Brave Bison buys sports agency Engage for £11m
Must be the season for them…while most of the ad world waits for the repercussions of the mooted Omnicom takeover of IPG (including the thousands of people whose job prospects are likely to change) other deals are afoot.
UK-based digital media, marketing and technology company Brave Bison is buying international sports marketing business Engage Digital Partners for £11m. Brave Bison says this will create the UK’s largest independent sports marketing agency. Engage clients include Formula 1, ICC, Real Madrid, and New Zealand Rugby. Engage holds the rights for the World T20 cricket World Cup.
Brave Bison executive chairman Oli Green says: “Engage boast an enviable client roster and deep expertise in sports media and digital content strategy. This combination comes at a time when rights holders and sports federations are looking to maximise their IP, boost fan engagement and really drive commercial performance using a more data driven approach.
“We look forward to working with Gregg Oldfield and Casey Harwood as the leaders of the combined business, as well as the best-in-class Engage team to build dynamic digital solutions leveraging content, media and technology to help the worlds’ most ambitious sports federations and brands capitalise on the complexity of the digital age.”
Engage CEO Gregg Oldfield says: “We’re thrilled to be joining Brave Bison to offer unparalleled growth opportunities for our clients across the full marketing funnel.
“Brave Bison’s existing sports team bring impressive expertise in channel and rights management across YouTube and the wider digital ecosystem, along with a prestigious roster of clients. While SocialChain’s deep expertise in social media marketing and strategy, together with Brave Bison’s performance media and commerce technology offerings will round out Engage’s ability to offer sports clients new audience engagement and monetisation solutions from trend to spend.”
Brave Bison currently operates in London, Manchester, New York, Cape Town, Bulgaria and Egypt. Its backers include Tory grandee and businessman Lord Ashcroft.
