#btsia Shortlist Focus: Matta
Agency: MATTA
Category: Young Agency of the Year in association with Getty Images
Tell us about yourselves…
Having spent years honing marketing skills in industries that either made consumers fat or drunk, in founding MATTA, we wanted to create an agency that promoted brands and organisations who contributed to more positive lifestyles.
As a result we created a lean, nimble and innovative agency, utterly focussed on working with sports, fitness and lifestyle brands, dedicated to delivering world class creative. Applying FMCG brand building principles we build the equity of brands to encourage people to support, attend, volunteer, play, or simply challenge themselves to live more active, fun and fulfilling lives.
We help brands reach beyond their core audiences, making them matter to more people. #makeitmatta
As a result we too have doubled in size in the past year to be 25 strong, with more on the way, and in four years no one has ever left the company!
Why do you think you made the shortlist?
While we’ve been shortlisted for YAOTY before, this year more than any, our growth has really kicked on, and we’ve diversified in three ways.
We have expanded our creative offering beyond communication campaigns, to include developing pure branding identities.
We’ve also expanded our client base beyond local sports governing bodies, to now include professional leagues, kit manufacturers, media organisations and wearable tech.
And we’ve expanded internationally – winning some global pitches, such as ATP, World Rugby and FIVB, while also creating more campaigns in Europe and the Middle East.
What made this year fun?
We’ve worked on several fun projects this year so it’s really difficult to single any out. However a number of contrasting ones would be our work with ATP launching a new brand identity and campaign to encourage tennis fans to engage with the sport beyond the four slams – “LOVE IT ALL”.
We have successfully diversified our client mix to create TV ads for ESPN in broadcast media, creating a fresh campaign for wearable tech brand PLAYR by Catapult, developing ground breaking kit launches for Umbro – launching the Everton away kit with the Womens team and securing our first client in Dubai: Duplays.
In contrast again, our highly effective campaign to promote the ICC Cricket World Cup, entitled “ARE YOU IN?”, which featured a singing and dancing Freddie Flintoff, was memorably fun to make in the heat wave last summer.
Who’s your MVP?
Work at MATTA is a complete team effort, as every full time employee is directly involved in some way in creating such a brilliant body of work over the year for us to feature in our entry. All ancillary functions, such as accounting and HR, are outsourced to sustain this absolute focus.
How do you plan to celebrate?
If we meet our stretch targets for the year, the whole agency is being whisked off to Ibiza for the weekend. This might well coincide with April 27th if it goes our way on the night!
The BT Sport Industry Awards are the largest commercial sport awards in the world and an unrivalled showcase for the best of the sector’s output. This year’s Awards will see the industry come together for its night of the year on Thursday, 25th April at Battersea Evolution.
SILVER TABLE PACKAGES HAVE SOLD OUT! Book your table NOW.
