Chris Marlow: ‘reimagining Possibilities In Sport’
50 Sport, the UK creative sports agency, has signalled its intentions to ‘broaden its capabilities and double down on its sport industry focus’ with some significant changes to the business.
In addition to the recent rebrand and a move to a new high-rise office by Blackfriars Bridge, a familiar face has joined the leadership team in the form of experienced advertising executive Chris Marlow.
We sat down with Marlow, now 50 Sport’s first-ever CEO, to discuss why the rebrand is more than just a fresh lick of paint, and how the evolution of the agency is a wider indication of a thriving sports industry.
“What we’re trying to achieve in terms of the capabilities and offering of this agency just feels exciting. I’ve loved spending some time outside of agencies, but now, it is just so brilliant to be going back into one. I love leading people into a new era and hopefully galvanising people around a new shared purpose.”
Despite only arriving at 50 Sport in an official capacity last month, Marlow’s involvement in the agency stretches around a year. Having spent almost two decades at integrated creative agency Iris London, he set up his own business in 2021 providing strategy to a number of brands, agencies and talent businesses within the sport industry.
It was during this period that Marlow was first introduced to Fifty Digital Co-Founders Nick Jackman and James Campbell. Having worked closely with the pair on a consultancy basis for 12 months, ultimately Marlow was offered a leadership position as the agency’s first CEO – an opportunity he describes as being “too good to turn down” – and is tasked with leading the company into a new era.
Asked to outline the agency’s change in name, Marlow explains that “the first major motivation behind the rebrand was a period of really accelerated growth.”
“While a lot of agencies in the advertising world found Covid really difficult, it was an accelerator for 50 Sport,” he explains, pointing to the agency’s expertise in delivering “editorially-led, social-first content creation” as crucial to its success during the pandemic.
“Sport stopped, but that meant rightsholders and brands needed to really up weight what they were doing in terms of content creation and how social could play a role in continuing the dialogue with fans.”
“While a lot of agencies in the advertising world found Covid really difficult, it was an accelerator for 50 Sport.”
CHRIS MARLOW
Well known for possessing a “sweet spot” in the social space, Marlow describes how the business was not just seeing more rightsholders knocking at its door, but also brands looking to utilise editorially-led content to “get involved with the sporting conversations through their sponsorships.”
“The entire world is digital now,” Marlow says in reference to the agency’s redundant former moniker. “Also, the work we do now is not only across digital channels and we want to be clear to the market about our pure play sporting agenda and capability. We’re receiving brand-level briefs as opposed to just social- and content-level briefs and we’re seeing brands move more of their marketing budgets into sports sponsorship and sports property activation to drive their brand forward.”
“Moving from F-I-F-T-Y to 50 is probably less obvious,” he adds. “That just felt like something to freshen the brand up and graphically it works. We can have more fun with that creatively.”
Post pandemic, with an array of new clients on board, Marlow says that although the shift from being a social-focused to full-service agency has been both a welcome and necessary process, the retention of its editorial talent remains a key point of difference that sets 50 Sport apart from the competition.
Though the “blend of an excellent editorial team and creative firepower” forms a strong foundation to the 50 Sport offering, Marlow reveals how a new recruitment drive to meet new client needs included a search for “strategists, client service people and creatives”, many of whom, like Marlow, have been sourced from the advertising industry.
“The ad agencies are finding it really hard right now, but the best agencies in sport seem to be growing at pace,” he explains. “The best talent that has a passion for sport are seeing that there can be really compelling, motivating careers in creative industries but with a sporting stance and the opportunity to be purpose driven.”
When 50 Sport officially unveiled itself to the public last week, it emphasised its commitment to creating impact within the sport industry by ‘levelling the playing field’ and ‘using our clout for good.’ Cementing 50 Sport’s position, Marlow goes on to identify women’s sport as “a real passion point for the leadership team” within the agency.
“It is an area that is growing so rapidly, it just feels exciting. And there is so much creative opportunity there,” he explains, highlighting the agency’s recent work with FIFA around the Women’s World Cup and the release of Ella: A Modern Day Fairytale, a campaign developed in collaboration with England Football and Disney, as examples of success stories within the space.
Furthermore, with a Women’s Sports Trust relationship that sees the agency supply “social media masterclasses for athletes,” also ongoing, Marlow calls 50 Sport’s activity an example of the agency “putting our money, and efforts, where our mouth is to help drive women’s sport forward.”
In addition to bettering the wider industry, looking ahead to the next chapter in the agency’s story, Marlow is quick to reel off more of the organisation’s aspirations for the years to come. “We have really big ambitions. We want to keep growing. We want to keep that trajectory moving forward. And we want to continue to be known as one of the top players for social-first, editorially-driven content.”
To that end, the agency’s new office has been kitted out with its own in-house production facility with the aim of delivering “cutting-edge content production.”
Furthermore, having finished third in the Agency of the Year category at the FEVO Sport Industry Awards 2023, Marlow is open in his desire to go one better next year. “We want that Agency of the Year title,” he says matter-of-factly. “We want to be known as the best and that’s a real marker for us.
“I think there is a real opportunity for 50 Sport to become the agency that can do it all. It is all about the benefits of integration for clients and having everything under one roof. They don’t have to compromise on quality, but they can be much more efficient by working with one agency partner.
“It feels like we can really shake up the industry and create work that feels fresh, innovative, and unique.”
Chris Marlow, CEO, 50 Sport
Subscribe to the Sport Industry Daily for regular updates on the biggest stories and latest news in the sport industry.
