And saves struggling company while he's at it!
BeachGrit promises to be anti-depressive. You must know that I try my very best to bring you daily doses of good cheer but often veer uncontrollably toward the dark. Like Andy Warhol killing Billabong’s bottom line. Or a young boy’s dream of making the World Surf League’s championship tour and then losing everything. Or the continent of Australia turning its back on its current best female surfer in the world Tyler Wright. And that was just last week.
But hope springs eternal and this morning I bring you a story of good cheer. Gabriel Medina, well coiffed Brazilian pro, is buoying a near-bankrupt Brazilian company. And when was the last time you read about an investment in a surfer actually paying off in any way, shape or form? Maybe not for a decade and let’s turn to Bloomberg for the facts.
Oi SA has been treading water in bankruptcy proceedings for 17 months, but the Brazilian phone carrier is finding some inspiration from the country’s top surfer.
Gabriel Medina, a front-runner in the World Surf League, will vie for his second title when the 2017 season wraps up this month in Hawaii. That’s good news for Rio de Janeiro-based Oi, one of Medina’s main sponsors, which was quick to celebrate his latest victory off the coast of Portugal at the end of October. “Oi invests a lot in surfing,” Medina said. “It’s awesome. I’m really pleased.”
Oi needs all the help it can get. The company has been bleeding customers, including more lucrative users on long-term contracts, for 12 straight quarters. As its networks sit neglected and Oi struggles under $19 billion in debt, surfing and skateboarding offer a cheaper sponsorship alternative than Brazil’s most popular sport: soccer.
The nature of surf contests, which last for days and only run in optimal wave and wind conditions, makes them more popular on mobile devices, making it an obvious fit with Oi’s wider business model. More Brazilians stream live surf competitions than any other nation, consistently surpassing the U.S. and Australia, said Bruno Cremona, Oi’s head of sponsorships and events.
“Oi may have identified the need to strengthen its image by looking for something new to show that it’s changing, leaving behind the outdated image of a company full of problems,” said Mauricio Turra Ponte, a professor of marketing and sustainability at the Escola Superior de Propaganda & Marketing in Sao Paulo.
Image aside, plenty of problems persist behind the scenes. Marco Schroeder, whose office was decorated with four autographed surfboards, quit as Oi’s chief executive officer on Nov. 24 after trying to reach a recovery deal with creditors while clashing with the board. Less than two months earlier, Oi’s chief financial officer also resigned.
The company lost 10 percent of its wireless users in the 12 months through September, and Schroeder had regularly warned that it needs to get out of bankruptcy protection and speed up investments in its network if Oi wants to stop the subscriber rout.
Surfing allows Oi to stand out more than if it had invested in more mainstream sports with bigger sponsors competing for the spotlight, said Ponte, the marketing professor. The athletes themselves also project a wholesome image — Medina regularly travels with his whole family to surf contests as far away as Fiji — which contrasts with the counterculture overtones the sport has in the U.S.
“Medina’s image is very favorable. He’s handsome, well-behaved, he kisses his mom,” Ponte said. “Everyone would like to invest in a person like this.”
If you are not not anti-depressed now then you simply have no heart. Also, I had absolutely no idea what Oi was until now.
$19B in debt? Medina better start racking up those titles soon.
So…does that mean Oi are broke, Rio is cancelled and Cloudbreak is back on?
Least that’s how I read it.
“Medina’s image is very favorable. He’s handsome, well-behaved, he kisses his mom, but is still a right little cunt sometimes”
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Can’t help thinking that this company would be better off sponsoring a connest people want to stream on their phones, (like, I dunno, Fiji), rather than the least watchable one ever.
I can count on one hand how many of the sections in italics I have read on this site.
italics = corporate speak, and who’d read that if you weren’t being paid to do so.
All them surfy-wear cumpknees, fer the ‘oi polloi, innit?
/Cockney Dave
Wait…is Charlie smiling in that photo? My work here is done. #micdrop
Oh, I get it. I always thought you were C.M’s coach, and was thus always smiling, but it makes more sense now.
Breaking News! The Titanic has sponsored an iceberg saying, “Icebergs are so cold and slow moving, we love the synergy between our unbreakable hull and their general icy demeanour. If icebergs had lips, we’re sure they would kiss their mother”.
Well he won’t be taking the fam to Fiji this year.
“Wanna be fuckin tennis tour”
Also, in Cockney it means “I’m now going to say something.”
In Australian it means, “Get off my fucking wave ya cunt”.
And in Australian it’s generally followed closely by ‘caarnt’
You’d be hard pressed to find a business article these days where “professional surfing” and “bankruptcy” aren’t used together.
Just like lamb and tuna fish
Good point, I think we were all thinking “lamb and tuna fish” but didn’t quite know how to say it.
why do Americans say tuna fish?
Is there another kind of non piscatorial tuna available in the culinary scene?
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have you never heard of “Chicken Of The Sea”?
The day I left living in “Backyards” happen to see a Fast Eddie shenanigan but thats for another time. I was flown to Ilwaco WA. to fish aboard the fishing vessel “Day Star,” The break out in Mokuleia gets its name after the boat. Spent next five plus years in the N. and S. Pacific chasing schools of white albacore tuna aka chicken of the sea. The premium grade is a canned portion of a fillet and chunk is the scraps canned. The rest of the fish is ground up into cat and dog food. The fish is delivered frozen whole to America Samoa. Three canneries VanCamp, Starkist, and Bumble Bee are on the north side of Pago Pago harbor.
I think that “tuna fish”, in America, pretty much only refers to tuna out of a can. Crushed up with a fork, mayo, celery, onion, for a tunafish sandwich…. or plain = tuna salad. Anything that still looks like a filet or a steak is called by the fish name: ahi/yellowfin, bluefin, bigeye, etc., although the redundant “tuna” is often added as a qualifier.
Same reason they call main meals entrees. They speak American.
“And saves struggling company while he’s at it!”
I clicked on this post half expecting it to be an announcement that Medina had bought BeachGrit, hiring Stepdad Charlie on as Censor…
It would be nice sometime to have enough money to employ all the people that said they wouldn’t do something for money to do that something. I’d like to employ all the people that say they could never work in an office to work in an office. Now you see why I have no money or employees.
“and fucks his stepdad”.
What is going to be missed most about Lower’s not being on the ‘CT is the annual clip of Gabby blatantly burning, running over, and/or landing on top of another human being there.