times, about 30% of players were Latin American, making the audience grow in the Hispanic countries of the region. 

Sportive marketing is the execution of marketing strategies and principles, such as publicity, promotions, sponsorships, and branding to promote and sell products, services, or brands related to the sports environment. 

The focus is to create an emotional bond between the sport’s athlete and its fans.

The model of marketing linked to the sports scene plays a fundamental role in the promotion of the most varied sports, in the building of strong brands, in the generation of revenue and engagement of passionate fans.

It is also a way to develop and capitalize young people in sports since Latin America has suffered with public insurance. So it is a way to promote social inclusion, discipline, and respect for others. It also contributes to economic growth and regional visibility.

Guaraná Antarctica 

Latin America has plenty of successful cases that are big examples for countries of the region and other continents. At the Women ‘s World Cup, AMBEV’s Guaraná Antarctica launched a platform to facilitate the inclusion of feminine soccer athletes in a game platform.

The beverage brand created a collection of avatars which incorporated the different characteristics of the players. As well as this, they drew up contracts designed to facilitate negotiations between companies, with the aim of promoting the inclusion of female audiences on the electronic gaming platform.

Gatorade

It is also worth highlighting the isotonic drinks brand Gatorade that, in 2020, promoted a campaign named “Goat Camp”, which brought in the best-known names in sport, from the Argentinian soccer player Lionel Messi to the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. 

The main goal of the video was to choose the best athletes in each sport, including soccer and athletics, in order to open a training centre looking  to be “the best of all time”. Gatorade also wanted to highlight its continuous engagement of collaboration and inspire the next generation of athletes to be winners for their countries.

Red Bull

Another successful case was the purchase of Bragantino Soccer Club by the energy drink brand Red Bull. The company, which already runs successful clubs worldwide, such as Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bull and RB Leipzig, saw advantages when investing in the country of soccer, Brazil.

This approach was to solidify its domain in the Brazilian beverage market by using the love for the sport as a vehicle. 

The purchase of the Brazilian club took place in 2019. That same year, Bragantino guaranteed its participation among the Brazilian soccer elite. In 2021, the team achieved its first participation in the international competition Conmebol, the South American competition, finishing as runner-up. In 2022, it participated in the main continental competition, Libertadores, South America’s cup competition. 

The club from the countryside of São Paulo has grown a lot with the Austrian company’s investment, being considered as one of the state’s main clubs, as well as being an example to be followed in terms of finances and planning, both for the Brazilian clubs and for the whole of Latin America.

Independiente Del Valle de Ecuador

Finally, the Independiente Del Valle club from Ecuador also stands out, which since the last decade has been building a very solid project in South American football that could make it a potential prominent club in the region in the coming years.

The Ecuadorian club’s project since its inception back in 2006, when Michael Deller and Franklin Tello bought the management, was solely to change the team’s identity and improve the infrastructure of training centers in Ecuador to develop young people in national football.

The result so far is very positive as Del Valle has already won the national league, two South American leagues, Recopa and reached the Copa Libertadores final, placing second in the championship. It is also worth noting that for the 2022 World Cup, Ecuador’s base consisted of players trained in the team’s youth category.

In this manner, sportive marketing in Latin America reveals itself as one of the main players for the development in the region, where we can put into practice strategies such as partnerships, community engagement, content creation, brand activation in events, personalization and localization, influencer marketing and other strategies to maximize the fans involvement.

Creating actions based on the strategies mentioned above is the best way for companies from the same line of sports (or even from other ones) to insert themselves in the Latin American culture since the sport is a part of it, as well as a part of its identity.

Organizations can use local communities to promote activation or recognition of their brand through the sponsorship of competitions or even by creating amateur sporting events for people to take part in.

Sport has the remarkable ability to unite people, transcending cultural, social, and linguistic barriers. By creating an environment of healthy competition and collaboration, sport provides a common ground where people can connect and interact positively.