Madonna: the singer’s first time in Brazil was motivated by a beer ‘war’ and even involved Marlene Mattos | Culture

The return of Madonna to Brazil to end the Celebration Tour promises to be historic. However, the artist, one of the biggest names in world music over the last four decades, has already made waves on her first visit to the country.

This is because the artist was hired to do a show in Brazil in 1993 after a publicity dispute. The story went viral on social media last year, when publicist Maurício Carvalho decided to report behind the scenes of the negotiations.

Beer war

In 1993, two beer brands competed for the preference of the Brazilian public, Antarctica and Brahma. Both invested large amounts of money to reach the top of the consumer market. At the time, the agency that served Antarctica, DM9, tried to contact the businessman from Madonna to hire her. The idea was to adapt the brand’s slogan, “national passion”, to the artist’s global success, which would be a “worldwide passion”.

The negotiations, however, faced a setback. Is that the businesswoman Marlene Mattoswho also took care of Xuxa Meneghel’s career, entered the race to try to hire. She was unsuccessful and Antarctica closed the contract. The person who signed the contract was producer Monique Gardenberg, from Dueto Produções.

“One day, Nizan Guanaes[publicistcommanderofDM9)whoatthetimehadtheAntarcticaaccountcallsmeandsays:’Wewanttobringtheicyblonde’Me:’Whoistheicyblonde?’Andhim:’MadonnaFindawayandhireMadonna’Thatwasin1993Iappliedthesecretarycultureonalargescale(laughs)2016[publicitáriocomandantedaDM9)quenaépocaestavacomacontadaAntarcticaediz:’Queremostrazeraloiragelada’Eu:’Queméaloiragelada?’Eele:’AMadonnaDêumjeitoecontrateaMadonna’Issoem1993Apliqueiaculturadasecretáriaemgrandeescala(ri)Umaloucuramasfuncionou”contouelaemumaentrevistaaojornal’ATarde’em2016

The fee received by the artist would have been R$1 million, an amount that was increased by another R$1.2 million for marketing, publicity and event organization expenses.

And what happened to Marlene Mattos? She went in search of another big name of the time, Michael Jackson and hired him for a show that ended up taking place just 15 days before the performance of Madonna. The partnership ended up with a soft drink brand.

The arrival of Madonna

The singer arrived in Rio with a team of more than 100 people, 40 suitcases and was marked by the demands made by the artist, which were highlighted in the newspapers at the time. Among the items mentioned in reports from the time are champagne, candles, a Chinese porcelain dinner set, silver cutlery, linen napkins, telephone lines and more than 100 towels, which are available to the teams on stage and backstage. She brought a personal cook and had her life monitored at every step she took during her stay.

Remember a report shown by Metrópolis, a TV Cultura program, shown in 1993: