Fatal Fans executive details partnership with Corinthians and explains planned actions for women's football

- By Mirella Ramos / Central do Timão Editorial

Announced as the new sponsor of Corinthians until the end of 2027, Fatal Fans began this week the first integration work with representatives of the club. In an interview with the program Entre Linhas, on Meu Timão, executive Samuel Ongaratto detailed the company's planning for the beginning of the partnership, commented on the actions planned for the sponsored sports and explained the decision not to display the commercial brand on the women's team uniform.

According to the director, a Corinthians delegation was in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, where the company's headquarters are located, to align work strategies between the parties.

Photo: Disclosure/Corinthians
"On Tuesday, a Corinthians delegation arrived here, and stayed with us during the day. We had the opportunity to work, talk, exchange ideas. The next day, there was an institutional presentation by Corinthians with a special focus on women's football here in our company. We had a visit from Corinthians in the form of Vini (Vinícius Manfredi), the marketing director, the communications director, the director of women's football, some more leaders within the club, precisely to discuss what day-to-day work will be like from now on, actions that we can do together, things that we should avoid, that we should look for, issues in this sense. The exchange was really cool and we understand that this integration, knowing that the Fatal Fans brand has its peculiarities, is a different brand from the others, as it also houses adult content, we understand that rapport is the best tool for us to work in the best way possible."

The contract between Corinthians and Fatal Fans foresees an investment of R$22 million until the end of 2027, covering men's football, women's football, futsal and basketball. According to Ongaratto, the company's communication will be based on institutional campaigns, without direct dissemination of the platform's commercial content.

"Our way of working will be very similar to what we have already done at Vitória and other clubs. Our company works with institutional or educational advertising. This means that Corinthians fans will not see a QR Code inviting them to access the website and buy content, nor an advertisement inviting them to become content producers. Our advertising will be institutional, always bringing some message, such as respect, safety, dignity, something along those lines, with the visual brand elements of company."

The executive also cited examples of activations carried out in other clubs sponsored by the company.

"The ways of activating will also be similar. In Vitória, for example, we hung a car on a crane, in a game of the Brasileirão Série B final, and raffled off a car for the fans. Another activation we did, the Fatal Hunt, where we have a van that will circulate around tourist attractions in the city, distributing t-shirts to the fans."

Women's football will have social campaigns

During the interview, Ongaratto explained that Corinthians requested that the Fatal Fans trademark not be displayed on women's football uniforms. Instead, the space will be used for awareness campaigns and social projects developed in partnership with the club.

"It was a demand from the club. We were very receptive to all the demands that he understood could create some risk for the Corinthians brand. So, we met all the demands and were very helpful about it. And this (women's shorts) was a demand in the negotiation, that the space be allocated to social projects, mainly 'Respeita as Minas', which has values very similar to ours, of respect, safety and dignity. And it has a lot to do with the issue of the fight against prejudice."

According to the executive, the company also adopts protocols to prevent minors from being impacted by promotional actions.

"These activations are built by several hands. Our marketing sector works together with the club's marketing, partners, press office, agency, to be able to define the tone of the activation, what is appropriate or not. We always try to leave out underage children and teenagers. We are not going to distribute a t-shirt with the brand to a child. In the same way with bet activations, there is a restriction, you cannot make a bet or beer activation for a person under 18 years of age. Let's work in the same way. Fatal Fans is not a product designed for minors. We have provisions that seek to ensure that minors under 18 are unable to purchase content. Will this person be able to access Fatal Fans? Go. But you won't see anything big, because the moment she buys age-restricted content, there is a check on who is buying that content. And then there is the blocking if that person is under 18."

Resources will be allocated to the modalities

When commenting on the negotiation with Corinthians, Samuel Ongaratto stated that one of the main concerns presented by the club during the conversations was to guarantee the continuity of sports such as futsal and men's basketball, in addition to offering better conditions for women's football.

"It (women's basketball) was not mentioned to us. The club was very concerned about maintaining the sports that we are supporting (men's futsal and basketball). What we heard is that this would be the last year of basketball, for example, and futsal was in danger. And that, if there wasn't this capital injection, this would happen. So, the focus of the conversation all along was the imminent closure of these two sports. And regarding women's football, the main point was the difficulty of maintaining the squad and improving the infrastructure they have."

When asked about the repercussions of the partnership between part of the Corinthian fans, the executive stated that he considered the existence of divergent opinions to be natural and said that the matter was also debated during the visit of the black and white board of directors to the company.

"We saw rejection as absolutely normal. And I'm not saying normal for a brand that works in a sensitive market, but in general. The bounce rate, for any brand, is around 15% to 20%. A brand of soft drink will have a 12%, 13% rejection rate because they will say that the soft drink is bad for your health. Bets, same thing. Burgers have cholesterol. So, if you take any brand, it will have a bounce rate."

He then commented on the company's analysis of the impact on social media.

"This was the topic of our conversation here with Corinthians, this week. You have a Fatal Fans post with 50, 60 thousand views. Of these 60 thousand views, it had 3 thousand likes. Of the 3 thousand likes, 70% of the likes are negative. So you download it there to about 2 thousand likes. Wow, so does that mean that 50 thousand people saw it and consented? Because let's take that phrase: whoever remains silent consents. He saw it and didn't speak up. And then there are the supportive comments, the criticizing comments and the fifth grade comments, which we also put on the positive side. To be quite honest, we expected even greater rejection. And that was the perception of the group that was here, it's not even mine."

At the end of the interview, Ongaratto argued that content production platforms can expand their presence in sport in the coming years, citing the financial growth of the sector.

"It's not our role to change people's minds, we never argue in that sense. What we do, yes, is provide information about this market. 'Wow, do you have any idea how many people work on this? How much does the Fatal Fans market move?' One day of revenue from OnlyFans, which is our competitor, pays for Pogba's annual contract. If OnlyFans wanted to pay off Corinthians' debt, it would take six months of its revenue. With less than a year of revenue, it has paid off this debt that some consider unpayable. So it is a market that is growing more and more. We've already had the wave of beer sponsorships, of vehicle manufacturers, the wave of bets is passing. Who won't say that the next wave won't come from content creation companies? We had OnlyFans offering a contract worth 40 million euros, around R$250 million, to Chelsea. So it's a market that is growing a lot today, people consume this product and, well, why not?"

If the renewal clause provided for in the contract is activated, Fatal Fans will be able to invest approximately R$31 million in Corinthians throughout the partnership.

The post Fatal Fans Executive details partnership with Corinthians and explains planned actions for women's football first appeared on Central do Timão.

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Source: Timao Central