CSE is reorganizing and rebranding into two separate entities — one focused on talent representation, the other on creating branded experiences.
CSE Talent, which represents coaches, broadcasters, athletes and personalities, will now be known simply as CSE and will be based in Atlanta and led by Danny Martoe.
The company’s corporate marketing agencies, which collectively had been known as CSE, will be merged and will now be known as You Are Here, or YAH for short. Doug Manning, who had been president of CSE, will be president of YAH and also will be based in Atlanta.
CSE Talent will now be called simply CSE, while the former CSE is now You Are Here, or YAH.
YAH includes what was known as CSE, as well as Treefort, a creative and digital marketing agency, and You Are Here Labs, an augmented reality and virtual reality studio.
CSE was founded by sports agency pioneer Lonnie Cooper 33 years ago. YAH and CSE will continue to be owned by his company, Cooper Holdings Inc.
While the ownership is unchanged, Manning said CSE and CSE Talent have been operating as separate companies since 2016. The revamp reflects not so much a renaming of the marketing side, which counts AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Coca-Cola and Aflac as clients, but a merging of agencies with strong consumer experience capabilities.
“We are not ever going to stop doing sports marketing or sponsorship or activation or those things,” Manning said. “But there is more that we have to offer to our brand partners now and we wanted to almost have this sense of being a new agency and being able to craft a little bit of a different story.”
For Martoe, when he had the chance to change the name of the agency he runs to just CSE, he grabbed it. “It was a major win as the name has so much brand equity and history,” he said.
In the last year, CSE has signed multiple new clients in its core areas of representing coaches and broadcasters, as well as branching out into representing talent in soccer and emerging sports.
New CSE coaching clients include Atlanta Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce, University of North Carolina at Charlotte head basketball coach Ron Sanchez, San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina, WNBA Atlanta Dream head coach Nicki Collen, Charlotte Hornets G League assistant coach Chasity Melvin and Philadelphia 76ers player development coach Lindsey Harding.
The coaching clients are represented by CSE agents Mark Carmony, Bobby Height and Mike Ellis.
In broadcasting and media, CSE has signed Marc Spears, senior NBA writer for ESPN’s The Undefeated; Mark Dominick, former general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Tim Neverett; and Fox Sports FIFA Women’s World Cup host Aaron West. CSE also signed former U.S. Women’s National Team goalkeeper Hope Solo for broadcasting work.
The broadcasters and media personalities are represented by agents Traci Wilkes Smith, Boomer Dangel, Steve Casciani and Carmony.
