Jamie Hosie
Director
Give us a brief overview of E10, and your role within the company
E10 is a dynamic and fast-growing commercial and marketing agency, focused on maximising returns for brands and rights holders within sport, entertainment and B2B events across Europe and the Middle East.
Combining more than 30 years’ experience, our senior team leads our three core business functions; commercial, marketing and brand activation.
As the head of our Commercial pillar, it’s my focus to ensure we’re committed to delivering an exceptionally high level of commercial success on behalf of our clients.
You mentioned the Middle East, how is E10 helping European-based rights holders expand into the region?
All three Directors have extensive experience working in the region – as well as in global markets – across various specialisms and industries, including our combined expansive network across government sectors, sports councils, tourism boards, and both regional and international blue-chip companies. This has provided us with a broad-spectrum insight into the distinctive nuances and dynamics of the region. This allows us the unique ability to understand how to translate global and European rights holders and concepts into regionally fluent and compelling strategies, along with our inherent commitment to act as an organic extension of rights holders’ commercial and marketing departments, ensuring we are representing our customers with an unparalleled edge.
Commercial is a core pillar of your business, what approach do you take to sponsorship sales and why is this well received by your clients?
At the heart of it all, we believe the most successful sponsorship approaches are those that challenge the customer, challenge the customer’s commercial strategy, and challenge their overall performance. Delivered with a fiercely empathic tone, the combination is highly effective and powerful.
Working with event owners and rights holders, we develop sophisticated commercial strategies that empower new growth opportunities and maximise ROI across a comprehensive end-to-end commercial service, from asset valuations to closing partnerships. Our process aims to critique the current commercial setup of rights holders and brands, identifying key areas and components which are either underutilised or misrepresented, which we achieve by combining commercial ingenuity, extensive market knowledge and a robust formula for creating high-yielding partnerships. To attest to our belief in our approach, we believe in service fees which are synonymous with accountability, professionalism and excellence.
And how about your brand clients, how do you help them navigate the sponsorship landscape?
Our Activations function is focused on building deep, long-lasting, and sustainable connections to drive business results. We are experts at marrying the right brand to the ideal rights holder, harnessing the power of activations and compelling experiential media platforms in order to achieve the best possible ROI. We’re meticulous about understanding a brand’s roadmap, ambitions and challenges so that we can begin to build out a highly impactful, commercially efficient, relevant story to a focused audience.
Whether clients want to change the perception of their brand or resonate with a new demographic, we guide them through the various, ever-changing contours of the sponsorship landscape and help with insight-led, real-time decision making.
What do you see as current trends within sponsorship, and how are they affecting how you work and deliver on strategy?
In January 2022, ESA suggested that global sponsorship spend for the year would increase by 8%. This was supported by an equally encouraging prediction that 54% of 2021 sponsors (across sport, entertainment and B2B) would increase their spend in 2022. However, these seemingly large figures pale into insignificance when compared with future forecasts that estimate the sponsorship revenue market to increase by 35% within the next 5 years. This is a very significant opportunity for brands and businesses to make real impact with brave and bold approaches.
With new key players, new communications channels and new expectations from audiences, the world of sponsorship is rapidly evolving. Strategies need to be agile in their response to innovatively uncover unmet opportunities within these new realms.
Below are the top trends we have identified:
Cryptocurrencies:
Just like many other fields, blockchain has wriggled its way into the sponsorship market. Crypto stakeholders are widely investing in sponsorship because audiences are becoming increasingly aware of new digital trends. Cryptocurrency and NFT exchange platforms must therefore gain legitimacy and democratise the use of digital assets, focusing on specific demographic profiles to create these shifts. However, as proven over the past 6 weeks, the market is extremely volatile. Until regulations are standardised, we see sponsorship spending to be seasonal.
Esports:
Investing in esports means building a close relationship with young sports fans. For example, the World Championship League of Legends, attracted 73 million viewers in 2021, one of the largest esports events on the planet, brokering deals with sports sponsorship giants, as well as other global brands. E10 is gradually expanding their presence in this space, including supporting the growth of the Middle Eastern industry.
Women’s sports:
Although there is still a huge disparity between investment in men’s and women’s sports, many brands have started to seize opportunities to invest in sponsorship in this area, which is attracting an ever-growing audience. Sponsoring women’s sports means they can showcase their commitment to a more positive and inclusive world and send messages promoting female empowerment, equality, and diversity. E10 is positioning itself as a catalyst for change in progressive sport, including golf and mixed martial arts.
Sustainability and climate change:
The need for the B2B/B2C world to set an example in the fight against climate change has changed the industry landscape for sponsors. Institutions are looking to work with partners who will bolster their CSR strategies and there are now more and more contracts containing eco-friendly commitments. As a business committed to sustainable initiatives, we are working with more and more brands who share a similar narrative.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Overall, it’s a really exciting time for brands and rights holders. As much of a cliché it is to say, COVID-19 has provided the world with a new lease of life, there really isn’t any sense of the norm anymore. Our business and industry is absolutely no exception to this. We believe now, more than ever, there is a need to challenge the market status quo, backed by teams with robust expertise and dynamic insight to create truly differentiated and powerful outcomes. This is really what powers our passion at E10: the opportunity to demonstrate a fresh approach that isn’t encumbered by legacy processes but is rather a business with the freedom and agility to truly offer a bespoke, highly personable and human service.
If you’re interested in speaking with Jamie from E10, you can contact him via email, jamie.hosie@e10int.com