LOS ANGELES & MUNICH & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CAA Sports, a division of leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), further expands its global marketing capabilities with the acquisition of Munich-based sports and entertainment brand consultancy, Cemano Communication. Founded in 2007 by Marc Socher and Dominicus Doriat, Cemano is an award-winning advisory firm that has worked on behalf of such renowned brands as Allianz, The Coca-Cola Company, MINI, Henkel, German energy company E.ON, German Free TV, and MAN, among others. The firm provides its clients with industry-leading insights from brand engagement strategy to activation, event management, digital & social media, and branded entertainment. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
CAA Sports Consulting launched in October 2011, and today advises, manages, and activates on more than $2.5 billion in sponsorship rights deals on behalf of leading global brands, including Bose, CVS, JPMorgan Chase, Emirates Airline, KPMG, and Nestlé, among others. CAA Sports most recently announced its acquisition of brandrapport, an award-winning London-based sports marketing agency, adding 25 executives to the CAA Sports Consulting team and a host of new blue-chip brand clients. In 2014, CAA acquired PGW, one of the most awarded and respected experiential marketing agencies in the industry, consistently appearing atop industry-ranking lists including Promo Magazine’s Top 100 and Event Marketer’s It List.
Effective immediately, Cemano’s 25 employees will join CAA Sports Consulting, and be based in CAA’s Munich office. