Santos Futebol Clube - Brand

Brand

See also: Santos TV, Rádio Santos, and Revista Santástico

The core strength of Santos's global brand is often attributed to Lula's success in leading Os Santasticos, which drew worldwide acclaim. The iconic team included Gilmar, Mauro, Mengálvio, Coutinho, Pepe and Pelé. This attention often generates greater interest in off-the-field, with the popularity of the club and brand spanning five continents across the globe. Many domestic and international clubs were founded in homemage to Santos. In Macapá, Santos Futebol Clube do Macapá was founded in 1973. In João Pessoa, Santos Futebol Clube do João Pessoa was founded in 1949. In Viana, Angola, Santos Futebol Clube de Angola was founded in 2002. In Porto Alegre, Santos Futebol Clube de Alegrete also took after its Paulista model. Santos F.C. from Providence, Guyana is another example of the popularity of the infamous brand of the club. Kingston's Santos Football Club, four times national champions of Jamaica, pays tribute not only to the club, by using its name and crest, but also to the Brazilian national team by replacing the white color on the badge with yellow. The "Santos FC Academy" in Oak Park, California is a youth soccer academy in the United States that uses the club's name in tribute. In Iwata, Japan, "Santos FC Soccer Academy Japan" has grown in popularity since ts creation in 1993, having categories from the ages of six to nineteen while the club expanded its brand to Cairo, Egypt in 2008. "Santos FC’s Soccer Academy" in Orlando, Florida is another one of the club's international branches. In Hong Kong, Nene Leung created the group Nene & The Santos Boys, a group of Chinese and Hong Kongers who dedicate themselves to watch Santos' matches.

Santos is one of Brazil's most economically powerful and richest football clubs; it had an annual turnover of US$45.1m (€31.5m) in 2011 and became one of the most valuable clubs, worth over $86.7m (€60.6m). That same year, Santos' squad became the most valued in South America, being worth over €82m, surpassing every club in the Dutch Eredivisie and the English Football League Championship, most of the clubs in Portugal's Primeira Liga, Ukraine's Premyer-Liha, Turkey's Süper Lig, Russia's Premier League and France's Ligue 1, as well as over half the clubs in Germany's Fußball-Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A, Spain's La Liga and England's Premier League. Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer, a secondary sponsor of the official Copa Libertadores video game, featured Santos in the video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2012. This is the first time that the club is being featured on a video game. The flamboyant, attacking style of play adopted by this team (in contrast to the physical-minded approach favoured by European, Uruguayan and Argentinian teams of the era) was a constant, world-wide exhibition that saw Santos travel in over 50 countries at every continent (except Antarctica). The club's focus on commercial and sporting success brought significant profits in an industry often characterised by chronic losses. The strength of the Santos' brand was bolstered by its FIFA World Cup winners, especially Pelé. Pelé is hailed as a national hero. He is known for his accomplishments and contributions to the game of football. He is also acknowledged for his vocal support of policies to improve the social conditions of the poor (when he scored his 1,000th goal with Santos he dedicated it to the poor children of Brazil). During his career, he became known as "The King of Football" (O Rei do Futebol), "The King Pelé" (O Rei Pelé) or simply "The King" (O Rei).