INTERVIEW: Bernardo Besouchet, PR Manager shares his work behind the scenes at Samba Digital

With Samba’s recent success and major achievements, it was a fantastic chance to learn more about the people behind the logo and their diverse clientele. This is the second article in a series of articles in which we interview a member of the Samba Digital team and highlight their distinct viewpoints. This series of articles will address some of the most often asked topics about working with major customers and their most compelling case studies.

In the next installment of this series, we’ll meet Bernardo Besouchet, Samba Digital’s PR Manager.

Click here to read the first installment of this series, which features Pedro Caffa, our Social Media Manager & Coordinator.

What is your role at Samba? 

I am the PR Manager, at Samba Digital and as PR Manager, my main challenge is to spread the word about our clients, our content, and the activations we created based on their interests. My major duty, while respecting our client’s strategy and objectives, is to link them and their activations with the consumer, supporter, and client they are looking for. 

Not only that, but as part of my work, I also have the obligation of concentrating on innovation. Creativity attracts people’s attention like a magnet. In the public relations department, we need to come up with new ways to tell stories. Good, unique, and innovative ideas are constantly featured in the media, attracting the attention of the general public, journalists, and social media profiles and content providers. That’s how I view it: dedicated to achieving the goal.

Another key aspect of my job is having a thorough grasp of the types of material that will be used in each medium. Some content is hybrid, meaning it may be used for both TV and social media. Others require special editions to be released in one medium in order to draw attention to another.

This cross-content is one of the most difficult aspects of the ultimate PR universe to plan and comprehend. It is critical for every single journalist, television station, social media content producer, or digital influencer to build a comprehensive strategy that is entirely focused on outcomes.

What is your vision?

In terms of my perspective, I believe that in a globalized world, tailoring a message to the right audience is the finest strategy we can provide our clients. Perhaps this term is too broad, but I genuinely feel that employing up-to-date data and innovative ideas, as well as integrating our customers’ worldwide and comprehensive strategies – and, of course, we can’t forget to use local KPIs! – is the most effective method to create results.

What are your best case studies?

I prefer to think of myself as someone who works behind the scenes, focusing on clients as proof of the job we do. With that in mind, I have a long list of past clients to demonstrate what the PR team is capable of. To begin, as part of a content collaboration with MKT Esportivo, we launched the Weekly Interactions Ranking to Brazil. We follow the 40 most important Brazilian clubs every week to see what sort of material they’re creating and sharing.

With these weekly assessments, we can get a better understanding of the overall picture of Brazilian teams’ digital performances and the strategies they’re pursuing to engage with their fans. With this continual eye, we can provide the finest chances for our clients to form collaborations and produce content that will be beneficial in connecting Brazilians to our clients.

Using this knowledge, we developed the Monthly LATAM Interactions Ranking to gain a better understanding of what clubs in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay are up to. We have a precise dimension of what the clubs on the continent are producing in terms of material in their official social media accounts thanks to our ongoing research.

Here, we have agreements with MKT Registrado (ARG), Forbes (MEX), and MKT Esportivo (BRA) to magnify and exchange market knowledge, assisting the industry in measuring the true scale of what LATAM’s football teams represent.

On the subject of success stories, Samba Digital was also tasked with creating local activations in Brazil for international audiences. The two most recent examples where we created and enhanced their brands were Liverpool FC and Ligue 1. Some of our goals included producing, employing employees, establishing local relationships, and finding ways to magnify the message to the end target.

However, in the case of LFC, there is one important aspect to mention: brand protection. From a local perspective, we have “protected” Liverpool FC from a problem with the creation of a clothing brand. The Samba PR team informed the client that announcing the launch of the LFC x Roberto Firmino collection wasn’t the best time as the Covid restrictions for Brazilians from the UK government would be mentioned for Brazilian media outlets.

This led to Firmino being unable to join the Brazilian National Team due to these restrictions (and in that week Brazilian National Team was the Brazilian team had its list of players announced for some commitments for World Cup South America Qualify). Thankfully, Liverpool listened to our advice and postponed the debut for over a month. The message was clear and the final outcomes were brilliant, preserving the crisis or other dangers at this new time picked by the team.

This isn’t all we have in our portfolio; for nearly a year and a half, the Samba Digital PR team has been hard at work attempting to broaden the Ligue 1 universe for Brazilians. We’re creating various types of material and establishing local ties with the public to demonstrate the high level of service that the French League provides to its fans. Samba is expanding the amount of information with B2B and B2C points of view, with significant Brazilian players in certain French clubs.

We have delivered outstanding outcomes for our clients in terms of pure PR amplification, such as:

• Click here to see PSG’s 50th anniversary, when we collaborated with TV Globo to create original material that was shown on Globo and SporTV.

• Samba’s PR department assisted Ajax in airing unique content promoting Anthony’s arrival on TV Globo during the break from Sao Paulo’s match.

• For Shakhtar Dotnesk of Ukraine, with its OTT for Brazilians, with 7 minutes on SporTV (the audience’s favorite sports channel).

• In collaboration with MKT Esportivo, the #1 Sports Marketing media outlet in terms of B2C connection, the Brazilian Everton FC blog with Marketing challenges aims to demonstrate the attitude of a UK club.

How do you see the evolution of the market?

The sports market is much too large to discuss its evolution, so I’ll stick to what I know best: brand extension and public engagement. In this sense, global brands that are conversing with English, Chinese, and Brazilians at the same time must become more surgical in their storytelling.

The cultural variations and interests of each nation necessitate the creation of geolocalized material, which is in high demand. Similarly, the task of amplifying these signals works, always with the professional culture of each nation as a guide.

In Mexico, Facebook was the primary social interaction network until recently – a fact that has changed in the last three months – but when we concentrate the study on football clubs, Instagram reaches an astonishing 85% of all interactions.

As vital as it is to understand behavior country by country, it is equally critical to map out where the message may be amplified, in what fashion, organic or paid, and to use this information to develop effective brand expansion plans, given that football is a global sport.

Understanding of clubs, federations, and events for “overseas” expansion is a factor that causes the market to constantly expand and that, increasingly, requires not only intelligence on the application of methodologies, but also local insights for personalization of its contents to captivate the public and, increasingly, create opportunities whether for interactions, commercials, or any other type of interaction that a customer may have in a given country.

How do you bring added value to your clients?

In terms of value, it is more than just achieving outcomes that add to our client’s brands. The Samba Digital PR Department is dedicated to developing unique possibilities and content innovation. We are certain that by adhering to our final connection briefings, we will be able to accomplish more and better. Personally, I consider innovation, creativity, and data analyses, as well as the element of looking for the end customer method to consume information, to be the primary pillars of the approach that I employ when developing PR solutions for our clients.