Organizing a major sporting event in Brazil is, as Octagon Brazil co-Managing Dir Aykan Azar put it, "not for beginners." The country's massive size and the accompanying logistical challenges are just a few of the factors that make it a unique venue for an event like a World Cup or an Olympics. But fellow co-Managing Dir Matthieu Fenaert believes the World Cup put to rest the doubts many people had about Brazil’s viability as a host. "The World Cup really showed the world that Brazil was able to deliver," Fenaert said. "A couple of months before the World Cup, all the newspapers and most of the industry would have bet it would be a disaster. But actually everything worked perfectly. Mr. [FIFA President Sepp] Blatter didn't want to say it, but I guess we can say that this was the best World Cup of all time." Azar and Fenaert -- who took over those roles in January -- are both expecting similar results during the 2016 Rio Olympics. "It's a great time to be us right now," Fenaert said. "We just came out of the most successful World Cup of any agency. We had nine clients during the World Cup. We managed more than 500 programs. We led with almost 100,000 tickets [managed], which is a record following what FIFA itself said. We had a great experience during the World Cup and we are already looking to the Olympics." Other highlights from Octagon's work across the country during the 2014 World Cup included 28,496 guests hosted, more than 6 million fan engagements and 445,000 miles traveled by Octagon's staff of 2,287 on the ground in Brazil.
WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE: The World Cup was the latest major project in Brazil for Fenaert, who has worked there for 14 years. May will mark 10 years at Octagon for Azar, who has helped the company serve clients at the last three World Cups as well as the 2012 London Games. Octagon has already named three official Rio Games sponsors it will represent: Cisco, Skol and Estácio. And while Azar did not name any targets or pinpoint how many clients Octagon would like to have, he said, "There's certainly still a lot of activity that we see with Rio 2016. They're still signing up sponsors and we're certainly very active in that space as well." Cisco’s longstanding relationship with Octagon includes the technology company's sponsorship of the NBA and Cisco's work as the official Olympic network infrastructure provider for London 2012. Ambev SA's top Brazilian beer, Skol, has worked with Octagon for seven straight years, including as a 2014 World Cup sponsor. Fenaert said that Octagon will be responsible for all of Skol's strategy, activation and hospitality at the Olympics. Estácio is a Brazilian higher learning institution. The services Octagon will provide for Estácio will include coming with up the company's strategy, defining and carrying out the activation around Rio and Brazil and organizing the hospitality program.
