Cristiano to Juventus: the marketing behind the signing of the century

[jrineakter]

Finally it's done. The transfer that threatened to be the soap opera of the summer has finally been closed in mid-July, to the relief of clubs, teammates, press and fans. You will have already heard: Cristiano Ronaldo is going to Juventus.

In this blog we like to analyse news events from a marketing perspective, so we will leave aside the footballing implications of the signing and analyse its economic dimension, the business lessons that CR7's move to Juve can teach us.

First of all, the Portuguese striker arrives in Italy with a huge amount of media attention behind him and, consequently, a great facility for securing sponsorships . Cristiano not only scores goals and fills stadiums, he also sells shirts and attracts firms eager to stamp their logo on the Portuguese star's chest.

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In fact, the transfer of the current Ballon d'Or winner to Juventus was heavily influenced by the FIAT group, whose shareholder Andrea Agnelli is also the president of Juve. Agnelli used FIAT to germany number data finance the signing of the Portuguese star, in a move that seeks success for his team but also an icon with which to advertise his car brand. Five Ballon d'Ors to sell cars; a superb business.

Cristiano's influence on a club like Juventus is such that, as El Plural reported a few days ago, the mere rumour of his arrival has boosted the value of the Vecchia Signora on the stock market: in the last week its shares have appreciated by 32.90%.

“This crystallizes in an increase in the stock market capitalization of almost 200 million euros. In fact, with this rise, the Juventus fans could already buy Cristiano Ronaldo since the price is around 100 million (plus 30 million annual salary),” El Plural reports , recounting what is undoubtedly a wonderful commercial move: the promise of CR7 ends up paying for the signing of CR7.

This profitable rumour mill was sparked by the expectation created by Cristiano himself, who after winning the last Champions League let slip to BeIn Sports that he would not continue at Madrid. “I will give an answer in the next few days,” he said, triggering the anxiety of the Real Madrid fans and the desire of the Juventus fans.



With this premeditated expectation , Ronaldo managed to put pressure on both clubs, the media and fans, to end up signing a contract that will earn him around 30 million a year – 10 million more than what he was earning – at the age of 33.

Another interesting technique that we can extract from the movement is that of constant refresh, as reported by Merca20 . The Portuguese striker is characterized by migrating from one market to another with enormous success. First he did it from Portugal to England, then from England to Spain and now he will do it from Spain to Italy. It is a brand that grows with each change, in each country in which he lands.

“He will now develop his potential in Italy, seeking to win the Cup for the squad and continue on to reach the Champions League, with the aim of becoming the best in his industry, as he could very well retire as a player who achieves everything no matter what team he leads,” they state on the aforementioned website.

He will retire, when the time comes, having avoided what was perhaps his greatest crisis, and not exactly a footballing one. In the midst of the media hype surrounding the 2018 World Cup in Russia, CR7 agreed to pay a fine of 18.8 million euros and a two-year prison sentence to escape his problems with the tax authorities. With this gesture, the striker contained a reputation crisis for his brand and today the problem has been overshadowed by his move to Juve.

Expectation, adaptability and reaction to the crisis are some of the lessons left by the CR7 brand in its first step towards conquering the Italian market, but this brand does not end at the intersection between clubs, obviously, but rather has a long history in industries that are not always football-related.

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An obvious example: entertainment. Earlier this year, Cristiano Ronaldo added his image to the superhero trend with an animated character in the series 'Striker Force 7', a project in collaboration with the production company Graphic India and the digital marketing agency VMS Communications. In parallel, the player has been the face of the popular video game FIFA for some years , which adds another layer of profitability to its sporting dimension.