MediaCom Worldwide launches new global sports division

MediaCom Worldwide has launched a new global sports division, MediaCom SPORT. It will be headed by Global Head of Sports Marcus John, who was previously SVP & Managing Director of IMG Consulting Asia/Pacific.

The new division has been created as a result of the increasing power of sports with consumers and MediaCom’s understanding of the need for clients to skilfully position and market their brand in this space at a global level.

MediaCom SPORT will offer four key areas of services: Strategic advice, rights negotiation, rights activation and measurement. Marcus’ remit will be to work with MediaCom’s Global Account Directors, to manage the relationship with key sporting bodies and to provide clients with first hand access to these opportunities in order to help them meet their ever-more complex marketing challenges. He will also work closely with the MediaCom Beyond Advertising team and GroupM’s Entertainment & Sports Partnerships group to communicate client engagement in sports across all consumer touch points.

Prior to joining MediaCom, Marcus spent 10 years at IMG completing his tenure as SVP & Managing Director, IMG Consulting Asia/Pacific. He was responsible for some of the biggest deals in Asia including the Beijing Olympics’ first deal to exceed the USD100million mark. In addition he advised a wide range of clients over the past decade in this area such as Visa, GE, Phillips, Hyundai and Johnson & Johnson.

“Both consumers and clients are increasingly interested in what sports can deliver. MediaCom has previously focused its sports expertise at a local and regional level but we realised that our clients now require a more global and deeper understanding of the sports arena as their budgets continue to shift towards investments in this area and with it a much greater sensitivity to achieve solid returns. We need to be able to offer our clients the very best in advice and are therefore delighted to welcome Marcus to MediaCom’s global team. Marcus’ brief is to build the scale of our offer, establish strong ties with right holders and make the best opportunities available to our clients,” said Chairman and CEO Stephen Allan.

Christian Schmalzl, Global Head of Investment, added “Marcus truly lives and breathes sport. He is passionate about what we do and has a clear vision for how sport fits with our clients’ needs and how it can provide a strong ROI. With client interest at an all-time high, we envisage having to quickly add additional resources to the great team already in place”. “I am very excited about building a standalone sports business for one of the world’s most powerful media agencies and adding significant value to its large and diversified client base. Establishing sports expertise within a media agency will ensure that brands who invest in sports rights also activate these properties to their full potential and integrate them across all their communication channels”, said Global Head of Sports Marcus John.

About MediaCom
MediaCom is one of the world’s largest Media Communication Specialists, with billings exceeding US $26 billion (Source: RECMA) and 116 offices in 89 countries around the globe. Our “People First, Better Results” philosophy drives our strategy and reflects our belief that putting People – employees, clients and consumers – at the core of our business leads to optimum business results. The MediaCom family of companies includes such leaders in their fields as: MediaCom Interaction, our global digital and interactive marketing agency, with future-forward proprietary technology that works to grow clients’ businesses; MediaCom Direct, our direct response experts, creating close, measured connections with consumers; MediaCom ESP, entertainment and sponsorship specialists that connect brands to consumers when they are most open to product messages; and MediaCom Business Science, focused on helping clients achieve maximum sales return. MediaCom Worldwide is a member of WPP, the world’s largest marketing communications services group*, and is a part of GroupM, WPP’s media agency group which is the largest worldwide. For more information, visit www.mediacom.com.

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About GroupM
GroupM is the world’s leading global media investment management operation. It serves as the parent company to WPP media agencies including Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, and Mindshare. Our primary purpose is to maximize the performance of WPP’s media communications agencies on behalf of our clients, our shareholders and our people by operating as a parent and collaborator in performance-enhancing activities such as trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities. The agencies that comprise GroupM are all global operations in their own right with leading market positions. The focus of GroupM is the intelligent application of physical and intellectual scale to benefit trading, innovation, and new communication services, to bring competitive advantage to our clients and our companies.

About WPP
WPP is the world’s largest communications services group*. Through its operating companies, the Group provides a comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services including advertising; media investment management; consumer insight; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing and specialist communications. The company employs 140,000 people (including associates) in 2,400 offices in 107 countries. For more information, visit www.wpp.com.
* By revenue