What sets Lionel Messi apart as the most marketable athlete globally? – Update

When Lionel Messi bundled the ball over the line in extra time of the 2022 Fifa World Cup final against France, it was as if he was bending the narrative according to his will.

Four years earlier, when Argentina had been dumped out of the tournament in the round of 16 by the same opponents, some commentators speculated that Messi’s last chance to emulate his compatriot Diego Maradona had gone. By the time Qatar rolled around he would be 35, which would be too old for the forward to have any meaningful impact on a tournament stacked with the world’s best players. It was, they said, to be the only scratch on an otherwise complete career.

Yet at Qatar 2022, Messi led Argentina to the title under the greatest of pressure, scoring seven goals – as well as an additional two penalties in shootouts – and assisting another three. Kylian Mbappe, the Frenchman considered the heir to Messi’s throne as the best player on the planet, did his best to change the story, but the ending to this particular script had already been printed.

To his most ardent supporters, though, Messi’s status as the greatest soccer player of all time was secure even before he got his hands on the World Cup. For them, this was simply the moment that ended the debate. That’s also true for the long list of brands that have queued up to secure Messi’s services as an ambassador over the years, who were already referring to him as ‘The GOAT’ in marketing material prior to last year.

Impossible is Nothing pic.twitter.com/3Wnzu5G5Ux

— adidas Football (@adidasfootball) December 18, 2022

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Indeed, the reasons why a company would want Messi to endorse its products are obvious. The four-time Uefa Champions League winner has taken home the Ballon d’Or a record seven times, has scored more goals for a single club than any other player in history, and holds several other mind-boggling records that are unlikely to ever be broken.

Plus, Messi boasts more than 600 million followers across his Instagram and Facebook accounts alone. And where he goes, that online community is rarely far behind. In the immediate aftermath of his departure from Paris Saint-Germain, it was widely reported that the French champions lost more than one million social media followers. Meanwhile his new team, Inter Miami, grew their following more in 12 hours than the previous five years after announcing that they would be welcoming Argentina’s captain.

Put simply, Messi is the main draw in the most watched, most visible, and most played sport on earth.

It is all that and more that contributed to Messi topping SportsPro’s list of the world’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes (50MM) this year for a second time, capping a 12 months that saw the now 36-year-old become all the more relevant even as he approaches the twilight of his career.

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A global star for global brands

Messi’s star rose at FC Barcelona, the LaLiga side he joined as a boy before winning everything there was to win at club level. Yet even when the team was inundated with global stars and conquering every opponent in their wake with irrepressible swagger, there was one player that Barca’s sponsors wanted a piece of.

“The common element was that everybody wanted Messi,” Juli Ferré Nadal, who served as Barcelona’s head of global partnerships between May 2013 and November 2017, tells SportsPro. “Even in a team where we had Neymar, we had Luis Suarez, we had Iniesta, Messi was overshadowing all of them. Everybody wanted Messi.”

While his old rival Cristiano Ronaldo has sometimes been the subject of criticism for shamelessly lending his image to almost anything and everything, those who have worked on campaigns with Messi and his team over the years say the player is not someone who will simply take the biggest cheque and disappear. Instead, he and the people around him like to be involved in the creative process and are understandably protective over what he is lending his IP and image to advertise.

That considered approach can be seen in his portfolio of endorsement deals, which predominantly comprises global brands. According to Forbes, Messi, whose agent is his father, Jorge, will receive US$65 million from off-field earnings in 2023, which combined with the US$65 million he gets from playing the game makes him the second highest-paid athlete in the world.

Adidas was the first company to sign Messi to a boot deal in 2006 and quickly integrated him into its then-recently launched Impossible is Nothing campaign, which remains one of the sportswear giant’s most memorable marketing initiatives. He has also participated in Mastercard’s ‘Priceless’ experiences programme and was even the subject of a four-minute animated Gatorade film, called ‘Heart of a Lio’, which charted his rise to the top.

What makes 644 even more special?

The fact Leo Messi scored against the best keepers in the world to break the record.

Which is why we’ve sent custom bottles to all 160 keepers for all 644 goals, to toast their part in history. #BeAKing #Messi #KingOfBeers #KingOfFootball pic.twitter.com/pCPtXj0I8E

— Budweiser Football (@budfootball) December 24, 2020

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But one of the more eye-catching campaigns that he has been involved in recently was ‘Messi X Budweiser 644’, which was launched in December 2020 by the AB InBev-owned brand to celebrate the Argentinian breaking Pele’s aforementioned record for the most goals scored for a single club. It saw all 160 goalkeepers who had watched Messi put the ball past them receive a bottle of Budweiser for each time he had netted against them wearing a Barcelona shirt. Iker Casillas, formerly of Real Madrid, was sent 17 bottles.

“The appeal of Lionel Messi from a global brand’s point of view is that there isn’t a market in the world where Messi is not relevant, where he doesn’t have a really receptive fanbase,” says Amar Singh, who was Budweiser’s head of football content and strategy when the company partnered with Messi.

“When you’re working on a global brand, you’re looking for players that you can activate in all different continents,” he continues. “When it comes to Messi, you don’t have to worry that your brand manager in China, India or the US is going to say he’s not as relevant as someone else – he’s the greatest footballer of all time and has a huge following everywhere.”

