Menu
Forty Under 40

Forty Under 40: Danny Townsend

Danny Townsend

Age: 37
Company: Repucom
Title: Global chief revenue officer
Where born: Sydney
Education: University of New South Wales (B.S.S.); Charles Sturt University (MBA, international marketing)
Family: Wife, Kate; daughters, Claudia (9) and Grace (7)

Favorite way to unwind: Watching sports; enjoying time with my family.
Cause supported: The Heart Research Institute.
Most thrilling/adventurous thing I’ve ever done: Join Paul Smith in a startup!
Person in the industry I’d most like to meet: Sepp Blatter.
If I could change jobs with anyone for a day, it would be: President Obama.
2015 will be a good year if: Repucom continues to grow, my girls don’t grow up too fast, and my wife doesn’t spend too much! No specific order.
My fellow Forty Under 40 class members would be surprised to know that I:
Can play the trumpet.


JAMES GARLAND

Beer and a bum knee made Danny Townsend the man he is today.

Townsend knew that after multiple surgeries on his right knee, the chances of a long career as a pro soccer player were unlikely. So during his three-year career on the pitch in his native Sydney, Townsend also earned a bachelor’s degree in sport science from the University of

{podcast}

SBJ Podcast:
Forty Under 40 editor Mark Mensheha and Executive Editor Abraham Madkour discuss this year's class, some of the more interesting stories in it and how the selection process works.

New South Wales — and then an MBA, with an emphasis in international marketing, at Charles Sturt University.

He hung up his cleats at age 23 and became the commercial director at the Australian Jockey Club. There, he quickly secured a sponsorship with San Miguel Brewery, the biggest sports sponsorship in Australia at the time, Townsend said. But the Manila, Philippines-based company “had no idea what they were doing in Australia,” he said, and so they asked him to find them an agency.

“Being on the rights side of the property, I wanted to get them an agency that wasn’t going to bust my balls,” Townsend said.

Townsend paired San Miguel up with Paul Smith, who ran an activation agency in Sydney. With that beer deal as the catalyst, Smith and Townsend eventually joined forces in 2004 to form Repucom.

Since then, Townsend has launched Repucom’s business in Asia and Europe and now oversees a client base that includes the likes of the major U.S. pro leagues, FIFA and the Barclays Premier League. Emirates, Gatorade, Pepsi, Red Bull and Volkswagen are clients as well.

“Paul and I agreed on something very early on in our business life together,” Townsend said. “If we go into a meeting and talk about why we’re better than our competitors, then we’re already behind. We just stick with why we’re the right company to work with.”

— David Broughton


SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/03/30/Forty-Under-40/Danny-Townsend.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/03/30/Forty-Under-40/Danny-Townsend.aspx

CLOSE