The SIG Column – 10 November

Following Wasserman Media Group’s acquisition of SFX Sports, Drew Barrand, head of media at Sport Industry Group, asks whether the big global sport agency is back in fashion…

‘There’s no doubt what the big sport business industry move was this week. When Wasserman Media Group confirmed its buyout of the bulk of the assets of SFX Sports not only did it end months of speculation but it also signalled a return to prominence of the big global sports marketing agency.

Global agency networks in sports marketing have not been in fashion in recent years. Client fears over a lack of the personal touch as they become just another number on the network production line had led to many big names, both in terms of personalities and brands, moving to the more cosy one-on-one service of smaller independent agencies.

You can’t really blame them. A few years back big agencies lost sight of the ball game and in a world where the greed of new business overtook maintaining the interests of existing clients it was small wonder that the ill feeling led to many big assets jumping ship.

All of a sudden, the small independent agencies were the thriving businesses while the bigger entities began to fall apart, division by division.

The Wasserman/SFX union however now casts a different light on things. The US has cast its beady eye on European sport again, in particular the money-laden football market, and before you can blink and say multi-million pound acquisition, the global agency is reborn.

Will it work though?

There’s never been a doubt that the big network agency is a model that thrives in the US where the need to communicate across the 50 states is the equivalent of managing clients that want equal exposure from Wales to Tasmania. When clients’ focus is this broad, only a global network will do.

But the European market is different. Sport fans in Spain aren’t the same as those in the UK and often it’s better for a brand or personality to corner their own section of the market as opposed to requiring a more pan-regional presence. Outside of the handful of brands and stars at the very top of sport, this in fact is the only option they have that can bring success.

The Wasserman Media Group directors are no mugs and they will doubtless adapt their approach in response to the different dynamics of the European market. But the union was not enough to convince the highly respected Jon Holmes to stick around, preferring the more flexible surroundings of his own agency.

The combined might of Wasserman and SFX should not be underestimated however and the influence the agency now holds over UK sport is immense. The question is whether they’ll get the strategy right to grow the business or leave everyone on their books feeling like just another cog in the wheel. ‘