Ambassador of the ‘Brazil brand’, Pelé earned less than he could

42 years ago, in 1980, the former striker of the Brazilian national team Pelé, who died on Thursday (29), was elected worldwide as the Athlete of the Century, in a vote promoted by the French newspaper L’Equipe. The player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, then 40 years old, had retired three years ago, after participating in four World Cups and being appointed as the highest scorer of the canary national team to date, with 77 goals in 92 games.

He was also appointed by FIFA (International Football Federation) as one of the “100 Best Living Footballers” in 2004, and received the “Golden Ball Award” in 2014, also from FIFA.

Fame brought him the most diverse advertising contracts – Olympikus sneakers, Vitasay vitamin complex, Fontoura biotonic, Rayovac batteries, Bombril steel wool, Atari videogame, Nokia cell phone, even Café Pelé, a name in his homage.

Today the net worth of the “King of Football” is valued at US$ 100 million (R$ 529 million), according to the American website Celebrity Net Worth, which brings estimates on the finances of celebrities. It is an amount infinitely smaller than that of Michael Jordan (US$ 2.2 billion), Lionel Messi (US$ 600 million), Cristiano Ronaldo (US$ 500 million) and half of Neymar (US$ 200 million), today the most valuable Brazilian in the world of football.

“There was a lack of brand management”, says Amir Somoggi, a partner at sports marketing consultancy Sports Value. For him, Pelé closed many contracts throughout his life, most of them after retirement, but this did not reverberate in a worthy income.

“If Jordan, a basketball star, a game far less popular than football, has a net worth of over US$ 2 billion, Pelé, the Athlete of the Century, the most played sport in the world, should have US$ 10 billion”, it says.

When Netflix released, in February 2021, the documentary “Pelé”, directed by Ben Nicholas and David Tryhorn, the search for the star’s name on social networks exploded, says Somoggi. “But there were no Pelé products to sell, and he could have created a Jordan Brand,” says Somoggi, referring to the brand created by Michael Jordan with Nike. “Pelé could have become a ‘cult’ brand of streetwear, in a great deal with brands like Adidas or Puma, for example.”

A flaw in the management of the Pelé brand was the fact that it did not consolidate itself in the face of the new millennium generation, he says. Young people from Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2010) are used to following the stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar –and their respective sponsors– on social networks. “It was necessary to establish the Pelé brand in the age of the internet, to rejuvenate it, and that did not happen”, he says. “The brand has not valued itself as much as it should have, for what it represents for the history of football.”

To give you an idea, Pelé has 10.6 million followers on Instagram. Neymar has 188 million, Messi reaches 383 million, while Cristiano Ronaldo boasts 507 million followers.

Craque made Brazilian put aside “mongrel complex”

Even without having accumulated billions throughout his career, in the opinion of psychologist Cecília Russo Troiano, general director of consultancy Troiano Branding, Pelé became a phenomenon in marketing because he knew how to transcend the world of football. “He went beyond fans, social class, gender, region of the country and united Brazil around what was best, what we are now proud to be, masters of football,” she says.

The movie “Pelé”, from Netflix, recalls the expression coined by writer Nelson Rodrigues after Brazil’s defeat by Uruguay in Maracanã, during the 1950 World Cup. -cans”, believing himself to be inferior to foreigners. “With Pelé, we started to review that”, says journalist Juca Kfouri in the documentary. Brazil and Pelé became synonymous.

“There are a lot of people who don’t know the rules of football, much less saw Pelé play. But even so, they recognize the name”, says Ivan Martinho, professor of sports marketing at ESPM (Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing). “He has become a global celebrity, a brand ambassador for Brazil.”

For Cecília Troiano, Pelé represents the idea of ​​a victorious Brazil, the best in the world in its ability.

“And it’s good to remember that he achieved this feeling of unity among Brazilians even taking a political stand”, she says. Pelé spoke out against the military dictatorship in Brazil and became Minister of Sports in the first government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB), although he never joined a political party.

The only figure in the world of sports who managed a similar feat, of uniting Brazil, was Ayrton Senna, says Cecília. Ivan Martin agrees. “But even so, Senna did the same on a slightly smaller scale, since car racing is not as popular as football”, says the ESPM professor.

In Cecília’s opinion, although Pelé did not surf on social networks, he built a safe image for advertisers. “Without the exhibitionism of most of today’s athletes”, she says.

And despite seeing his name involved in some controversies –such as when his son Edinho was arrested for drug trafficking, or when he refused to meet his daughter, Sandra Regina do Nascimento, who died in 2006–, Pelé created a consistent aura around his name, without scandals.

In this sense, says Ivan Martinho, perhaps it was a good thing that Pelé did not become a collector of clicks on digital media. “Social networking leaves no one alone.”