Menu
Marketing and Sponsorship

Brown to lead CSM’s U.S. push

U.K.-based agency joins crowded market

London-based CSM Sport & Entertainment, a collection of 12 businesses around the globe, has its sights on the U.S. and named American Zak Brown to lead the charge as the group’s new chief executive.

CSM, a division of Chime Communications, has built a broad base of business throughout Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East over the past eight years, but has a small presence in the U.S.

Zak Brown joined CSM in 2013 when he sold his Just Marketing Inc. to the company.
Photo by: JUST MARKETING INTERNATIONAL
That is expected to change. Brown, as the new CEO, has been charged with filling that gap by growing CSM’s revenue in North America, both organically and through acquisitions. CSM’s eye on the U.S. marks the entry of a major player with Chime’s deep resources in the crowded sports and entertainment agency space.

“We have capabilities that a lot of people, especially in the U.S., don’t know about,” said Brown, whose goal is to double CSM’s total revenue within five years. “Right now, we’re a well-kept secret.”

Brown, a native of California, was a longtime resident of Indianapolis as he built Just Marketing International into a motorsports marketing powerhouse. He joined CSM in 2013 when the company bought JMI for $76 million. JMI was CSM’s first acquisition in the U.S. Brown at that time was named CSM’s chief of business development, in addition to his duties at JMI.

He will now take over leadership of CSM, which is made up of 12 sports and entertainment businesses, each of which has maintained its own branding and identity. Their range of competencies across their businesses includes sponsorship sales, activation, strategy, branding, athlete management, ticketing, media rights, hospitality, merchandise, motorsports and live events.

Over the last year, CSM was active helping brands activate at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games. Among the brands the firm’s agencies have worked with are Dove Men+Care in rugby, Jaguar/Land Rover in the Invictus Games and UBS in Formula One racing.

With all 12 agencies combined, the CSM group has 22 offices in 15 countries, accounting for 850 employees.

Chime, a global advertising and marketing services giant, created the CSM umbrella for its sports and entertainment holdings in 2007, and Sebastian Coe was named its executive chairman in 2013 prior to acquiring JMI. Coe’s influence — he was a world-class distance runner and chaired the London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games — has given CSM an especially strong base of international business around the Olympics. That won’t change, Brown said, as the company seeks growth in the U.S.

“North America will now be CSM’s No. 1 geographic priority,” Brown said. “The barriers to entry are difficult because the U.S. market is so mature. But we have no real presence right now and there is a ton of opportunity. We’re starting from a very low base. We don’t have to capture that much market share to see good growth. There’s only upside.”

Besides JMI, CSM’s only other company in the U.S. is SJX Partners, the Connecticut-based sponsorship sales and consulting shop run by Harlan Stone, a longtime sports executive who formerly worked as chief marketer for the U.S. Tennis Association and helped found Velocity Sports & Entertainment. Chime bought SJX and added it to the sports and entertainment group last year for $8.5 million.

At the time, Chime Chief Executive Christopher Satterthwaite hinted at the company’s goal of growing in the U.S.: “We are delighted with the SJX acquisition, which is in line with our stated strategy and expands our presence in the United States, the largest sports marketing marketplace in the world.”

A significant key to unlocking CSM’s potential, Brown said, will be getting its agencies to work more collaboratively. Future plans for organic growth or acquisitions are being vetted now, Brown said.

“What we have is scale, but we’re not working as efficiently as we can to benefit from that scale,” Brown said. “The big task is putting all of this scale together to become a well-oiled machine.”

Brown said CSM, at its best, could have an IMG-like profile, given its global base of business and variety of capabilities. He’s especially interested in moving deeper into two sports — golf and tennis — where an agency can create revenue from representing the athletes, owning and/or managing events and selling sponsorship and TV rights.

“We’re not ruling anything out,” said Brown, who added that Major League Soccer was an interest as well.

“CSM is a young company,” Coe said. “In a relatively short period we have created a world-class stable of market-leading businesses. … Zak has been building businesses, including JMI, for 20 years. His energy, passion and focus make him the right choice.”

Brown, who officially takes the CEO chair on Tuesday, will immediately begin to focus on new business opportunities and work closely with a handful of CSM’s senior executives out of its London headquarters. Jim Glover, the former CEO, will focus on global relationships as a deputy chairman. COO Ian Priest will take on much of the responsibility for building the CSM brand and helping its companies work together. Edward Leask, also a deputy chairman, will oversee mergers and acquisitions, while Roopesh Prashar will remain CFO.

Brown also pointed to the advantage of having input from Martin Sorrell, the CEO of WPP, which owns 18 percent of Chime. WPP is Chime’s largest shareholder.

“In an organization this big, you need to have a few right-hand men,” Brown said.

As Brown acknowledges, he will have his work cut out for him. While he is backed by a deep pool of resources, CSM’s entry in the U.S. will further crowd a packed sports agency landscape in North America, with big players such as WME-IMG, Octagon, CAA Sports, Wasserman Media Group, Team Epic, The Marketing Arm and GMR Marketing, to name a few, all battling for share. In addition, the large number of midsized agencies could lead to a consolidation of the agency business in the next 12 to 24 months, a development that CSM could push along even quicker.

Brown, 43, a SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 hall of famer, will still maintain an active role at JMI, the agency he founded in 1995, as executive chairman.

Jon Flack, a veteran of 13 years at JMI, will remain president in the U.S., while David Webb will continue as the international president. Brown’s CEO position will not be filled. JMI’s clients include UPS, Subway and Crown Royal.

“We’ve essentially completed phase one,” Brown said, referring to the acquisitions since CSM was formed. The focus now shifts to bringing the groups together. “We’re ready for phase two,” he said.

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/2015/03/23/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/CSM-Zak-Brown.aspx

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

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/03/23/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/CSM-Zak-Brown.aspx

CLOSE