Intersport this month named Brian Graybill as its new president. The Chicago-based content, experiential, corporate consulting and hospitality shop is also reorganizing into two business units — one administering properties and media assets and another charged with service offerings, including sponsorship consulting, content marketing, experiential efforts and corporate hospitality.
Graybill joined Intersport in 2013, after 12 years in brand marketing and sales at PepsiCo. Charlie Besser, who founded Intersport in 1985, will continue as chairman and CEO, but will concentrate on business development. Graybill will focus on operations, the two business units, and other revenue functions.
“This is a way for us to play to our strengths,” Graybill said. “Charlie’s a great entrepreneur and networker with a great ability to create business from his industry network.”
Shannon Dan will head the agency services division as executive vice president of agency services, while Drew Russell will run the properties and media assets unit as executive vice president, properties and media assets.
Graybill said that as he moved from client side to the agency world, the demand for multiservice agencies has increased. “The pendulum has swung,” he said. “Of course, analytics and measurements are more in demand than ever, but we have also evolved from an era of specialized agencies a decade ago. As budgets got tighter, brands want to do more with less. There’s more of a mindset for full-service agencies.”
Intersport has around 150 employees in its Chicago, New York and Detroit offices, and several satellite locations. Graybill said the agency hopes to soon reach around 200 employees. He identified culinary marketing, esports, property development and content creation, long an Intersport hallmark, as key growth areas.
