How Pelé Crowned the BYD King in Brazil

How do you generate excitement around a new sedan launch within an already-crowded market? That was the challenge posed to the Brazilian advertising agency, We, as it prepared to launch the BYD King – the best-selling plug-in sedan in the world – in the Brazilian market. 

To find out how, LBB’s Abi Lightfoot caught up with Armando Araujo, chief creative officer at We, and creative directors Leandro Marchiori and Marcos Hosken, who delved into the process that followed the brief landing on their desks to the final film, and how they drew a unique connection between an international icon and a car.

In Brazil, the title ‘King’ conjures up images of one sporting hero in particular, none other than ‘King’ Pelé, who dominated the global football scene from the ‘30s to the ‘80s. Drawing on the parallel between the footballing legend and the name of the sedan, BYD King, creative directors Leandro and Marcos told LBB, “when the BYD King briefing reached our desk, it seemed natural to create a campaign honouring the King of football who, fortunately, is Brazilian.”

The timing of the launch and intentions of the brand accelerated this idea further. CCO Armando explains, “In Brazil, BYD's strategy has been to connect with the passions of Brazilians, including football. BYD sponsored the two largest continental championships on the planet: Euro 2024 and Copa America 2024”. Fortunately for BYD and We, “These championships took place precisely during the launch period of the BYD King in Brazil”. 

The emboldened soundtrack and voiceover, coordinated by Satélite Audio who acted as audio producers, drives the momentum and dynamism of the spot alongside the striking visual tapestry that melds archival footage of Pelé with new footage of the vehicle, capturing the relentless spirit of the athlete. When asked about this, Armando commented that, “‘Imposing’ has always been the key word in the production. The car had to appear imposing, as did Pelé's achievements”.

The overarching concept, ‘The New King of Streets’, is brimming with confidence, as Pelé did as he stepped onto the pitch. Overcoming rivals and standing out amongst competitors, Pelé’s dominance on the pitch is one of his most memorable traits. Mirroring this, the BYD King’s presence on the road has a similar impact - outperforming rivals and turning heads. Leandro explains, “The BYD King is a car with significant innovations, featuring a lot of embedded technology and performance superior to its competitors, more powerful and economical. On the other hand, there are well-established competitors in the Brazilian market.” Therefore, the campaign’s message needed to be confident, daring, and proud, “We needed to demonstrate great confidence in the product – confidence worthy of a King.”

Technically, the campaign was a huge undertaking. First, the agency had to sell-in the idea to the organisation that handles Pelé’s name and licence. Luckily for the agency, the team, “loved the script and believed in the project, honouring the king of football and rejuvenating the Pelé brand.” This helped the project to come together, bolstered by the shared belief in the idea, “when it is in everyone's interest, it becomes much easier to carry out a project of this magnitude.” 

The footage was secured by We’s production partner, Cine, who obtained the rights to the documentary ‘Pelé Eterno’ which depicts Pelé's life story and career. After this, the challenge was to draw a parallel between the voiceover, archival content that spanned Pelé’s entire playing career, and footage of the BYD King through careful editing and curation, which involved finding a light and colour treatment that brought everything together. 

Remarkably, this commercial marks Pelé’s first on-screen commercial appearance since his death in 2022. Understandably, this came with pressure to do his memory and legacy justice, “It takes sensitivity when dealing with an idol, especially one who has already passed away, explains Marcos. “But fortunately, the idea was always to exalt our King. And for that reason, it was a great pleasure for us, who love football and, of course, Pelé. We did our best. I hope everyone enjoyed it.”

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this campaign is how well the stories of Pelé and BYD King aligned, reflecting on the task at hand, the team said, “launching a car while comparing it to Pelé is a big challenge. We had to do work worthy of the greatest athlete of all time. Managing this expectation is difficult. But in the end, we believe we succeeded”. 

Crowning a new King of Streets was no easy feat, but ultimately it was a challenge that the agency was prepared for. When asked if there was anything they’d do differently, they stated, “We gave our best to make this campaign happen. More than thinking about doing things differently, we need to celebrate the opportunity we had to make a film of this magnitude and the success of the campaign. It was a great team effort. It was hard, but it was fun.”