William Morris Endeavor took another step toward integrating IMG into its operation at its annual retreat, which featured appearances by Bill Clinton, Les Moonves and WME client Lady Gaga.
The four-day event in Carlsbad, Calif., is something WME has done in the past, but it offered a different twist this year because of WME’s $2.4 billion acquisition of IMG last year.
A total of 625 people attended, representing WME, IMG, Silver Lake and other WME partners Droga5, Red Interactive, the Raine Group and Jingle Punks Music. Of that total, 135 senior-level executives came from IMG.
The first day of the retreat was tailored specifically for IMG executives to learn more about the organization it has joined. Coined “WME University,” WME department heads from motion picture, advertising, theater, digital, personal appearances, books, TV, communications and global insight each provided details about divisions within WME and ways in which they might be able to work with IMG.
Clinton headlined a list of speakers, most of whom talked around a theme of “The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building A Business When There Are No Easy Answers,” the book by Ben Horowitz. The speakers were encouraged to talk about difficulties they had faced and how they overcame.
The annual retreat this month represented the second such gathering geared toward merging the two media, entertainment and sports giants. The first came in October when 200 executives from WME and IMG met over three days at IMG Academy in Florida. From that conference emerged the idea to stage WME University this month.
Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, the co-chief executives of the combined WME/IMG, have established that developing ways for WME and IMG to work more closely together is the highest of priorities. Both spoke at the retreat, and “operating as one company” was a significant part of their message.
The retreat was full of speakers and entertainment at the La Costa Resort & Spa. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga sang together, while Aloe Blacc and The Foo Fighters also performed the same evening.
WME also treated its guests to test drives of all-electric BMW automobiles and a county fair night with rides and games.
