Last Monday (31), Caxias do Sul Basquete defined the main sponsor for the return to the New Brazil Basketball (NBB). In the 2020/2021 season, the Caxiense team will enter the court along with the sports betting house brand KTO.
Based in Malta, Europe, the company has a manager in Brazil, who was the interlocutor between the team and the marketing team of the sports betting house. Born in Santa Cruz do Sul, Cássio Filter is an example of how the proximity of sport to communities creates a different passion among people with the sports.
“My teenage years was when Corinthians was at his best, which was a team from Santa Cruz do Sul, very strong. I grew up with this and I am a basketball fan. When Rodrigo (Barbosa, coach of Caxias Basquete) came to us and explained that Caxias was about to lose his place, because he would complete his third season abroad, and Rio Grande do Sul could definitely leave the national basketball scene, I immediately called my directors in Malta. My director, who is Swedish, also is passionate about basketball, he liked the idea “said Filter, explaining that the adjustments were aligned until the last moments.
“We negotiated during the weekend, sending a message to Rodrigo all the time, adjusting situations. The question was not so much about values, but how it would be formatted, how we could somehow help Caxias”.
Pending the release of gambling in Brazil, KTO continues to operate through its European headquarters. Even so, the relationship with Caxias do Sul Basquete will be made directly by Filter. This will make the connection between the team and its master sponsor even closer.
“We want to be together, close. Obviously the management is from Caxias, they understand the business. But we want to be close to be able to support in whatever way possible for the team to develop more and more and achieve the leading role it had in the last participation “said the manager at the company in the country, who, from the conclusion of the partnership, will work with the managers of Caxias Basquete on the best way to conduct the management.
“There is not a work model yet, how will this be done. KTO is not an agency that is coming here with an outside company. No. It is all with people from here. I am the manager for the Brazilian market, so it is with me directly that things will be dealt with when it comes to basketball “.
The union of the betting house’s brand with the Caxiense team, according to Filter, goes beyond a simple incentive. There is also interest in the local market, the possibility of expanding the company on the national scene and a way of giving back to the State, where the range of customers is still growing.
“Obviously, when we start a partnership, we think about results. But we started investing more of our brand in Brazil in 2019 and initially focused on the southern region of the country as our target. As Rio Grande do Sul welcomed us, we are among the main betting brands in the State, we consider that it is a reward also making it remain in the main scenario of basketball “.
The aim now is to make the partnership lasting. For this to happen, the new master sponsor of the now KTO / Caxias do Sul Basketball believes that the people who made this dream possible, deserve this return to the NBB.
“My marketing director commented at the meeting today that for us to be able to help Caxias in this difficult time, several people, perhaps thousands, have been involved since basketball appeared in the city so that the team could reach this stage and have a place in the league All we do not want and cannot let happen is that all the work built so far is lost “concluded Filter.
According to the manager of Caxias Basquete, the new partnership is unlike anything that has been done so far in the years when the team was in the elite.
“In other years we had the master sponsor through the law. This time, it is done through direct marketing investment, which changes a lot within the use of the project. From that moment on, we are working on all networks like KTO / Caxias do Sul Basketball and they will be inserted in the whole process of building everything we are going to do within this season. There is a much closer working relationship with them, due to the fact that they are making this direct marketing contribution “.
Despite the minimal guarantees, the now KTO / Caxias do Sul Basketball continues in search of new investments to start the process of assembling the team for the season, which is scheduled to start in November.
