Octagon, the sports marketing and entertainment group today announces the rebranding of all its operating companies under the single Octagon brand (www.octagon.com).
This move will ensure the group presents a strong and consistent identity worldwide, across all market sectors, and will allow the operating companies to interact more effectively.
Octagon commenced its operation in 1997, following the acquisition of two leading global sports marketing companies, Advantage International and API. It was launched with the intention of creating an international group capable of competing at the highest level, and on a broad front, in all aspects of global sports and entertainment marketing. As part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG), one of the largest advertising and marketing communications groups in the world, Octagon has brought a unique marketing perspective to the industry.
Frank Lowe, founder, chairman and CEO of Octagon, said: ‘This unification of our operating companies under the Octagon brand is a logical and significant move forward. Having spent the last two years building a group whose focus is on providing a marketing-led approach to sport, we all felt that the time is now right to launch what is essentially a new brand of sports marketing.’
Since its conception, the group has expanded with the formation of Octagon Motorsports, through a partnership with the Italian-based Flammini Group. This continued with the creation of two other partnerships with CSI, the UK-based sports TV rights sales, production and distribution company, and Koch Tavares, a leading sports marketing agency in Brazil.
Octagon now offers a high level of expertise in the following eight core disciplines: athlete representation, consultancy, event management, property representation, TV rights sales and distribution, TV production and archive, rights ownership, and licensing and merchandising.
To streamline this expansion programme further, Octagon has been divided into four operating companies, plus one regional partner in Latin America, Octagon Koch Tavares. These are:
– Octagon Marketing
– Octagon Athlete Representation
– Octagon CSI (television production and distribution)
– Octagon Motorsports
Frank Craighill, president of Octagon, added: ‘This move makes perfect sense for all our operating companies. It was becoming increasingly important for us to create a structure and identity that was right for a global group of companies that works across the full range of sports marketing disciplines.’
Today Octagon rank among the top three sports marketing agencies in the world. The group has over 800 employees in 17 countries on all major continents, and offers a fully comprehensive global sports and entertainment service. It represents over 100 blue-chip multinational companies, and works closely with a number of sports federations and broadcasters around the world.
Contact:
Louise Higgins or Annabel Hughes at Octagon Worldwide, London
Tel: +44 171 881 8888
Valerie Collin at Octagon Worldwide, New York Tel: +1 212 888 8847