George Gilmore
Business Director
Hello, I’m George Gilmore, Business Director at rEvolution.
I joined rEvolution in March 2019, shortly after the exciting acquisition of Revolution Sports Marketing Group by Chicago-based sports marketing agency, rEvolution.
The main aspect of my role has been to grow the international side of the business, outside the US, bringing in new clients and helping to establish our integrated model from the London office. And I’m happy to say that despite a turbulent time during the pandemic, we have continued to onboard new global brand clients.
I also lead on some of our client accounts, most notably in one of our key sports, rugby, where I oversee our ongoing relationships with both Harlequins and Charles Stanley.
Does rEvolution have any specific areas of focus within sponsorship?
As a full-service agency we have a broad range of capabilities, everything from Strategic Comms to Sponsorship Consulting, Research and Measurement to Social Media strategy and content. But we do apply our skillsets to core sports where we have industry-leading experience and expertise. These sports are rugby, golf, tennis, motorsports and all things equestrian.
How would you define your USP when it comes to sponsorship?
At rEvolution, one of our core values is ‘We are Change Agents’ , and we try to live up to this every day. In practice what does this mean for our clients? Well, it means that we believe everything we do should deliver tangible business impact. We certainly don’t want to just be delivering marketing campaigns for the sake of it! We always consider our clients’ commercial requirements; we are strongly data-driven in everything we do; and we hold ourselves accountable by setting KPIs and benchmarks that we regularly measure and report against. Combining that approach with killer creative strategy delivers ideas and campaigns that our clients love because they meet and surpass their objectives.
rEvolution has been fiercely independent since its inception 20 years ago. This means that we’re able to be flexible and entrepreneurial in ways that networked agencies simply can’t. It also means that we play well with others! We can happily partner up with other agencies, when necessary, to deliver the best results for clients, without it becoming political – as it often can within larger agency groups!
With offices across the US and in London, we are the largest independent sports marketing agency and provide fully integrated teams and services to meet any client demand.
What sponsors or brand partners have you worked with recently, and how have you driven results for them?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given our approach, we tend to work with a lot of B2B brands, as well as leading rights holders who have to always keep their commercial imperatives front of mind.
A recent client example would be Capgemini, the global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation.
Over the last year we have helped Capgemini to successfully identify two global sporting properties to partner with that will allow them to effectively reach their target audience through their passions, whilst aligning with the brand’s sponsorship strategy of embracing global sporting events that are driven by team spirit, precision and high performance.
First up, our Consulting team helped the client negotiate long-term sponsorship deals with World Rugby, becoming both a Worldwide Partner of Rugby World Cup 2023 in France and World Rugby’s Global Digital Transformation Partner. Our Comms and Content Production teams then stepped in to manage the global launch of the partnership.
Following closely on the heels of those announcements, we also brokered Capgemini’s six-year deal with The Ryder Cup.
What changes have you seen in the sponsorship and wider sports landscape since the pandemic and do you think they will continue?
Like most businesses we saw a real appetite for creativity and innovation that was born from necessity during the pandemic. Brand clients had to be increasingly clever in the ways that they activated their rights and our digital expertise naturally came to the fore.
Probably the biggest change we saw was from rights holders. After the shutdowns in 2020, many rights holders found themselves between a rock and a hard place – massive sponsorship assets going unutilised, decreased revenues, furloughed or laid-off staff, and a real need to attract partners in the most competitive sponsorship marketplace ever!
The huge positive from this was that those who did find innovative ways to adapt their product or change up how they engaged with their fans, have come out the other side stronger than ever. Fandom has changed with smaller, more engaged audiences building communities and finding new ways to engage with their passions. Rights holders who have recognised this have been able to capitalise. And we’ve seen a slew of new sports and formats that have been immediately successful by taking this approach from the outset.
What trends do you see within sponsorship that we ought to be aware of over the next 12 months?
It’s an exciting time for sponsorship! We’ve seen plenty of new verticals enter the space and really use sponsorship as the cornerstone of their marketing strategies. I definitely think this will continue and I would also argue that it will be led by brands that are purpose-first.
Athletes are now predominantly Millennial and Gen Z and appear to be less driven by money and more by purpose. They are certainly more prepared to use their platforms for causes they feel passionately about. This has opened up a huge opportunity for new purpose-driven brands to partner with star athletes and achieve great things in so doing.
What does the next 12 months hold for rEvolution?
With exciting new opportunities across the B2B tech space, esports and gaming, and with expansion into new markets, the team is growing. rEvolution London has recently moved into new offices within The Hoxton, Southwark and we would love to catch up with people face to face, so if you are ever near Blackfriars Road, please drop in, we would love to buy you a coffee!
Contact George Gilmore:
t: +44 (0)7799 170 272
w: https://www.revolutionworld.com/