Alabanquima partnership to fortify GFF’s alignment with moving trends in Marketing

Jan 31, 2021 Sports

By Franklin Wilson

Wayne Forde – GFF President

The Golden Jaguars going through the paces in a training session in Minnesota, USA during their debut at the Concacaf Gold Cup in June, 2019.

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) in its quest to ensure that Senior Men’s National Team (SMNT) is fully marketed far and wide has engaged the services of the experienced Brazilian Business and Marketing Consultancy, Alabanquima.
The initial one year partnership will see Alabanquima, which is headed by the experienced duo of Flavio Waltz and Marcelo De Paulos, developing and expanding commercial opportunities for the ‘Golden Jaguars’ brand.
Waltz and De Paulos’ familiarity with the global marketing landscape comes with hands on experience of more than 25 years. Kaieteur Sport is pleased to share with you an interview conducted with the principals of Alabanquima about their plans for the progression of the ‘Golden Jaguars’ brand.
Kaieteur Sport – What was the glue factor that made your company gravitate towards partnering with the GFF to market the ‘Golden Jaguars’?
Alabanquima – We believe it was the mutual interest and commitment in making the partnership work. From our end, the driver was the belief in the bright future of Guyana’s football. It seemed the right bet at the right time.

Flavio Waltz

We believe that our team brings together some very important skills and strengths like: Sport Marketing, Business Development, Branding, Knowledge in the fields of Oil & Gas and Manufacturing, Broadcast, Football – a combination very hard to find in the market.
Kaieteur Sport – As an experienced company in the field of marketing, how challenging do you see the partnership with the GFF and the fledgling ‘Golden Jaguars’? Is this the first time you are working with a CFU team?
Alabanquima – This is our first experience in Caribbean football – the reason why we are trying to learn as much as possible to deliver the quality that the GFF expects. We have been very impressed with the level of professionalism among the GFF staff. With football’s enormous potential for growth in the country, this seems the perfect scenario for a very bright future.
And we also have high hopes for the very special moment of Guyana as a country. The new Oil Discoveries, the huge growth opportunity. The country has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in front of itself, right now.

Kaieteur Sport – With covid-19 presenting untold challenges for sports the world over, how would you be able to secure partners who forms part of your agreement with the GFF to support the SMNT quest to be the best commencing with the 2021/2022 season?
Alabanquima – Covid definitely poses unforeseen challenges. But a lot of opportunities, too. We believe that there is an exquisite story to be told. Content and social media will definitely play a big role in our plan.
People all over the world are more open to technologies that allow for connection even when they are apart. During the initial phase of our project, we have already connected with people in Brazil, England, United States, United Arab Emirates and, of course, Guyana.
Kaieteur Sport – Can you be a bit more specific in terms of what you as a company, would be brining to the table?
Alabanquima – Our team is comprised of individuals with complementary experience and skills. Marcelo is the Sports Marketing specialist and Flavio is the Oil & Gas and Manufacturing specialist.
We usually say that you have to create value first, capture value later. Our commitment is to present a guiding plan so that the GFF can create as much value as possible to fans, players and administrators of football. That will help build a better product, not only on the pitch but especially in the hearts of every Guyanese. What we call “emotional investment” is what attracts sponsors.
Kaieteur Sport – How broad is this partnership with the GFF? Does it also include securing opportunities for local players to market their skills in Brazil and elsewhere? Additionally, would you be seeking to organise friendly matches for the ‘Golden Jaguars’?
Alabanquima – One of Alabanquima’s pillars is “long-term relationship” with our clients. We have a long-term vision for our partnership with the GFF in its quest to build the most comprehensive football development possible in every aspect in Guyana. But timing was of the essence now: the Golden Jaguars kick off in the World Cup Qualifiers in a couple of months! We narrowed the initial scope to focus on the two main competitions (WCQ and the Gold Cup). Being successful in this first mission will certainly build our relationship with the GFF. And the GFF will have more resources to invest in the long-term vision we had initially discussed.
That said, we will never overlook any opportunities to help improve the product we are selling, which in the end is the excitement of the Guyanese people with the Golden Jaguars. The topics you mentioned – and many others – are not in our initial scope, but we will scrounge any resource available to achieve the success President Wayne Forde has in his vision.
Kaieteur Sport – What you’ll be looking to get from the GFF in terms of commitment to ensure that the partnership is successful?
Alabanquima – We know for a fact that the GFF is fully invested in our project. They had other options and chose to work with us, which is both an honor and extremely humbling. It is our duty to point out whenever we see room for improvement in the way they conduct business. But we see no lack of willingness or enthusiasm to produce the best outcome possible.
Kaieteur Sport – If I’m correct, the initial period for this contract is one year, do you see this being enough to make an indelible impact with the team?
Alabanquima – The work Coach Maximo and Wilson Toledo are doing is what really makes a difference. Our job is to generate resources so that the GFF can provide them with better and better work conditions. One year is definitely a short time, but we will strive to produce as much impact as possible. In fact, we will have to start showing results long before one year – and this is the main goal at this point.
Kaieteur Sport – Marketing is huge and expansive, fans are vital to the cause, how do you plan to get fans local and overseas hyped and involved with the brand?
Alabanquima – Every brand in every field dreams of having what sports in general and football in particular have in abundance: excitement and engagement among their target audience. All we need is to tell the story of something extraordinary that is already happening. Conveying the message to a larger audience will rely on a number of different initiatives. And most of them are not particularly expensive, but require professionalism, commitment, and passion – of which there is no shortage in Guyana.
Kaieteur Sport – Would individual players be chosen at anytime to be Ambassadors?
Alabanquima – It always helps when you have national heroes that people can connect to. But it is way too soon for us to make that prediction. If there is a group of athletes who are representative of the story we hope to tell, they will play a role in that.
Kaieteur Sport – Would the partnership be specific only to the Senior Team?
Alabanquima – This is the scope of the initial agreement. But we understand that there are other important aspects and attributes that sponsors love and that may be beyond the SMNT. And our vision, aligned with that of President Forde, is way more ambitious. We will do our best to deliver on the initial project so that we can all engage in this larger vision.