HAMBURG: Global sports business agency Lagardère Sports and Entertainment has changed its brand identity (back) to SPORTFIVE, following the sale completion of the business from Lagardère Group to H.I.G. Capital in mid April.
The private equity firm now owns a majority of 75.1 % stake in the business. As part of the transformation process, SPORTFIVE shifts focus to a dual organizational structure of dedicated market areas and global growth units.
A number of agency subsidiaries are integrated into the new SPORTFIVE brand, including Lagardère Sports, Lagardère PLUS, U! Sports, VIP Sportstravel. The subsidiaries Rooftop2 Production and Event Knowledge Services (EKS) will continue to operate under the own brand but will receive an endorsement as a SPORTFIVE company. Off-season football event organisation service Onside and creative agency Brave will continue to operate under their existing brand name.
Within this new framework, the agency will be managed and steered on a global scale by a four-member executive committee, consisting of Stefan Felsing (chief executive officer), Philipp Hasenbein (chief operating officer), Robert Müller von Vultejus (chief growth officer) and Christian Peters (chief financial officer) in close collaboration with a worldwide leadership circle.
Felsing and his executive committee are based out of Hamburg with leadership team members in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia overseeing the agency’s global operations.
The brand naming is derived from two reasons. Firstly, SPORT as the agency and its people believe in the power of Sports and secondly the FIVE as it represents the five core stakeholder groups it serves: brands, rights-holders, media platforms, fans and its people.
SPORTFIVE also emphasizes some of the company’s historic roots – in terms of emotion, professionalism and pioneering mindset. This initial company backbone has been developed over the years into a strong, global conglomerate of sport business agencies and now serves as guidance for the new SPORTFIVE masterbrand, as an even more focused, efficient and data-intelligent way forward emerges.
“Today (Thursday) marks a milestone for our agency. A new leadership team, new ownership and reintroducing to the world of sport a legacy brand name, SPORTFIVE, that not only represents our founding pioneering spirit, but also our strong future of being one of the most progressive and respected partner in sports,” Felsing said.
“SPORTFIVE is made up of pioneers in sports across different regions, we believe in the power of sports and that its responsible commercialization can benefit the society as a whole. I look forward to bringing our tenacity, energy, experience, integrity and trust earned from our stakeholders to make SPORTFIVE synonymous for innovative and emotional sports marketing,”, he added.
