What does Messi mean for Multicultural Marketing and Why Adidas and Apple are betting on growth in the US ?

By Xavier Mantilla

Leo Messi has been linked to the InterMiami fútbol team. What does that mean for the Miami market and the greater Multicultural / Hispanic Market? And more importantly how will this shape the US sports marketing and general market?

It’s simple – GROWTH!! For multicultural marketing this will be a boom as Leo an Argentine that has won all – EUFA Champion’s League, Ligue1 France, Copa del Rey Spain, La Liga Spain and this last year, the World Cup. Maybe one of the best players of all time, and definitely the best of this current generation. This translates to a lifetime Adidas sponsorship, and his coming to Miami means more visibility for the brand. Also Apple is cutting him into the profits of growth as more people use AppleTv and other Apple products in the ecosystem. So when two giants start to turn to the US, we know the multicultural market will also benefit.

The blending of the markets in one platform (or person in this case) is the Total Market where the one can be a fit for multiple audiences. Those purists hate the Total Market approach because it takes away from their “you can only market in a very nuanced way” speech. Which is not wrong, because content matters, and the context of the content matters. However when the platforms is a person like Messi, context will be key.

As a Hispanic, he will be very visible to Latino audiences, however as his appeal is universal, soon we may see a car ad with him, more than just the sports related (soccer/fútbol) ads. His deal with Miami is like Beckham’s that allows him a stake in US Soccer when he retires, so as Beckham proved (a 25MM deal to own a team that today is valued at 600MM even if the results are poor) makes this a very good deal for Leo.

He will want his agents to capitalize on this universal appeal, he already has done quite a bit with Pepsi and so we may see him on general market (and because of his appeal) probably more than multicultural ads.

For us in the advertising space we can only welcome one of the superstars of the sport we love to come to Miami and so we look to see how this will shift ad dollars to Miami based creative, the Miami international vibe and more importantly, the presence of one of the greats that may walk down Lincoln Road with his family soon.

This cultural relevance, this local flavor will pepper ads in the US, will allow him to be more of a household name, as the Barça shirts although popular, for someone in Indiana, may be a stretch, but now a InterMiami player, part of the US Soccer, this will make the upcoming World Cup to be held in US, Mexico and Canada, more of an attraction.

Plus – will Argentina win back to back? We know only Brazil and Italy have done it so far, and so this will be interesting to watch, again, with him in the US this will be more exciting. As long as we keep the Reyna family out of US Soccer (the scorched earth approach they took to try to oust the head coach after the Cup shows not only self interest but lack of moral compass) we will see Leo become the face of the upcoming dreams of so many kids in the US, as Pele was for me as a kid growing up in Brazil.

It’s all good in sunny South Florida!! – Dale Leo!!!!