Brave Bison acquires Engage Digital Partners to create the UK’s largest independent sports marketing agency
Today, media, marketing and technology company Brave Bison announces that it has agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of global sports marketing business Engage Digital Partners.
Engage delivers dynamic fan engagement campaigns via a broad roster of services including digital content and commercial strategy, creative production, social media management, measurement, analytics and digital asset management through an owned technology stack.
It boasts an enviable roster of global sport and entertainment clients including Formula 1, ICC, Real Madrid, and New Zealand Rugby. It was established by current CEO Gregg Oldfield following a management buyout from Endemol Sport in 2012.
With offices in London, Australia and India, and over 130 staff worldwide, Engage’s clients benefit from 24/7 ‘follow the sun’ delivery and a global strategic perspective—benefits that will be passed on to Brave Bison and SocialChain’s rapidly expanding global client roster, currently serviced out of hubs in the UK, US, Europe and Singapore.
The business uses a combination of proprietary technology, digital strategy and content creation to help sports federations and rights holders drive fan engagement and take a more personalised approach to building audiences, driving ticket sales and striking more lucrative commercial partnerships.
As part of the deal, Engage will combine with the Brave Bison Media Network of sports and entertainment channels, which partners with leading rights holders such as the PGA Tour, Ryder Cup, US Open, Australian Open, CPLT20 and Le Mans to offer channel and rights management services alongside content strategy and production.
The combination will create an enlarged Sports and Entertainment division for Brave Bison that will service some of the biggest federations across football, cricket, rugby, motorsports, tennis, golf and e-sports and total £16 million in pro-forma turnover. It will be led by Engage’s existing CEO Gregg Oldfield, alongside Chief Business Officer Casey Harwood in partnership with Brave Bison’s VP of Video and Audience Development Adam Raw and Head of Sport Martin Ruffell. In Australia, the division will continue to be led by Executive General Manager Emma Kinlon, and in India by Managing Director Umang Uthappa.
The newly combined entity will also work closely with Brave Bison’s social-first creative and strategy agency, SocialChain, to help sport and entertainment brands unlock new audiences through emerging channels and culture strategy, as well as helping leading brands activate their sports sponsorships and partnerships through social media channels—from content to commerce.
Brave Bison acquired SocialChain in February 2023 and this year the agency will deliver 50% revenue growth year on year following a number of high-profile client wins including Holland & Barrett, SharkNinja, Linkedin and Greene King.
Oli Green, Executive Chairman, Brave Bison commented:
“Engage boast an enviable client roster and deep expertise in sports media and digital content strategy. This combination comes at a time when rights holders and sports federations are looking to maximise their IP, boost fan engagement and really drive commercial performance using a more data driven approach.
We look forward to working with Gregg Oldfield and Casey Harwood as the leaders of the combined business, as well as the best-in-class Engage team to build dynamic digital solutions leveraging content, media and technology to help the worlds’ most ambitious sports federations and brands capitalise on the complexity of the digital age.”
Adam Raw, VP, Video and Audience Development at Brave Bison, also commented:
“The combination of Engage Digital Partners with our existing sports and entertainment media network is hugely exciting for our clients who will benefit from unrivalled scale, increased production efficiency and an impressive proprietary technology stack —ultimately allowing us to reach and engage more audiences and deliver even more growth.”
Gregg Oldfield, CEO, Engage Digital Partners added:
“We’re thrilled to be joining Brave Bison to offer unparalleled growth opportunities for our clients across the full marketing funnel.
Brave Bison’s existing sports team bring impressive expertise in channel and rights management across YouTube and the wider digital ecosystem, along with a prestigious roster of clients. While SocialChain’s deep expertise in social media marketing and strategy, together with Brave Bison’s performance media and commerce technology offerings will round out Engage’s ability to offer sports clients new audience engagement and monetisation solutions from trend to spend.”
