Rob started his career at The Works London, initially supporting Canon, Sun Microsystems and SAP, who were all sponsors of the McLaren F1 team. He later lead all the marcoms and production for Canon’s sponsorship of UEFA EURO 2004™ in Portugal before joining ABN AMRO, as Global Sponsorship Manager, to plan and integrate the brand’s Volvo Ocean Race sponsorship across their investment banking unit in all markets globally.
Soon afterwards he became the Head of Sponsorship at Experience Worldwide, directing the SAP account and implementing sponsorship strategies for a variety of B2B and B2C accounts held at the agency across F1, football, tennis, golf, sailing, arts and entertainment. As the agency rebranded to GMR, Rob lead the agency’s business development efforts as Business Development Director. More recently, Rob co-founded Bright Partnerships, a new agency with a focus on partnerships, live experiences and communications.
“I am really looking forward to being part of the judging panel at this year’s ESA Excellence Awards and seeing the smartest and most successful work in the industry. It’s been an extraordinary year with so much international activity: the Rugby World Cup, European Football Championships and Olympic Games, but I’m also looking forward to seeing what’s been possible amongst the cultural and entertainment categories.
Clear strategic thinking, effective and efficient activation tactics and rigorous evaluation should be standard for all entries, so for me a potential winning entry needs to demonstrate true partnership, relevant innovation and originality. Sponsorship offers brands a rich storytelling opportunity to capture hearts and minds, so I expect to see lots of evidence to demonstrate this benefit. ‘Best Use of Innovation’ inspires us all and alongside ‘Best newcomer’, I hope these categories reflect the progressive thinking and smart new talent that is prevalent in our industry. Good luck.”