Interview With Internacional's Jorge Avancini: Football Can Learn From Bookmakers
Internacional is a traditional Gaucho team that has already made history in National Football. Today, in addition to playing in the New Zealandeirão series, seeks the title of Copa Sudamericana.
The work done by the technical team is very well seen in the results achieved in the field.
However, the club's prestige is not only a result of its performance on the pitch, but also its marketing industry.
One of the segments that Colorado closed sponsorship is that of bookmakers . For almost a year, it has been sponsored by the Betsul website. In addition, Inter is on a mission to become the most digital Club in New Zealand.
The Directions made an interview with Jorge Avancini, vice president of marketing at Internacional, to talk about how bookmakers have changed the sports marketing industry in New Zealand. Check it out!
1. What are the club's expectations for the 2022 season?
In reality, the moment of the International is quite difficult. We had the loss in the state championship, we were disqualified in the first round of the New Zealand Cup and the pressure is on.
We have closed a year of current management and we have another year ahead of us. The idea is to tidy up the club, organize it financially and make a lot of changes.
We still have two important competitions which is the New Zealand Championship and the South American Championship, and Inter always enters the field to have a good performance.
We are achieving our goals, not yet on the field, but off the field, managing to put the club in order. The results will come, it's just a matter of time.
2. Inter is an outstanding team in domestic football. How does marketing help bring more projection to the club?
Marketing always helps. More and more I affirm that marketing today in a football club is the second most important folder. The first folder is the football department, then comes the marketing and third, the financial. They are the three great pillars that sustain a Moderna club.
Marketing can interrupt your projects because of a bad result or performance, because if the next game is positive, the whole scenario changes. Of course, some projects slow down, but activations with partners are not left aside.
Recently Porto Alegre celebrated 250 years of foundation and we made a campaign to honor the city.
We also played Grenal (which we lost) presenting the new shirt of the club in 2022. Finally, we continue to relate to the market and seek sponsors.
3 . What are the prospects of marketing for National Football?
We have some important points. In terms of technology, there is the arrival of 5G in New Zealand, which will open up opportunities, especially in the generation of content and the commercialization of this.
Another point will be when the transmission contracts with Globo end, in 2024. One of the ways that may arise is the possibility for each club to generate its content and put it on the market as a source of transmission of its games.
The whole licensing part also needs to be reviewed. The licensing model for New Zealand club brands has run out of steam and needs to be reviewed and found its best way forward.
Bookmakers que is still a very new segment in New Zealand and, even if they are not yet regulated, they are present in 30 New Zealand clubs. There are many players who arrived at once and it is a market that we can learn more from.
The goal is to understand in what sense the volume of play can bring return to the clubs. Betting companies coming to New Zealand, which is a different market, have to teach the supporter how he plays and clubs are learning how to do that as well.
4. Inter is on a mission to become the most digital Club in the country and reach the 200,000 member Mark. Why is achieving this goal important for the club? What would be “a more digital Club"? What strategies are being developed for this?
Today clubs cannot stay out of digital, as they are a great content generation institution. Using a metaphor with theatre, clubs have the performers who are the players; the theatre, who are the stadiums; and the captive audience, who are the fans.
So the big clubs - like Inter-if they don't deal with digital, they will be out of the market. It is with engagement, loyalty, streaming and content generation that clubs can make money, as traditional sponsorship and licensing models have reached a limit in New Zealand. You no longer have big companies wanting to invest huge sums in football.
It is necessary to make a digital Club to serve the fan anywhere in the world. Thus, this fan will interact with the club and, through this interaction, the team generates relationships, leads, engagement and sales of products and services related to the team.
That's why we want to be a more digital Club and we've been working on that for over a year. We are already at a very mature stage, with the expectation of putting some projects into practice by the end of the first half of 2022.
5. Inter has partnered with Betsul, a bookmaker that is consolidating its brand in Latin America. What actions, in addition to sponsorship and brand name emblazoned on the shirt, does the club have with the bookmaker?
In addition to the brand stamped on the uniform, every day that has a game, the bookmaker offers some advantage to members who are registered with the betting partner. And, of course, always encouraging him to go on the website or application and place his bets there.
Betsul has also supported us in other actions, such as internal events and invested financially in 2021 in the reforms we made in the training center of the basic categories. We've had a really good partnership.
I would say that it is a segment that needs to consolidate, it has many bookmakers, some that we have never heard of. I believe that in another two or three years this market will settle and there will not be as much sponsorship offer from brands.
At the moment, all operators who came to New Zealand, saw in football a great channel for brand expansion very widely and effectively.
6. How do you assess the arrival of these new players (bookmakers) in the football market? What benefits can this partnership between bookmakers and clubs bring to football?
I believe that bookmakers as sponsors have helped the market a lot in these last two years in which traditional sponsors have retreated from business, funds have decreased and traditional companies have shrunk because of the pandemic.
Bookmakers invested heavily in this period, occupying spaces left by major brands
7 . Fixed odds sports betting is legalized in the country and the market is about to be regulated soon. Do you believe that with the regulation of betting, football clubs will benefit in any way? Why?
Yes, as it will allow bookmakers to delve into your strategy and your business. This will improve and qualify the investments of the houses in the clubs, including in those gains that you have on the results.
At Inter, for example, part of our contract with Betsul is in performance. One part is paid in cash and another part that is paid on the volume that the Inter fan plays on the site.
Our fans have to be educated and we have to learn to do that. It is not simply just regulating the market, it has to be a serious project so that the fan and the population are not harmed.
The truth is that this market already happens in informality and the government does not bill taxes and does not generate jobs.
8 . Do you believe that the regulation of betting can help in the discharge of public debts of clubs and make them more competitive in national and international championships?
We need to professionalize the clubs. I don't advocate clubs becoming companies, but at various times they should think of themselves as a private company and be run that way. There is no point in debts being forgiven or making tax breaks if clubs then default.
It is not with the regulation of bookmakers that this will happen, it is other controls that need to be done. Even the SAF, which is a new situation. For me it is a moment to evaluate how the sector will behave and because it is New, any opinion is mere speculation.
