Bespoke player videos new commercial venture from Brazil club Atletico

Brazilian league champions Atletico Mineiro have tapped into a market that is already popular in the U.S. and UK so that fans can connect with the club's former players - offering bespoke video messages from heroes such as Reinaldo and Eder.

Fans can select players from a menu and pay between 30 to 329 reais ($5.55 - $60.84) for a video message to be sent to a chosen recipient. Since it went live on Dec. 21 around 30 people have used the service, officials said.

Sobhan Daliry, the CEO of the tech company - Polen.me - that developed the platform called Galo Idolos (Galo Idols), said the service would allow fans to develop a more personal relationship with their heroes as social media is not that engaging.

"The relationship between ... players (and fans) is very under-explored outside fans going to the stadium,” Daliry told Reuters.

"You see them passively, on the television or on Instagram. There’s no emotion in reading a (social media) post by a player you like."

Daliry said Galo Idols could be used by other teams or sports and could also be adopted by the entertainment industry so that actors and singers can engage more personally with fans.

The initiative is the latest off-field project from the club that won three major titles last year, including the league championship for the first time in 50 years, a triumph that prompted their main sponsor to offer free Atletico tattoos to 1000 fans.

As well as pushing fan tokens and NFTs, the idea for Galo Idolos is similar to apps such as Cameo in the U.S. and Memmo in the UK, where sporting figures and celebrities are paid to send personalised video messages to fans.

Cameo brought more than one million dollars in revenue in December, according to Sensor Tower, a U.S. based