Chicago-based sports marketing and media agency rEvolution acquired London-based agency Revolution Sports Marketing Group. Financial terms were not disclosed for the deal. The acquisition will see all current Revolution staff join rEvolution in their respective departmental roles, and Revolution folded into the rEvolution branding. It also will lead to the opening of a rEvolution office in London, marking the agency’s eighth satellite office outside of its Chicago HQ and the first rEvolution office outside of the U.S.
rEvolution President & Founder John Rowady said that “shared values” with Revolution co-Founder & Managing Dir Merrick Haydon were a major part of the agency’s decision to acquire Revolution. Rowady: “We saw that they had some of our integrated services, but we saw an opportunity to really create a full suite of services investing in the platform that they’d already created.” Revolution’s global work with clients in golf, rugby, motorsports and other int'l sports gives rEvolution the means to expand its services and reach for existing clients, as well as attract more int'l clients.
Rowady said of how Revolution’s existing int'l platform will benefit rEvolution, “Opening up the international landscape and furthering that vision opens up the opportunity to have access to bring brands into other sport platforms. … The equation can’t just be a U.S.-centric equation for the major brands that we work with. It has to open up opportunities that are also going to include a solid pathway into international sport and vice versa.”
