1) Thanks for speaking to us today Pedro, and congratulations on this new partnership between Empower & Common Goal! Could you please start by explaining what the partnership will entail?
My agency Empower Sports has joined the Common Goal movement because I wanted us to contribute to a social cause, and this was a trusted and credible way for us to do it. We have given 1% of our revenue from 2020 to a football NGO based in Caracas. It is called Pasion Patere and it uses football to provide education, support and training to boys, girls and young people from marginalised communities from the Venezuelan capital.
2) How did you make contact with Common Goal and from there, how did the idea for partnership come about, and then develop?
I have known the Common Goal founders for several years. I met Juan Mata and Jurgen Griesbeck in 2017 when I was working at UEFA and the President Aleksander Ceferin decided to pledge his support to this movement. I had been meaning to join Common Goal for a while and decided this was the right time to do it. My agency is now 2 years old, we have been fortunate to have some great clients, and I wanted to give back some of the revenue we earned to a good cause. I am happy we have now joined forces and hopefully our membership will inspire other agencies around the world to join the movement.
3) How important are movements like Common Goal to the football, and wider sports communities, in promoting social responsibility and beyond?
I feel that football, as the most popular sport on the planet, has a tremendous potential to be a force for social change. Revenues in the football industry are huge, or they were huge before COVID, so I believe that athletes, coaches, clubs and federations have a responsibility to give back to their communities. Many of them do, which is great, but imagine if everyone gave just one percent of their salary to charity projects… the difference it would make. It would be tremendously powerful!
4) As one of the main PR Agencies focused on European sports, what can you offer to Common Goal and their collective of over 170 players, coaches and managers?
The first thing that I would like to think we can offer is a concrete contribution to the project in Caracas that we have chosen to support. Furthermore, I hope we can add more awareness to this movement and build momentum for other business to join. If we all give just a little, various communities around the world would surely benefit from it!
5) How can Empower Sports help further the reach of the Common Goal movement?
Well I hope that our move will inspire athletes, coaches and clubs whom we work with to join the movement as well. I think one thing is talking about giving to social causes, another thing is doing it. By doing it, we can preach what we practice and hopefully bring more people on board.
6) What can we expect to see in the future, as a result of this partnership?
You can expect to see us make more contribution to more NGOs and to hopefully inspire others to do the same. We would also like to promote Common Goal as a trusted way for people in the football industry to give to charitable projects. I find that many high profile athletes are wary of giving money to charity because they are concerned it may not get to the right people in the right place. With Common Goal they don’t need to worry. Look at all the personalities who have joined… from Aleksander Ceferin, to Paulo Dybala, to Jurgen Klopp, Giorgio Chiellini and many more… and they are happy with the contributions have helped the lives of others.
