Industry Shorts: Fifty Digital, Fnatic, Halfspace
Formula E team DS TECHEETAH have announced Fifty Digital as their social media and digital agency, who will help boost their online presence.
The team, a partnership between TECHEETAH and the manufacturer DS Automobiles which has won back-to-back double titles in the FIA Formula E Team and Drivers’ Championships in Seasons 5 and 6, will task the Sport Industry Awards 2020 Young Agency of the Year with helping ‘create, develop, evolve and amplify’ its brand on social media and digital, while delivering best-in-class content designed to engage new audiences.
The partnership will see the pair create a new look and feel for the team, a refreshed tone of voice and new channel strategy across existing and new platforms, while Fifty Digital will deliver new creative driven by real-time insights, as well as work with partners to leverage the team’s success.
Esports organisation Fnatic has announced a new multi-year partnership with meat snacks manufacturer Jack Link’s.
After a successful activation in 2019, the pair have teamed up again, and will work together to reach gamers through to the development of content, in-game activations, online and physical tools as well as story-telling from the pros.
The pair will emphasise the high-protein nature of Jack Link’s products, and will prioritise the enhancement of esports performance, as well as the health and wellbeing of players. The deal will also seeJack Link’s logo featured across the right sleeve of all Fnatic team jerseys immediately, and across the right sleeve of the retail jersey from May.
The Race and WTF1, the digital-first motorsports media businesses brought together in 2020, has exclusively re-appointed Halfspace Group to work across data, audience, and commercial services on a new two-year agreement.
The Race – launched in February 2020 in a bid to ‘super-serve the super fans’, has achieved huge growth across its digital channels and solidified its standing in the motorsports industry with the acquisition of ten-year-old brand WTF1 in June 2020. Together, the brands reach millions of racing fans with massive engagement levels across both social and owned platforms.
Halfspace Group was initially appointed at the launch of The Race to help build out a world-class CRM alongside enhanced data analytics to create a wealth of information and actionable analysis on a variety of motorsports audiences.
Sky Sports says the Premier League clash between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield reached the largest audience for any event broadcast exclusively on Sky Sports.
The match’s overall viewership is second only to June 2020’s Merseyside derby, one of the first games after the Premier League’s return from the coronavirus lockdown. That game, however, was also broadcast on the free-to-air Pick TV and Sky One.
The broadcaster has also revealed that the match ranks as the second-highest rated programme ever on its pay channels – after Game of Thrones.
Cycling outfit INEOS Grenadiers have appointed Sport Industry NextGen Leader Richard Johnson as Head of Content.
Johnson joins from Social Chain, where he spent four years as the agency’s Head of Sport. He previously held roles at New Balance Football and Manchester United.
Serie A side AC Milan, in partnership with fintech blockchain company Chiliz, have announced a new multi-year global partnership with Socios.com.
The deal includes plans to launch an $ACM Fan Token on the Socios platform in the coming weeks, and will offer fans the right to vote in multiple club decisions each season, VIP rewards & experiences, club and sponsor promotions, games, competitions, and ‘super-fan’ recognition.
Burnley have announced that former CEO of The Madison Square Garden Company and president of the New York Knicks, Dave Checketts, will join its Board of Directors in June.
Checketts will sit on ALK Capital’s new Board, headed by Chairman Alan Pace.
The executive team will also add the academic Antonio Davila, a Professor of Entrepreneurship, Accounting and Control and Chair of Innovation at IESE Business School.
