LOS ANGELES & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Further solidifying its leadership position in the areas of sports corporate consulting and experiential marketing, CAA Sports, a division of leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), has acquired brandrapport, an award-winning London-based sports marketing agency. Founded in 1981, brandrapport works with such well-known brands as Allianz, Jaguar Land Rover, Nestlé, Prudential, and Samsung, providing industry-leading insights from brand engagement strategy to activation, public relations, event management, digital and social media.
Brandrapport’s 25 employees will join CAA Sports Consulting, and be based in CAA’s London office in Hammersmith. Working under the leadership of Global Head of CAA Sports Consulting Greg Luckman, brandrapport’s Andy Kenny will serve as Head of CAA Sports Consulting London, guiding the team’s efforts in the U.K.
“Corporate consulting is a growth area for CAA Sports, and in the four years since we moved into this space, we have assembled an industry-leading team of sports marketing executives who work on behalf of more than 30 iconic global brands,” said Luckman. “As we further expand our international marketing capabilities, we know that Andy and his team at brandrapport will fit seamlessly into CAA’s collaborative culture. Their entrepreneurial spirit and relentless commitment to providing world-class service will yield tremendous results for our clients.”
CAA Sports Consulting launched in October 2011, and today advises, manages, and activates on more than $2 billion in sponsorship rights deals on behalf of leading global brands, including JPMorgan Chase, Emirates Airline, Time Warner Cable, Farmers, Zurich, and Mondelēz, among others. In 2014, CAA acquired PGW, one of the most awarded and respected experiential marketing agencies in the industry, consistently appearing atop industry-ranking lists including Promo Magazine’s Top 100 and Event Marketer’s It List. With a team of more than 300 people dedicated to servicing brands, CAA Sports provides clients full-service marketing services spanning strategic advisory, experiential, hospitality, and analytics.
“We are thrilled to be part of CAA. I couldn’t have written a better script,” said Kenny. “CAA’s stature, expertise, and uniquely powerful set of global relationships opens up huge opportunities for our team, and our clients, and that is tremendously motivating.”
The acquisition of brandrapport marks the fourth company acquired by CAA Sports in less than eight months. On June 8, 2015, CAA acquired two industry-leading corporate hospitality firms – Goviva and Beyond Sports & Entertainment – to combine forces with Inside Sports & Entertainment Group, which the agency acquired in 2014, to become CAA Premium Experience. CAA Premium Experience is a best-in-class, full-service hospitality, event management, and marketing practice that features more than 50 employees working with Fortune 500 companies across hundreds of global sports and entertainment events annually. The company combines the creativity, innovation, and state-of-the-art client service of the world’s most accomplished corporate hospitality executives and organizations with CAA’s unmatched resources and relationships within entertainment, sports, and pop culture to deliver world-class VIP experiences for customers globally.
In April 2015, CAA Sports acquired Fermata Partners, a specialized consumer products licensing agency focused on colleges and universities, global football clubs, and iconic sports and lifestyle brands. Fermata most recently announced that it had added the University of Notre Dame and University of Wisconsin at Madison (effective July 1, 2016) to its expanding portfolio of top-selling collegiate licensing programs, joining the University of Kentucky, the University of Miami, University of Oregon, and the University of Georgia. Within its international football practice, Fermata represents several Premier League football clubs, including Manchester City, Liverpool F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa Football Club, Newcastle United Football Club, Norwich City Football Club, Queens Park Rangers Football Club, and Swansea City Association Football Club. The company also represents Little League International, Churchill Downs, and the Kentucky Derby.
CAA Sports also acquired veteran player agent Todd France’s 5 Star Athlete Management in September 2015 to join CAA Sports’ Football division, which represents more than 130 NFL athletes.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
ABOUT CAA SPORTS
The four-time recipient of the award for “Best in Talent Representation and Management,” presented by the Sports Business Journal, CAA Sports represents more than 1,000 of the world's best athletes in such sports as baseball, football, hockey, basketball, soccer, tennis, and golf, in addition to coaches, on-air broadcasters, and sports personalities. Beyond traditional athlete representation, CAA Sports provides unique opportunities for clients off the field, in areas including licensing, endorsements, speaking, philanthropy, books, and video games. CAA Sports also works in the areas of broadcast rights, corporate marketing initiatives, and sports properties for sales/sponsorships, for which the agency won “Best in Property Consulting, Sales, and Client Service” at the 2014 Sports Business Awards. CAA Sports is a division of leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). CAA represents the most creative and successful artists working in film, television, music, theatre, video games, and digital content, and provides a range of strategic marketing services to corporate clients. For more information about CAA Sports, visit sports.caa.com.