IMG wants you to know that size matters. With 60 offices in 30 countries, a diversity of services and locales has long been a point of difference for the sports agency pioneer. More importantly, the sports and entertainment marketing giant is reshaping itself and showing positive results some four years after turnaround specialist Ted Forstmann bought the company for $750 million.
Any sports marketer will tell you how relatively difficult it is to buy collegiate assets and IMG has made moves to consolidate that business and position itself as the college marketing firm of choice.
First, it acquired licensing powerhouse Collegiate Licensing Co. in May 2007, then added Host Communications and the rights to sell NCAA marketing packages, via an agreement with the governing body and CBS. Those in the college space will tell you that if it isn’t nailed down, IMG is trying to buy it, and aggregate its collegiate assets.
Outside the collegiate world, IMG claims $500 million to $600 million in sponsorship sales annually. On the global front, this past year IMG established the new Indian Premier League, no small feat in a country where cricket is king.
In corporate consulting, IMG has made notable gains. With the addition of new assignments from Visa (FIFA World Cup), Kia (NBA team/league deals), Diageo for a European assignment, and Samsung (Vancouver Olympics), along with longtime clients like DHL, GE, Coke, Allstate and RBS, IMG is claiming industry-high consulting billings of $30 million.
“There’s nothing we’ve asked that they haven’t done,” said Lynne Koreman, senior director of sponsorship marketing for DHL, which IMG took into sponsorships with MLB and Fashion Week. “Beyond their expertise in sports and events, they just really understand our business.”
While IMG no longer has the breadth of sports representation it once had, the agency’s stable still houses Tiger Woods, Michelle Wie, Peyton Manning (marketing rights only), Roger Federer and John Madden. Meanwhile, its TWI unit remains the largest independently owned TV production business, with 6,000 hours of programming annually. That’s a lot of scale.
“Our focus has changed somewhat from individuals to corporations, but that’s a reflection of the business maturing,” said Sandy Montag, IMG senior corporate vice president and a 23-year veteran of the company.
“We’ve got a wider perspective now. Forstmann Little has given us access to new opportunities. Our playing field is just a lot bigger now.”
Bold and smart entry into college sports with acquisition of CLC and Host Communications.
