Publicis Groupe has acquired Bespoke Sports & Entertainment, a leading sports and experiential marketing agency in North America.
Bespoke will sit within Publicis Sport & Entertainment, a full-service sports marketing agency within Publicis Connected Media. As a leader in US sports media and sponsorships, this acquisition accelerates Publicis’s end-to-end sports marketing offering – backed by scale, expertise, data, and technology – with Bespoke’s rich capabilities, strategy, influence and relationships, enabling clients to seamlessly link their sports partnerships, media and experiential activations across channels and sports properties.
Founded in 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bespoke consults brands in design, execution, and measurement of scalable and disruptive programs that build long-lasting brand impressions and loyalty amongst fans and audiences. Bespoke will continue to be led by co-founders Mike Boykin and Greg Busch, who have deep industry relationships and a combined 65 years of experience leading activation platforms across the sports landscape. Prior to founding Bespoke, Busch and Boykin spent over 15 years at Omnicom, where they successfully built out its dedicated sports marketing practice, GMR.
“We’ve spent a decade building the best brand experiences imaginable for our clients, and now we’re unlocking the next level with Publicis,” Boykin said. “Together, we’ll enable better brand integrations, experiences, and optimised investments that harness the power of connected media, experiences, and sponsorships to drive clients’ growth.”
“For the past year, we have teamed up with Bespoke to deliver first class experiences and differentiated activations across major sporting events for many of our top clients,” said Publicis Sports president Jon Tuck. “The partnership has exceeded expectations thanks to strong cultural alignment and outstanding collaboration with our teams, with a shared client-first approach focused on driving outcomes across all of sports and media.”
Bespoke is the latest acquisition in Publicis’ growing roster of sports and culture-first capabilities, sitting alongside the recent acquisition of Adopt, complementary NIL (name, image, likeness) and influencer capabilities, and Publicis Sports’ Women’s Sports Connect and Players Era offerings.
