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Photo by: ACTION IMAGES, A REUTERS COMPANY
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Having grown up riding show horses in Virginia’s farm country, Lenah Ueltzen is accustomed to clearing hurdles. So establishing a beachhead for Wasserman Media Group Consulting overseas: That’s as easy as falling off a horse.
As you’d expect, soccer dominates the sports business landscape in London, where Ueltzen is based and where sports and entertainment consulting outside of European football is not a very familiar practice. However, since establishing the practice in 2010, Ueltzen has more than tripled revenue while servicing Wasserman clients that include Pepsi, Lenovo and Verizon.
What started as a one-person consulting operation now has six dedicated employees and does business throughout Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim.
“Consulting for sports and entertainment marketing is really a whole new industry outside the U.S., so we end up selling that idea as well as WMG itself, but that is one of the things that makes it fun,” Ueltzen said. “Lots of people over here are in awe of everything that makes up an American sports event. The important thing for us has been to balance our experience with local knowledge. It’s that old thing of knowing what you don’t know being so important.”
After earning her MBA, Ueltzen went to the NBA, servicing WNBA sponsors, including P&G, Sears and Nike. Then, as now, the women’s league is not an easy sell, but, Ueltzen said, “That had a lot to do with getting me to where I am now, since I got experience in every part of the industry, from events to sponsorship to TV to sales. It was like being at a startup.”
Ueltzen eventually went to the NBA side of the house, and familiarity with league sponsor American Express took her to Wasserman Media Group Consulting, a longtime AmEx agency, where she initially worked on entertainment marketing projects before taking the job as Wasserman’s global consulting ambassador. Turns out to have been a pretty easy jump.
— Terry Lefton
Age:
TITLE: Senior vice president, international consulting
