Brave Bison grows with Engage acquisition
UK media, marketing and technology company Brave Bison has agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of global sports marketing business Engage Digital Partners.
London-based Engage, which services include digital content and commercial strategy, creative production, social media management, analytics and digital asset management through an owned technology stack, was established by current CEO Gregg Oldfield following a management buyout from Endemol Sport in 2012.
Its roster of global sport and entertainment clients include Formula 1, ICC, Real Madrid, and New Zealand Rugby.
With offices in London, Australia and India, and a headcount of 130, the acquisition will see Engage’s clients fall under Brave Bison and SocialChain’s expanding roster, currently serviced out of offices in the UK, US, Europe and Singapore.
Engage officially combines with the Brave Bison Media Network of sports and entertainment channels, which partners with the likes of the PGA Tour, Ryder Cup, US Open, Australian Open, CPLT20 and Le Mans to offer channel and rights management services alongside content strategy and production.
The business uses a combination of proprietary technology, digital strategy and content creation to ‘help sports federations and rights holders drive fan engagement and take a more personalised approach to building audiences’.
The combination will create an enlarged Sports and Entertainment division for Brave Bison that will be led by Engage’s existing CEO Gregg Oldfield, alongside Chief Business Officer Casey Harwood in partnership with Brave Bison’s VP of Video and Audience Development Adam Raw and Head of Sport Martin Ruffell.
In Australia, the division will continue to be led by Executive General Manager Emma Kinlon, and in India by Managing Director Umang Uthappa.
The newly combined entity will also work closely with Brave Bison’s social-first creative and strategy agency, SocialChain, which Brave Bison acquired in February 2023.
Oli Green, Executive Chairman, Brave Bison, said,“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.”
Gregg Oldfield, CEO, Engage Digital Partners, added,“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.”
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