Samba Digital Meets: Federico Parrondo

As Samba Digital continues to grow and improve its position in the world of sports marketing and social media, we’re continuing to expand our team. One of the newest faces here at Samba is Federico Parrondo, our new Account Manager in the Americas. “Fede” as he likes to be known, comes from Argentina, and has an impressive background, having worked with some of the biggest names in football in his previous roles. Read on to hear his story and to learn what he brings to the team:

SD: First of all, welcome to the team — can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to work in sports marketing?

FP: I’m from Buenos Aires, in Argentina — football here is huge. When we won the World Cup, there were millions of people in the streets, and that’s a good example of the passion that we have for sports here in Argentina. I had wanted to work in sports marketing for a long time, I knew I wanted to study it in university, in 2014, and I studied marketing and advertising. When I was about to graduate, I knew I wanted to be involved in sports, I just didn’t think it would come so early in my career.

I had a couple interviews and was finishing my thesis — it was about Boca Juniors using European approaches to marketing, things like when they launched a pink jersey which was a big deal. It helped me to understand a mix of tradition and establishing something new. I ended up at an agency called UTAG as a result.

Boca Juniors ’13-14 away by Nike

Can you think of any other teams that have had a pink shirt? pic.twitter.com/Hzm1vi2rSL

— Classic Football Shirts (@classicshirts) March 4, 2020

SD: Can you tell us more about how your thesis helped you understand your tasks?

FP: I think someone who thinks about strategy is what describes me the best. I wanted to understand the strategic aspects of things, how to understand audiences. Not social media, but understanding audiences. So, yeah, for example when Boca released that kit, lots of fans bought them — women too because of the color, but traditional fans didn’t like it, and I wanted to have more of an understanding of things like this. It was useful later on in my career, to have this understanding of audiences early on.

So beyond this, I began interviews, and I came to UTAG, and this understanding of football was important because they wanted someone to work with Concacaf. To me, that was a dream — Concacaf was a huge name, and I started doing paid media and ad analysis before becoming the account manager. We worked on the Gold Cup, and Nations League which was new — that’s how I met Matteo (Trevisani, Samba’s Head of Americas). I gained a reputation for having a mind for strategy and data analysis.

The relationship between these two, and how to apply them in a cyclical way, is really important — you have to keep building on what you know. From there, I moved on to a more holistic role, which helped me make the step to Samba, as an account manager, working to bring together social media teams, designer, and paid media, as well as being involved in commercial projects. I worked with SUM as well promoting Leagues Cup among other things including the Mexican national team playing in the United States. We were responsible for e-mail marketing, billboards, television ads, anything you can think of, from design to implementation. With Leagues Cup in particular, it’s really exciting to see that become what it is now in 2023.

New rivalries forged.
Old enemies reunited.
Expect the unexpected.

👀 #LeaguesCup2023 🔜 pic.twitter.com/379MoAmptK

— Leagues Cup (@LeaguesCup) June 17, 2023

SD: Can you tell us more about your role here at Samba?

FP: As an Account Manager, I am responsible for increasing the visibility and awareness of Samba’s clients here in the Americas. I’m also in charge of managing the relationship with the clients, as well as generating leads and looking for new opportunities. Matteo brought me in for my strategic approach — I’m excited for this as I have been aware of the agency for a while. We have great creatives, and also a good understanding of clients’ needs in each market and for each audience. I think I can help with having a holistic approach in this way. I’ve worked in a lot of areas of the industry and I’ve multi-tasked a lot. This is something that can be very useful for the company, having a broad range of experiences.

SD: Are there any client or projects you are particularly interested in working on?

FP: We’re developing a lot of new future projects in the background, but I’m very excited at the moment about working with Inter Miami around this special time and with Kansas City Chiefs. It’s my first time working with an NFL team, so being able to create more opportunities in Mexico is important. We’ll be working as well with upselling existing clients to help better establish their goals and help fulfill their needs. We have a lot of opportunities to help clients expand their reach, to develop partnerships, and more — there’s a lot of work we can do for them, globally and in the Americas as well.

SD: Anything else you’d like to add?

FP: Yes, I think about myself like this — after Messi and Maradona, my favorite player is Riquelme. I think about being the playmaker in a team, try to make everything go in a good way strategically, and to think globally, to be in the middle of everything. I’m not entirely analytical, or entirely creative — I have a lot of sides to what I can bring to the company, and to help clients understand the value of analysis. This will be key to what I bring to the agency.