NEW YORK: American sports and entertainment marketing agency Engine Shop announced Monday the acquisition of sponsorship valuation services company IEG, its annual Sponsorship Conference, and ESP Properties’ US brand advisory firm from GroupM.
The aim of the deal is to merge IEG’s sponsorship valuation, research, and measurement services and thought-leadership programming with Engine Shop’s “modern” approach to multi-channel engagement marketing as it guns for aggressive global expansion, according to an official release.
“We are striving to build Engine Shop into the model, global engagement marketing agency,” said Brian Gordon, Engine Shop, CEO.
“IEG’s proprietary services and events have made brands smarter for more than three decades. These are difference-making resources, and we are going to build on that with more tools, platforms and bold thinking to serve the industry at a time when the industry craves well-synthesized data to make the best, most effective decisions.”
The biggest gain for Engine Shop is the ownership of the IEG Sponsorship Conference that has been an annual fixture on the industry calendar and a centerpiece of IEG’s thought-leadership and best practices for 35 years.
Changes to the signature conference will begin in 2019, starting with a new programming format covering multiple consumer engagement drivers (sports, entertainment, music, arts) and a focus on trend forecasting.
IEG will operate as an autonomous affiliate of Engine Shop and continue to be headquartered in Chicago. Its IEG Valuation and Measurement services will continue to support global brands and rights holding organizations across all lifestyle verticals. Founded in 1982, hundreds of the most influential marketing spenders and rights holders have relied upon and endorsed its analytics tools, forecasts, proprietary valuation and measurement services for the last three decades. Engine Shop will significantly invest in these services, ensuring they meet the needs of today’s changing marketing environment.
All of these resources will also support Engine Shop’s esports, international football, Olympic and global sports marketing practices – all initiated through the acquisitions of The Gamer Agency (Dec. ’17), T Burns Sports Group (Feb. ’18) and SA Studios Global Esports and Soccer business (March ’18). Each of these groups will have access to this treasure trove of information and service platforms.
