Levi Mandel
Sports marketing hardly covers the gamut of what Kary Brock works on anymore. After nearly two decades of managing high-profile sports sponsorships like Nextel’s series title deal with NASCAR and Nissan’s splashy entry to college sports, Brock now takes the lead on the Anheuser-Busch account in the U.S. for the Endeavor Global Marketing team.
The new buzzword around Endeavor is cultural marketing, which encompasses sports, entertainment and just about any other platform for the beer brands to engage consumers.
Brock oversees a team of 13 people on the A-B account, covering everything from traditional (NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, golf, NASCAR) to new and emerging (esports, surfing).
Brock’s team is responsible for seeking out those new opportunities, activating them and keeping them fresh.
“The strategy for the last year has been to pivot to culture to find those passion points and not just sports and entertainment,” Brock said. “That enables us to paint with much broader brush strokes.”
Brock started to understand the power of that approach two years ago when she began managing the Brad Paisley concert tour that hit multiple college campuses on football weekends for WME-IMG. The tour started during the early days of the WME-IMG integration and provided evidence that the companies could find ways to work together. (Paisley is a WME client; IMG College has the school relationships.)
The Paisley tour “truly embodies what Endeavor is trying to do now, with all of the senses converging,” Brock said.
Before joining the Endeavor group and working on A-B, Brock had spent much of her marketing life in college sports, first with Octagon at the Millrose Games and more recently at IMG College, where she helped build the sales and marketing departments as the college division was being formed.
Millrose was the perfect starting point, especially for a 22-year-old who excelled as a hurdler in college at Richmond. “You develop a lot of transferable skills,” Brock said, “especially when it comes to your mindset and pushing through adversity to get to your end goal.”
— Michael Smith
Age: 39
Where born: Kinnelon, N.J.
Education: University of Richmond, B.S./B.A. in marketing
What do you wish you could tell yourself 10 years ago? Give up. Give up your fears, self-defeat, impressing others, resistance to change, or living your life to others’ expectations.
Something your friends would consider “so you”: Seeing the positive side of situations and making up words.
Cause supported: John’s Toast is a platform that helps raise awareness and conversation about mental health.
Person in the industry you’d most like to meet: Phil Knight.
I am one of the best I know at … : Ability to adapt and evolve. Throughout my career, all instances have pushed me to do this and I have grown as a result. Also packing.
Ideal day off: April 18.
Most thrilling/adventurous thing I’ve done: Snowmobiling on the top of a volcano in Iceland or hang gliding off a cliff in Rio.
