Industry Shorts: Atp, W Series, Fuse

The ATP and Rolex have extended their long-term partnership, in a deal which will see Rolex continue as the Official Timekeeper of the ATP Tour as well as the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. 

In addition, Rolex will also become the Official Timekeeper of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

The brand has a long-standing relationship with tennis that goes back over 40 years, and in addition to its ATP sponsorship, it is also a partner of the four Grand Slam tournaments, all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, as well as the ATP Cup, and counts ATP stars among its ‘Brand Testimonees’ including Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

All-female motor racing championship W Series has appointed Craig Edmondson as Chief Commercial Officer.

The appointment comes after W Series announced it will host eight races on the Formula 1 undercard in 2021.

Edmondson was most recently CEO, Esports at Zwift, and has also worked across commercial strategy and sales as well as digital transformation and global development as Marketing Director at the Premier League. READ MORE

Sports marketing agency Fuse – along with its parent company Omnicom Media Group – has announced its expansion across Asia-Pacific, with a new team headquartered in Singapore.

The APAC venture will build on its established UK network, and will be headed up by Jonathan Drakes, who served as Fuses’s Strategy Director when based in the UK. He will now be based in Singapore and responsible for developing the business across the region, and will report to Tony Harradine, CEO, Omnicom Media Group, APAC and Louise Johnson, CEO, Fuse. 

Drakes will start the venture with founding client Tuborg, in a move that builds on Fuse’s five-year relationship with the brand.

Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals have appointed Mike Fordham as Group CEO.

Fordham, who was most recently Director of Consulting, TRM Partners, served as both Head of The Hundred and Head of Commercial Partnerships at the ECB during a four-year spell at the governing body. 

Kindred Group, through its brand 32Red, has extended its partnership with Derby County’s “Team Talk” community programme for an additional year. 

The programme uses football as a mechanism for engaging with men in the local community around a variety of mental health issues.

The expanded partnership will include provision of a new research project in collaboration with University of Derby to understand the effectiveness of the programme in light of COVID-19 lockdown challenges. 

British Canoeing has signed a new partnership with waterproof pouch manufacturer Aquapac, who will become an Official Partner of the 2021 ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships. 

The brand, whose pouches enable paddlers to take their phones on to the water, will give British Canoeing members an exclusive 30% discount on their products as part of the deal.

Roc Nation Sports has signed its first cricketer, with the announcement of South African international Lungi Ngidi.

The Cricket South Africa Cricketer of the Year is the first player from his sport to join the Jay-Z founded Roc Nation Sports roster, and the third South African talent, following the recruitment of Springbok Captain Siya Kolisi and international teammate Cheslin Kolbe. 

The fast bowler joins the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Marcus Rashford, Wilfried Zaha, and Romelu Lukaku at the agency, which is also the exclusive consulting partner of Serie A giants AC Milan.