LONDON, UK — Steve Martin and Jamie Wynne-Morgan, who created and developed the award-winning M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment agency over a 20-year period, have joined MSQ to build a generation-defining sport and entertainment agency group: MSQ Sport + Entertainment.
The new global agency will use the power of sport and entertainment to create deeper connections for brands, talent, and rights holders with services spanning sponsorship strategy and activation, social content strategy and production, PR and communications, live experiential events, and talent management. Callaway Golf Europe has signed up as the agency’s founding client for strategic consultancy services, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.
Steve and Jamie will be backed by creative, technology, and media company MSQ, its private equity funder OEP, and MSQ’s 1,200-strong talented team of strategists, creatives, data analysts, and channel activation specialists as they look to attract the best talent and best agencies through a significant acquisition and organic growth strategy.
A number of acquisition targets in the US and Europe have already been identified and conversations with industry specialists are underway.
MSQ Sport + Entertainment’s proposition will be differentiated by creativity, amplified by technology, and enabled by data. The agency will be powered by a proprietary data and insight tool — TRIBES — developed by MSQ agency Freemavens.
TRIBES uses advanced analytics to harness and map digital conversations, content, and curiosity at the pace of culture. It enables clients to more deeply understand what makes their audiences tick and how to connect with them with the right content in the right place and at the right time.
Steve and Jamie commented, “By building from the ground up and with investment for exciting acquisitions, we can create a dynamic global agency that is truly reflective of the current and future opportunities in the ever-evolving sport and entertainment industry.”
Jamie added, “Technology will be integrated into our offering to intelligently accelerate insights, understanding, and approaches to enhance the skills of our team by working closely with the best minds and tools in this space within MSQ.
“It’s MSQ’s people and its culture — its strong belief in investing in specialisms, its B-Corp accreditation, and its incentivized model that delivers effective internal collaborative working and growth — that really appealed to Steve and me.”
Steve commented, “The sport and entertainment industry is an emotionally charged, fast paced world. This is a huge opportunity for Jamie and I to build an agile invested agency for the modern era. An agency that fuses technology and human expertise to keep pace with ever-evolving fan culture and behavior in real time to make sure brands never miss a moment.
“We believe it will be an aRractive place for clients to work with and the best talent to work for.”
Peter Reid, Global CEO of MSQ, commented, “We’ve been looking at developing a world-leading sport and entertainment proposition for some time, that builds on the work currently going on within our agencies in tapping into talent and brands in this space.
“For us, it was finding the right people with the right cultural fit, and in Steve and Jamie, we have that in abundance. They are two of the industry’s leading operators with a significant global track record operating in an experience-driven space increasingly attracting greater consumer spend. We are thrilled to be working with them to create an agency that builds authentic connections between brands and cultural trends expressed through sport and entertainment. It is an area that is becoming increasingly critical for forward-looking brands, and this new agency will deliver a significant increase in our capabilities in this area, which is incredibly exciting.”
Steve and Jamie will work alongside MSQ Executive Director Kate Howe to bring the agency’s vision to life.
Steve Martin was Global CEO, and Jamie Wynne-Morgan was UK CEO of M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment, an agency they set up in 2004 and leb in November 2023. They won Agency of the Year at the FEVO Sport Industry awards a record seven times.
