Davis Tenorio, sports marketing specialist, is leading the ‘branding’ project for the NAR (high performance center) in Brazil, where 80% of the Brazilian athletes who will go to the Olympic Games in Rio are training
Davis Tenorio is a clear example of how specialisation can open the door to interesting future work. They had little to teach this 49-year-old Brazilian about the benefits of marketing, but he had a great deal to learn about sports marketing. An offer to manage the representation in Brazil of Works, one of the most recognized marketing brands at European level and headquartered in the UK , led him to take the decision to do the Master in Sports Marketing and Sponsorship that he has just graduated from.
For the last four and a half years, images of sport are the reason for his presentations and the search for sponsors an activity that occupies most of his time. In July 2012, Works Brazil opened in the heart of the business district of Sao Paulo, with Davis as a partner and director. The brand identity of the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014, the image of the new Palmeiras stadium, dubbed the Allianz Parque, and the sponsorship and strategic plan for the entire NAR center in Brazil are the three major projects that he has worked on so far.
When and how did you develop an interest in sports marketing?
The truth is that, at 49, I didn’t think I could do a Master in Sports Marketing. But I started working in the world of sport four and a half years ago as a partner in a sports marketing and branding firm in London. It’s an agency specialized in sports branding, which virtually doesn’t exist in Brazil. I had training in marketing, but not in sports. Through an internet search I found the Johan Cruyff Institute and I chose to do the Postgraduate in Sports Marketing first and then the Master in Sports Marketing and Sponsorship.
When did you realize you needed specific training?
In Brazil, sports marketing is really just beginning; there are few schools that offer a course, only four or five, but there are not many case studies. What caught my attention at the Johan Cruyff Institute is the number of case studies there in the world of sport.
What is the most interesting thing you learn in the program?
Practically everything: the activation of sports marketing, brand experience, facilities management, the part about sponsorship, because in Brazil there is no sponsorship policy … For me, everything was new in terms of knowledge. The Johan Cruyff Institute provides a wealth of information of which I knew almost nothing.
One of your goals was to seek alliances and gain experience ahead of the Río 2016 Olympic Games. Have you achieved that?
Yes, because I’ve already talked with some teachers who have companies and I’m working on some projects in Brazil with a view to the Rio Games. We were the ones who led the branding project of the World Cup in Brazil, we developed the entire visual identity with my partner and his company in London. It was a contract directly with FIFA, as we also do the Champions League. My partner in London was looking for a person in Brazil to manage the representation. I was the one chosen and I have been working with him for nearly two and a half years now. One of the jobs I did when I was studying was the Palmeiras stadium in Sao Paulo.
What is the most important project you have undertaken so far?
At the moment I am managing the NAR project in Brazil, the high performance center. It is a center for top athletes where they pay nothing. I’m in charge of the strategic plan of the entire facility and the sponsorship plan; I’m responsible for the recruitment and the sponsorship management. It is a training center for athletes and coaches and right now almost 80% of the Brazilian athletes preparing for the Olympic Games in Rio are doing some kind of preparation in the center.
So is this your plan for the future?
Yes, this is it, but I am also going to teach sports marketing in Brazil; I have created two courses: one on branding and the other on marketing and sports sponsorship, because now I am also qualified to teach in Brazil. This is my goal too.
