in the press - August

Brand-e.biz, August 4th, 2009

Starcom forms sports unit for brands

Sports goal. Starcom MediaVest UK has joined forces with sports consultancy Sports Insights to create a media-led sponsorship unit, SMG Sports. “SMG Sports will allow us to strengthen our offering for brands targeting sport,” says Stewart Easterbrook, CEO of Starcom MediaVest. “We expect increasing demand for complex and highly integrated sports media campaigns, and this venture adds real value in this still underdeveloped area of media.”

“In the run-up to London 2012, more advertisers are turning their attention to sports marketing,” says Vange Kourentis, former business development manager for Manchester United, and joint head of SMG Sports. “However, many sports sponsorship strategies are an inexact science, executed without proper planning and integration into a wider communications programme. SMG Sports will put intelligence and integration into the mix, allowing brand owners to extract the maximum value from their sports investments.”