The time when big companies invested in athletes and sports just for brand exposure is in the past. Now, sport is seen as a platform for generating business and engaging with the public. This was the central theme of the panel “From courts to capital: leveraging sports to drive brand growth”, held during Web Summit 2026.
On the panel, Renato Preter, partner and head of live marketing at XP Inc, spoke about the company’s investment strategy and how sport connects with the values that XP carries. “When we think of a high-performance athlete, what comes to mind is a person who wakes up early, works hard, falls, gets up and never gives up. Sport talks about the long term, resilience and doing more and better: and these are some of the values within the company”, summarizes Preter.
In addition to being an extension of the company’s values, the company saw sports as a way to get closer to its customers. The strategy came from internal research: more than 80% of the company’s approximately 5 million customers have some relationship with sport – as a participant or spectator. This way, internally, sport is not seen as just entertainment. “We also see sport as inspiration, but mainly as a platform for generating business”, he states.
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Today, XP is an official sponsor of the NBA, the NFL, the Rio Open and invests in a street racing circuit together with LIVE! and at a ski resort in Aspen, in addition to sponsorship of tennis player João Fonseca. “When we make these investments, we don’t look at this asset just as a branding asset. Obviously our brand is exposed, we have the branding behind it. But our quest is to create a real connection with the customer”, he states.
For Marcia Casz, general manager of the Rio Open, who also participated in the panel, sporting events also pursue this logic. “Large events are no longer just competitions and have become platforms for generating business”, he says.
According to the executive, the strategy for this involves expanding the value proposition of tournaments through gastronomic experiences, brand activations, interactive areas and spaces for relationships.
