Gmr Marketing Recruits Fifa’s O’connor

GMR Marketing has appointed David O’Connor from football’s world governing body, FIFA, to help grow and lead its developing international business in the sport.

Based out of the agency’s EMEA HQ in London, David joins this week after six years at FIFA HQ in Zurich where he headed up the marketing communications and research team for FIFA Marketing.

During his time at FIFA, David was responsible for a range of marketing initiatives, including the development of FIFA marketing’s social media offering, overseeing FIFA’s global consumer insights programme, developing collaborations with FIFA’s commercial affiliates, as well as implementing advertising and promotional campaigns.

O’Connor commented: “I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to join GMR at this exciting time in the agency’s history. There is currently a great deal of momentum behind the organisation and I’m looking forward to supporting the growth of GMR across their international football business in the years to come.”

James Hunt, GMR’s managing director, EMEA added: “We’re delighted David is joining us. He brings a wealth of experience of international football from his time at FIFA and is highly regarded across the industry, both here in the UK and around the world. Our footprint in football has really grown over the last year or so and as we look towards the 2018 World Cup and beyond, David’s knowledge and experience will significantly enhance our offering to clients.”

The move follows news that the experiencial marketing agency is also expanding into a larger offer in Rio de Janeiro’s tallest building, ahead of the Summer Olympic Games in Brazil next year.

The new office is located in the Rio Sul Center Tower, in addition to GMR’s Latin American Headquarters in Sao Paolo.