Publicis Groupe Tuesday announced the acquisition of Adopt, a specialized sports marketing agency co-founded by Rich Paul — the agent best known for representing NBA legend LeBron James — and former Nike executives David Creech and Josh Moore.
While financial terms were not disclosed, media reports have put the purchase price in the $100 million ball park.
Paul has a proven track record of building and growing brands central to sport culture, including founding Klutch Sports Group and Klutch Athletics.
Adopt provides branding and marketing services for sports, wellness, nutrition, tech, and consumer companies. Recently, it has produced work for Lululemon and The North Face, Adweek reports.
In a statement, the French advertising network said the deal would strengthen its ability to “harness the power of athletes and sport to accelerate iconic and authentic cultural brand connections”.
“Sport is the greatest force in the world today — driving culture, commerce, connection, and community,” Paul said. “The talent I saw in David and Josh combined with their experience in sport culture led me to believe we could take that and use it to make a real impact for global brands. They have world-class expertise, and it’s proving out already based on Adopt’s major growth trajectory which has skyrocketed in just four years.”
Adopt will continue to be led by Creech and Moore, who collectively bring more than 50 years of experience in brand, product, and experience design. Adopt will sit within Publicis Connected Media, supercharging its existing capabilities spanning media, data, digital, commerce, CRM, influencer and more.
“Adopt is at the forefront of creativity, culture and human behavior – blending all three to deliver customer-centric brand strategies,” said Publicis Connected Media Global CEO Dave Penski. “Their deep and multi-faceted expertise is invaluable to all clients seeking to define and modernize their brand at the speed of culture.”
