MediaCom new Sport unit appoints Marcus John

IMG’s Marcus John has been recruited by MediaCom Worldwide to lead its new sports division.

John was previously senior vice-president and managing director of IMG Consulting’s Asia-Pacific division, where he served at the company for 10 years.

He will front the WPP-owned agency’s new MediaCom Sport unit which will work with MediaCom’s global account directors to manage relationships with key sporting bodies. John will also work with the MediaCom Beyond Advertising team and GroupM’s Entertainment and Sports Partnerships group.

MediaCom Sport will offer four key areas of service, including strategic advice, rights negotiation, rights activation and measurement.

MediaCom Worldwide chairman and CEO Stephen Allan said: “Consumers and clients are increasingly interested in what sports can deliver. MediaCom has previously focused its sports expertise at a local and regional level, but we realised that our clients now require a more global and deeper understanding of the sports arena as their budgets continue to shift towards investments in this area and with it a much greater sensitivity to achieve solid returns.

“We need to be able to offer our clients the very best in advice and are therefore delighted to welcome Marcus to MediaCom’s global team. Marcus’ brief is to build the scale of our offer, establish strong ties with rights-holders and make the best opportunities available to our clients.”

John, said he was pleased about “building a standalone sports business for one of the world’s most powerful media agencies and adding significant value to its large and diversified client base.

“Establishing sports expertise within a media agency will ensure that brands who invest in sports rights also activate these properties to their full potential and integrate them across all their communication channels.”