Tyson Webber has been elevated from executive vice president to president of GMR Marketing after more than a decade with the Omnicom-owned sports/entertainment/experiential marketing agency.
Webber, a SportsBusiness Journal/Daily Forty Under 40 honoree in 2012, succeeds Craig Connelly as president.
GMR said that Connelly will continue with the firm “in a senior advisory role throughout 2016.”
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Tyson Webber started with GMR in Charlotte in 2002 and relocated to Milwaukee in 2013.
Photo by: GMR MARKETING
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Webber will report to GMR Global CEO Cam Parsons, and will run operations in the Americas, overseeing divisions including business development, research, strategic planning and client services.
He will continue to be based in GMR’s Milwaukee headquarters.
In an interview, Webber identified key growth areas for GMR as digital/content production, analytics, e-sports, where GMR has established an agency practice, and further growth outside of the U.S.
“You see there are no major global sports events planned in the U.S., or even the Western Hemisphere, until 2024 at the earliest [a possible Los Angeles Olympic Games], so it’s got to be about brands with a global footprint for us,” he said.
Webber started with GMR in Charlotte in 2002 and relocated to Milwaukee in 2013. The company has 17 offices in nine countries, with 850 employees worldwide.
In another organizational move, Bryan Rasch shifts from GMR’s chief digital officer, a title he has held since 2008, to chief innovation officer. The move underscores the increasing load of creative/content work being taken on by agencies that never were considered for creative work previously.
“We’re all production studios now,” Webber said. “Mobile devices offer such a great and individualized avenue to reach consumers, it’s a great gateway to reach them, but it has also made it difficult to get the messaging right to reach consumers on those devices. The appetite for mobile consumption of media is exploding, so we have to be able to take advantage of that.”
