Meet Adriano Avila | CEO and founder of FUTBOX

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adriano Avila and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adriano, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Futbox was emerging little by little. It started in 1982, when I was 11 years old, spontaneously and unconsciously.

I come from Belo Horizonte, the capital city of a state with many mountains and waterfalls. I graduated in Advertising in 1997 and owned a graphic design agency for 10 years. In 2007 I had the idea to combine my skills with my passion for football. Brazil is a country that breathes this sport. In 2011 I got an investor partner for the portal. It took me two years to prepare and grow my collection of research and illustrations that I had been developing since 1990, in addition to the database and stopmotion animations that I had produced about the main goals scored in World Cups. These animations are actually the origin of the name “Futbox” (“box football” in Portuguese). In my childhood, instead of playing button football, I would design uniforms and shields, cut them out and glue them on matchboxes to simulate players and goalkeepers. I still play with that to this day.

Today, Futbox.com offers the world’s largest illustrated collection of football in three languages. We research and bring back the history of world football, and disseminate it with detailed illustrations and graphics and a high degree of fidelity. We also have all World Cup games (1930 to 2018) in illustrated format and in full color, from the model of the ball used in each game to the complete uniforms of each match. We also have strategic content partners such as Getty Images and AFP to enrich the user’s experience when browsing Futbox.

Other sections on the portal draw a lot of attention, such as the Trophy Gallery, Derbies, and of course the Clubs and National Squads pages, where we can see the full history of these institutions, the trophies they won and the evolution of their shields and uniforms, from their foundation to the present day.

Futbox.com is co-creative. We have the “Collaborate” button with which fans and researchers, as well as other research centers, can send us photos, images, text or even report an error. This creates closeness between the brand and its fans. We have collaborations with several countries in Europe, the United States and Asia and our social networks, where we share various copyright content to further promote this relationship.

All this research done over 30 years has enabled us to gain strategic knowledge about the world of football. In 2017 we opened Futbox’s branding area, where we worked on the visual identity of the football clubs as a tool for generating value and revenue. All of that was done using the TFT Methodology: Tradition, Fans and Trophies (“Metodologia dos 3Ts: Tradição, Torcida e Troféus” in Portuguese), which I have developed to work with the marketing departments of football and sports clubs in general. With this, the solutions presented make sense to the market and, especially, to the fans, because the whole creative and development process is based on the balance between tradition and innovation, preserving the history and symbols of the clubs but updating and expanding them for the new scenario of the 21st century in terms of relationship, positioning, mobile access, customs, desires and contemporary needs.

Today we work with nine clubs in Brazil and we are creating a partnership in the United Arab Emirates to publicize the Futbox brand and all the possibilities involving our products and services, in addition to our work philosophy and the way we relate to the world. You can find more details in the “What we do” section.

The great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano once said something very meaningful: “We cannot let the duty to win overcome the pleasure of playing.” In fact, Uruguay, Argentina and England are perhaps the countries where we can see the greatest closeness between the game and the people, between football and fans.

What should our readers know about your business?
Futbox is a football’s graphic research center. The world’s first. It is available in three languages, where is free access to the largest football’s illustrated collection. All these years of studies and research, now 31 years old, have provided us with intelligence and strategic content to work on the brands of football clubs and companies that operate in the sports market in general. We know what makes sense for fans, from 8 to 80 years old, who have completely different behaviors, desires and values when relating to the sport.

The NFTs market, for example, was very important for the Futbox brand, it was as if the market validated, once again and now, in a forceful way, the entire purpose of Futbox and the TFT Methodology that we developed. Now, if the path was easy? Of course not. And it still has several challenges, mainly in relation to the training of professionals who are at several important decision points and do not necessarily have the knowledge to occupy these positions of such importance. Fortunately, the exchange of people is happening and there are many qualified people arriving in the market. Of all ages. Business genius can happen before the age of 18, but wisdom in decisions only comes with time and experience.

“I like football because it forces us to take a stand.” This is a quote from Brazilian writer Luis Fernando Verissimo, with whom I identify greatly. The most important lessons were the understanding that financial resources alone are not enough; entrepreneurs sell football, but the investors are the ones who really do the trading. There has to be a constant synergy between those involved. Another point is resilience, the entrepreneur’s ability to do what must be done, not necessarily what they think had to be done.

Rescuing the past means secure our present for future generations. Every project and enterprise involving sports need to balance tradition and innovation, since they focus on people and their experiences throughout life. Transforming memories and wishes into accomplishments. Perspective is what moves human beings.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, I live in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais’ capital, a Brazilian state known for having the best food in the country. The restaurants here would definitely be appreciated, in addition to the incredible waterfalls, less than 1 hour from the capital. Belo Horizonte is famous for having bars on the sidewalks, similar to Paris, without the French glamour, but with a food with a flavor that is unparalleled in the world. The cities in the interior of the state would be the second step to get to know each other. There are many, each with a specific type of food. To get an idea of the variety of options, the state of Minas Gerais is bigger than France.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First of all, my dear wife, Juliana Maioli, who always supported me, even in the most difficult phases, when it involved the raison d’être of the Futbox brand, its collection of illustrations and the solutions that Futbox offered or could provide to the sports market. Ludmila Ribeiro and Flávia Brito, who believed in the idea and helped me in the project for the first presentation. The first Futbox team, formed by 5 great professionals who worked inside my house between 2011 and 2014: Guto, Ramon, Fidusi, Angellys and Gabriel. Friends and strategic partners, Fred Paulino, Cristian Gomes, Sandrelise Chaves, Marcelo Paciello, Luis Filipe Chateaubriand and Guilherme Manzano, my parents, Joãozinho and Gracinha, my sister Renata, and my two partners at Portal, Salomão Filho and Bernardo Werneck.

Website: https://www.futbox.com/en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futbox.oficial

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/futbox

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FUTBOX

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FUTBOX/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Futboxmovies

Other: https://br.pinterest.com/futbox https://www.futbox.com/blog