According to The Drum, the campaign generated more than 1,200 news articles across 84 countries, with three billion earned impressions. It also registered 26 million views on social media and one million engagements, delivering US$20 million worth of social media value for Budweiser, which also became the most talked about drink over Christmas in 2020.

Nadal recalls seeing a similar impact on the campaigns he worked on at Barcelona.

“It was a completely different league when Messi was involved,” he says. “You could see when Leo was there or not. The numbers of anything, the differential would be huge.”

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Preserving brand Messi

It’s easy to forget that Messi hasn’t always been the strong-jawed, well-groomed man that he is today. When he first broke onto the scene in the mid-2000s, he was a floppy-haired, slender introvert who appeared more reluctant than other soccer players to embrace the world of celebrity.

“One thing that is not a secret is that Leo is quite shy, especially when he was young,” says Nadal, who now runs a sports marketing consultancy. “Back in the day, when he was 20, but also even 25, he was more shy and reserved. He was not the kind of player who enjoyed being in a shoot, being an actor and stuff like that.

“There are some players who are more inclined to do these things, and Neymar would be a good example, for instance. The personalities are just very different.”

However, it would be fair to say that Messi has naturally grown to be more comfortable in front of the camera, which is perhaps reflected in some of the more entertainment-focused partnerships he has signed later in his career with the likes of Hard Rock International and Cirque du Soleil.

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One thing that has always been true of Messi, though, is that he represents a relatively risk-free investment for brands. Regarded as a family man, the ten-time LaLiga champion tends to stay away from controversy on and off the field and has always been primarily focused on the game.

At a time when more athletes are becoming marketable for aligning themselves with specific causes or crossing over into different areas of media and entertainment, Messi is somewhat of a relic from a previous era of sports marketing where sponsors craved certainty and control.

“He’s a throwback, in many ways,” says Singh, who is currently vice president of content and comms at the MKTG sports marketing agency. “He didn’t find fame becoming a cultural phenomenon or a personality outside of football. It’s always been about what he delivers on the pitch. He’s not known for being really outspoken. He’s not known for being a larger-than-life personality. He’s just relentlessly good at football.”

Indeed, this year’s 50MM – compiled following a months-long assessment of the world’s top athletes – highlights some key factors that make Messi a marketable phenomenon. While he unsurprisingly ranked highly (fourth overall) among all sportspeople for Total Addressable Market (TAM), which encompasses metrics such as overall reach, attention growth, audience engagement, and sponsor, sport and team awareness, the fact that he shows no risk to his brand or reputation within the Athlete Brand Strength pillar further illustrates his allure for marketers.

“Yet this doesn’t imply that he tries to steer clear of risk and controversy,” explains Tom Malkin of NorthStar Solutions Group, the exclusive data and analytics partner of 50MM. “Rather, Messi’s strong personal attributes and family values extend to every aspect of his life, which means that he doesn’t have to think about whether his actions will ever be controversial or reputationally harmful, for he is the epitome of the global role model.”

NorthStar’s analysis also saw Messi rank highest within the ECON scoring pillar, which not only incorporates an athlete’s market value and estimated worth, but also their public support for environmental causes and their contributions to social causes and community. The Rosario native performed well in these areas thanks to his role as a Unicef ambassador, the work of his charitable Leo Messi Foundation, and his recent partnership with the Planet environmental initiative.

All of these actions, coupled with his general mild-mannered demeanour, may help to minimise the scrutiny even when Messi enters into what might be deemed more reputationally risky partnerships, such as his deal with the Visit Saudi tourism board and his sponsorship with Socios, the blockchain-based company paying him a reported US$20 million to promote its fan tokens.

Messi’s decision to join David Beckham’s Inter Miami has arguably made him even more marketable as he nears the end of his career

For the most part, what Messi guarantees is that he will be in the headlines for the right reasons, which was no more apparent than during the summer transfer window.

With many high-profile players being lured to Saudi Arabia, the playmaker stole the show by announcing his move to join David Beckham’s Inter Miami in Major League Soccer (MLS). The transfer has already had a significant commercial impact on his new club, MLS, and its other teams, who have significantly raised ticket prices for games when Messi comes to town. His presence has also driven interest in the US league’s broadcast partner Apple, which has seen subscribers for its MLS Season Pass offering more than double since Messi’s arrival.

But what’s more is that it puts Messi, whose club career was in danger of petering out in Paris, back in the spotlight and at the centre of the sports marketing world for the years to come.

“When you look at MLS and you look at his impact, you can see he’s on another level,” says Nadal. “He went to Miami, which is perfect for his family, and he’s going to make an impact in the US, which is the number one sports business market.

“It’s extremely smart. While everybody goes to the Middle East, he goes to the US and turns everything upside down. Making an impact in the US, it’s another way for him to show that he’s completely different and in a way is above everything.”

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This feature forms part of Athlete Week. SportsPro’s latest themed week coincides with the launch of this year’s list of the world’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes, which was produced in partnership with NorthStar Solutions Group. Click here to access more exclusive content and sign up to the SportsPro Daily newsletter here to receive daily insights direct to your inbox.