Pharmaceuticals VP says that one of the objectives of the support is to give women’s football ‘the prominence it deserves’
The Brazilian team is about to enter the field to compete in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which starts on the 20th, in Australia and New Zealand.
With an investment of BRL 40 million in the competition’s four-year cycle, Cimed is one of the brands that will be alongside the players, in search of the first national star, through activations with Lavitan.
Alongside athletes Bia Zaneratto, Debinha, former player Formiga and influencers Al Xavier and Luana Maluf, Karla Marques Felmanas, vice-president of the pharmaceutical company, says that among the main objectives of the brand’s presence is the desire to give football feminine the prominence it deserves.
The executive also explained what Cimed’s activities will be during the championship. Below are some excerpts from this interview.
What is Cimed’s relationship with sports?
It started first because of a personal taste of the family, because we always liked sports a lot and we understood that there is a nice relationship between the company and
the sport, such as the team. When we formed a volleyball team, we learned a lot about taking what happened on the court and bringing it to the company and vice versa. It was cool because we understood that, in the case of the volleyball team, it’s no use having a single star, that’s why it’s called a team. It’s no use for the libero to be able to catch the ball if he can’t pass it to the one who’s going to cut it. It won’t solve. This thing team coaches do to make sure you only win
It’s a game if you have a cool team to bring into the company’s mentality. On the other hand, it’s also nice to take it to the team that needs to have the professional, management issue. It’s no use wanting the athlete to be motivated if he’s not getting paid. It’s really cool that we managed to take our administrative knowledge to a team and bring the team’s spirit into the company.
And how did this relationship begin?
We had this volleyball team for a few years. He was from Florianpolis. My brother (Joo Adibe Marques, president of Cimed) lived there and met Renan. This team was ours, it was not sponsored. We formatted the team and it was really cool. At the time, the wave of Cimed employees was not yellow like it is today, but everyone was a volleyball fan. People from the factory traveled several kilometers to watch the games and we were champions, we even played in the World Cup, being the first Brazilian team to participate in the competition in Qatar. It was very intense. Furthermore, João has always been very passionate about motorsport, he even started racing, but then stopped. So, we also formed a team, which was also ours, without sponsorship. We hired professional drivers and managed the team. In this endeavor, we also participated in championships and won some. It was a success and it was really cool because our customers could experience what it was like to be in a racing pit. We ran several internal campaigns to get our customers to see what it was like.
When did Cimed start supporting football, specifically?
Last year, we had the opportunity to become sponsors, in principle, of women’s football at Palmeiras, with some active in the men’s football, and later we entered as sponsors of Cruzeiro, also in women’s football, but later we signed the sponsorship on the men’s shirt. The world of football is very intense. It’s very big and involves a lot of passion, so it’s really nice to be in this environment, especially in Palmeiras because the whole family is from Palmeiras.
How did you become CBF sponsors?
We went after them. A partner of ours sponsored the lowest quota and, when Chevrolet left, he let us know. There, they have a limit on sponsors and, at that time when there was a problem of corruption, multinationals could no longer sponsor due to compliance issues, so many people were terminating their contracts. In this, we had the opportunity to enter. This was a very important leap for Cimed. This is our second World Cup cycle and, with that, we place the company on another brand level by being together with other very large companies, such as Ita, Vivo and Guaran Antarctica. There is also a very cool situation about the CBF, which is, when you sponsor, you can do some exclusive activities such as taking a customer to visit Granja Comary, to experience the backstage of a game, for example, very unique and priceless. The big brands, perhaps because they have been sponsors for a longer time, end up not taking advantage of these opportunities, so we took them for ourselves. In the end, Cimed uses more than it should because it becomes available.
Was it always Cimed’s intention to sponsor the men’s and women’s teams?
In fact, a package. When you become a sponsor of the CBF, you become a sponsor of all the teams, so male, female, futsal. all.
In addition to sponsoring the Palmeiras and Cruzeiro women’s teams, Cimed is one of the sponsors of the Brazilian women’s team, which will compete in the World Cup this month. Why did you decide to support the girls?
We are going to go all out in women’s football from now on. I had no knowledge about this universe, I’m still learning, but it’s really cool to see how new it is. Until 1979, women were prohibited from playing soccer in Brazil, including imprisonment. It’s only been 44 years since women were able to play again, which in history is almost nothing. A very short time ago. So, the flag I want to raise now is that we are going to work very hard from now until the end of the Cup, that Brazil has a passion for football. It doesn’t matter whether female or male. Doesn’t matter. At the Women’s World Cup. World Cup and point. We’re going to cheer and that’s the energy we want to bring to the Brazilians and we want the Brazilians to bring that energy to the players as well.
Cimed is investing BRL 40 million in the World Cup cycle. How is this money divided?
This cycle value plus activations. Also, part of this investment goes to the girls we are sponsoring. All proposal. Last year’s World Cup in Qatar was huge, but it was all very expensive. When we started making quotes, we were scared by the values. Australia is a farther place and has a complication to get a visa. It’s complicated and there’s a lot of bureaucracy, they ask for income tax for the last three years, for example. endless paperwork to fill out. So there is this difficulty for people to go, it is also expensive, there are two long flights.
Read the full story in the July 3, 2023 issue
