MediaCom launches new sport and entertainment offering across Australia and New Zealand

MediaCom has today announced the AUNZ launch of its global sports sponsorship and entertainment division, MediaCom Sport & Entertainment.

Established eight years ago, MediaCom’s global sport and entertainment division now operates with hubs in North America, EMEA and APAC, helping clients drive maximum impact from partnerships with talent and sport & entertainment platforms. The full-service business, ranging from strategy to activation and measurement, regularly wins awards for the way it utilises brand, consumer, and sponsorship insights to develop transformative partnerships for its clients.

Globally, MediaCom Sport & Entertainment manages partnerships and advises a number of blue-chip clients including Toyota, Indeed, Coca-Cola, American Airlines, and Subway, to name a few, on how best to optimise their investments in sport, music, gaming, film and fashion.

Within AUNZ, it’s understood that the role of sponsorship and partnerships is becoming increasingly important as clients seek out initiatives for their brands to become a meaningful part of Australian culture. Recognising this as a growth opportunity for its clients, MediaCom has launched Sport & Entertainment which will be led by Ben McCallum, recently promoted to managing director, Sydney.

To accelerate this new offering, MediaCom will also partner with WPP AUNZ’s PRISM, a leading agency in the sports, entertainment and sponsorship space. The partnership is part of PRISM’s recently announced strategic relationship with the broader GroupM business, which will provide PRISM with access to GroupM’s proprietary sponsorship evaluation tools and data analytics capability.

Says Misha Sher, global head of sport and entertainment, MediaCom: “When we launched the business, it has always been our ambition to provide clients with access to best-in-class sport & entertainment partnership capabilities in helping them drive business growth. Being part of WPP/GroupM, the world’s largest advertising, media and communications network, we have the ability to deliver a premium service that combines strategy, marketing/consumer insight, creative expertise and multi-channel execution, all under one roof. This is a major differentiator for us and I’m delighted that our clients in AUNZ can now benefit from the very best local and global expertise to help them drive more pronounced business benefits from their investments.”

Says Willie Pang (above right), CEO, MediaCom AUNZ: “This is an extremely exciting time for us. Our relationship with PRISM will focus on making partnerships work within a client’s overall media investment portfolio as a ‘system’, and also allow access to technology and data in order to ensure that marketers gain as much value as possible from their partnerships.

“I have no doubt that by bringing together the best of MediaCom, GroupM and PRISM, we are creating a market leading Sport & Entertainment offering that will be a formidable player in the market.”

An existing leader in the sports and entertainment field, PRISM works with brands to determine the most effective way to engage such audiences across digital, print, broadcast and experiential. It is led by recently appointed managing director, Shannan Quinn (above left) and group services director, Brodie Watson. It already has existing relationships within GroupM, having had successful partnerships with MediaCom’s client, KFC and Mindshare’s client, Ford.

Says Kristi Woolrych, chief marketing officer, KFC: “PRISM have been a long term partner of KFC as sponsorship, sport and entertainment are an important part of our business. PRISM’s strategic partnership with MediaCom and the wider GroupM business will most definitely unlock an array of opportunities for our business.”

PRISM will continue to partner with other GroupM and WPP AUNZ agencies in the coming months, as it looks to further expand its sponsorship and entertainment capabilities and further accelerate its growth in market.

MediaCom’s Sport & Entertainment offering utilising the expertise of PRISM is now officially a part of its portfolio of client services.

GroupM and PRISM are part of WPP AUNZ, Australasia’s leading creative transformation company.