In America we have our own somewhat embarrassing tradition of Black Friday and the exaggerated enthusiasm which accompanies it, sometimes resulting in what might be labeled “holiday sales combat.” In Brazil, where sales are just as big and the UFC fighters are some of the most skilled and famous in the world, one campaign took this premise and delivered it with a benevolent twist. Leticia Valença was the campaign strategist and copywriter for the wildly successful “Vale Tudo” Magazine Luiza campaign featuring big sales and a very well-known protagonist in the UFC world, Anderson Silva. He may not be a household name to everyone in the US but Silva is LeBron James to Brazil’s population. One of the most well received ad campaigns in Magazine Luiza’s history, Valença helped mold Vale Tudo in a way that brought the excitement of Black Friday while planting a comical perspective on the battle for big discounts.
Magazine Luiza is known everywhere in Brazil. It’s brick & mortar and online presence makes it a combination of Wal-Mart meets Amazon, ranking 3rd in “50 Biggest E-commerce Companies in Brazil” (Amazon ranked #13) and boasting nearly one-thousand physical stores with twenty-two thousand employees. The company is viewed as a leading force, a major power to be reckoned with. Magazine Luiza’s calling card is big promotions that are celebrated for their creativity and originality. When they hired advertising company Etco Ogilvy to bring unifying excitement to their most recent sale, the offering was centered on well-known UFC champion Anderson Silva. An instantly recognizable personality, Silva is not only Brazilian but has the longest title in UFC history at 2,457 days and is commonly considered the greatest professional mixed martial arts athlete of all-time. Titled “Vale Tudo” (the English translation is “everything is allowed”), this martial arts term featured the famed athlete communicating that everything is negotiable in the sale. As the senior copywriter at Etco Ogilvy, Leticia Valença developed a strategy ranging from print to radio and television. She relates, “This was a big sale campaign. Magazine Luiza is one of the largest Brazilian retail companies but every campaign is a new challenge. This campaign in particular had a big athlete, a famous anthem, and a budget that allowed us to go further. We secured the rights to use Survivor’s classic ‘Eye of the Tiger’ which was a perfect match to Anderson Silva and very beneficial to the radio presentation of the campaign. Different consumers pay attention to advertising in their own ways and designing the strategy to ‘cover all the bases’ is paramount.”
The results of the Vale Tudo campaign for Magazine Luiza was as dominating as Silva. For the first semester of the year, during the run of Etco Ogilvy’s campaign, Magazine Luiza experienced a 50% growth of market share. The TV spot was a smash with an online accumulation of 1.1 million YouTube views. Talent, training, and an intelligent plan create success for a fighter; the same can be truthfully applied to the design and approach of Etco Ogilvy and Leticia Valença’s implementation for Vale Tudo.