Two Circles has a new office in Los Angeles and SVP Consulting Sam Yardley chatted with the Sports Techie community blog about the two-time Sports Industry Agency of the Year, their data-driven marketing approach, the move to sunny Southern California with his wife and baby, and the soon to be announced news regarding two upcoming client announcements. The level of data usage by each league, federation and association, as well teams, universities and their business partners, are all at different levels of commitment, development and execution when it comes to marketing technologies. Two Circles is poised to leverage their good standing in the UK, Europe and across the world as a leading sports data marketing agency into more business opportunities throughout North America with businesses looking for improved data-driven strategies.
Two Circles LA
Two Circles counts the Premier League, Wimbledon, The Open, International Cricket Council and UEFA as part of their portfolio of international clients. Add in the NFL, MLS, National Lacrosse League and New York Islanders, and you can see why they have been selected as Agency of the Year winner by the BT Sport Industry Awards. In total they now have four offices globally including the newest in LA.
Two Circles CEO Gareth Balch said: “Today is an important milestone in our growth. In the last 12 months we’ve seen unprecedented interest in the impact we can have helping sports organizations solve business challenges in areas ranging from digital sponsorship to growing OTT subscriptions and maximizing ticket revenue. This on-the-ground presence in LA will help capitalize on that.”
With operations now on both the West and East coast, Two Circles truly represents WPP as a worldwide sports rights-holder-facing agency, and is positioned within WPP subsidiary GroupM, the world’s largest media investment group. The agency helps the biggest rights-holders in sports use data to enhance fan experiences and increase revenues across game day, sponsorship and media business.
Before speaking to Yardley I looked over his Linked profile. I also let Sam know I have some time in SoCal having attended Whittier College for four years. He says their new office is open for business but the actual office space has not been decided upon yet but will be somewhere in West LA.
Sam explained the UK origin of Two Circles. They were founded 7 years ago because of a high demand for data across the UK. The use of data within sport was basic back then, usually used for performance and some business. When you think about all the major data analytics done on performance, applying the same thinking methodically to the business side sport was a relative no-brainer. Yardley called it, “Sport commercialism.”
Two Circles works with rights holders to make money by helping sell more tickets, they also have a deep understanding of digital sponsorship, the fan experience, and data driven OTT like a Netflix. He says overall the U.S. is more advanced than say the UK. An example is an inside sales team, something that was non-existent in the UK.
Two Circles’ technology-driven, service-led offering assists clients with better customer experience, increasing revenue and enhancing their partner proposition. They use business intelligence and predictive analytics as users watch games to find out viewer habits then Two Circles develops marketing programs designed to increase subscriptions from people more apt to buy.
Yardley added: “As the media and technology landscape continues to change at pace, North American leagues and franchises have a huge opportunity to drive business growth in every area. We believe we have the track record and expertise to do that with more rights-holders, both on the West Coast and across the region.”
Sports Portfolio
Two Circles works with the NFL, MLS, MLL and an NHL team New York here in the states.
NFL Europe Game Pass has been a huge success and Two Circles has been a large part of it along with partner, OverTier. Yardley says, “GamePass has easily seen double digit growth.”
With the Premier League, the model is different. The NFL has one web site and it is the same for the Falcons, Seahawks and Steelers regarding each organizations marketing and digital rights. The EPL does not have the same centralized infrastructure in place for all their teams expect for some broadcasts, says Yardley.
Sam was well spoken and extremely knowledgeable about data marketing but I had to challenge him about his passion for hockey and lacrosse since Two Circles works with MLL and an NHL team. Sam noted these two sports are not big in the UK, yet every single sport is unique and present many of the same challenges.
The NY Islanders are like a startup in that they are moving back to Long Island and needed a new centralized sales and service platform and data infrastructure, explained Yardley.
Sports Techie, the traditional NFL crowd is aging causing owners to reach across the pond for more fans. Yardley likes what the MLS is doing with the MLS Cup. He says college Sports are a huge opportunity for Two Circles.
Two Circles is an established consulting and services organization. Sam and the LA team are there to help with strategy, provide a blue print or take a product and run with it, in-between, making good on promises.
He sees value in live sports, cable fees and OTT.
If you need a social media strategy, or you are looking at a way to target younger viewers that mostly love watching video games, Two Circles LA is your one-stop, data marketing sports agency. Yardley said, “The use of data in gaming and legalized sport gambling in the next big frontier.”
The data marketing game continues.
See ya later sportstechie in Seattle, Atlanta and around the world!
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