Rafa Nadal Academy

Office: Madrid

More than sports performance, Rafa Nadal represents a specific life philosophy.

How to leverage one of the most relevant brands in the history of sports? How to make the most out of an iconic brand and transcend its territory? How to prepare so it can be stretched into new and exciting arenas? These were some of the questions Interbrand had to answer when got approached by Rafa Nadal’s team in Manacor (Mallorca, Spain).

Rafa Nadal has built an incredible legacy around his brand thanks to his outstanding performance on the tennis court. With 22 Grands Slams, he is the most laureated male tennis player in history. At age 36 and facing fatherhood for the first time, he is now into a new life chapter: to expand his business into adjacent arenas leveraging his unique brand. It can be done – how many people remember Lacoste was a tennis player?

Through deep analysis, Interbrand first explored the world of celebrity branding to understand brand elasticity, possible commercial ventures and best practices. Rafa’s brand awareness and potential stretch were measured through consumer communities around the world that were engaged by C Space. Using brand and business hypotheses in the cosmetic, apparel and nutrition industries, Interbrand studied reactions and willingness to buy different product propositions endorsed by prototyped brands inspired in Rafa’s DNA. With the obtained valuable data, a business case modeling was run for each product in order to extract specific conclusions and de-risk decision-making.

As part of the project and through different sessions, Interbrand co-created a strategic framework with Rafa and his team to craft an ambition and set a trajectory while identifying moves along the way to bring it to life. ‘Inspiring people to achieve their own ideal’ became the new mantra that would guide business decisions.

Part of the challenge was to bring this new strategic DNA to life and the Rafa Nadal Academy business vertical became the ideal opportunity to put it into practice. Informed by the strategy, a new feel was developed for the brand. An iconic and bold expression inspired by Rafa’s energy and unorthodox personality on the pitch. Vibrant colors, bouncy typography, enticing messaging, dynamic frames and the “byte” wordmark became part of the new narrative.

The Rafa Nadal Academy is now the first of many moves to come as the plan of stretching the brand beyond performance gets activated.