After more than two years of drought, with no Brazilian football clubs signing major sponsorship deals with the private sector (the few large deals sealed were all with the public bank Caixa Econômica Federal), Palmeiras today broke the ice by announcing financial institution Crefisa as the club’s Master Sponsor 2015-2016.
The deal will render US$ 8.5 million annually for the club, allowing Crefisa to place their logo on the chest and back of the Palmeiras jersey. Harmonizing in colour and style, the logo looks good against the deep green. Tasteful.
Crefisa was until recently in well advanced negotiations with São Paulo FC, but Palmeiras interfered, making Crefisa shift their focus. “Yes, São Paulo presented an offer, but Palmeiras’ offer was much better, the project is much better. The amounts involved are higher, but the project is very good “, said Crefisa president Leila Pereira at today’s press conference.
Crefisa was founded in São Paulo in 1964 and is specialised in providing credit to public servants and retired professionals. The company has some 800 offices spread out in Brazil’s 26 states and the Federal District, having served more than 3 million clients throughout the years.
Closing the deal with Crefisa not only re-enforces Palmeiras’ position as THE mark in 2015, but also sets São Paulo FC back both morally and financially: for each month our foe goes without a master sponsor, he’s losing out on some US$ 750.000 in revenues.
That being said, personally, I would have preferred Palmeiras closing a deal with an internationally recognised brand. The Allianz Parque, the link to the USA through AEG (a partner in Arena operations), the increased international exposure through expected participation in the Libertadores Cup: all these factors and more make me think a multinational brand would have been better suited.
But hey, no more looking back or “ifs”: it’s all about embracing this partnership and making the best of it in the two years to come. Count on Palmeiras’ supporters to do their part: in only a few hours, Crefisa’s twitter account has gone from a couple of hundred to almost 4.000 followers. I’m sure Crefisa’s management are also saying…
Scoppia che la vittoria è nostra!
ANYTHING PALMEIRAS 
In theory I consider your argumentation regarding global brands somewhat in accordance with Palmeiras` greatness, but I have to say it was a relief and quite refreshing to see how this negotiation was handled and specially to set this very important milestone in our so fragile Brazilian market…
I forsee a big green wave coming this year…
Will be a “win-win” partnership: Crefisa is counting with the Palmeiras exposure to increase their brand nationally and internationally. Maybe they’ll be a internationally recognized brand during the contract! Why not?