Lagardère Unlimited, the sports marketing division of conglomerate Lagardère, is to unify all its agencies under the single commercial brand name of Lagardère Sports and Entertainment.
The development means that the Sportfive, World Sport Group, IEC in Sports, Sports Marketing and Management and Lagardère Unlimited Inc. brand names will disappear as of today (Tuesday), a Lagardère spokesperson confirmed to SportBusiness International.
The agencies will come under the Lagardère Sports umbrella name, with all entertainment businesses, most of which are operational in France, coming under the Lagardère Live Entertainment brand. The Lagardère Group specialises in the content production and distribution sectors.
“To consolidate our ambitions, we set out on a series of strategic acquisitions,” Lagardère Group chief executive Arnaud Lagardère said. “As our integration continues, the launch of our unified brand is a logical and necessary outcome.
“The group is transforming and the recent reorganisation has already yielded positive results. We're combining our forces to be stronger, more agile and to capitalise on growing opportunities in the sports and entertainment business.”
Over the past 12 months, the various businesses forming Lagardère Sports have been gradually integrated across more than 60 offices in 25 countries.
Lagardère Group’s chief operating officer, Andrew Georgiou (pictured), said: “This new single brand expresses the group's new organisation and our corporate culture – global as well as local, positioned across key geographies and spanning key value segments, with a robust network of marketing and media experts, we are confident in our ability to create value for our clients, in a more global and integrated way.”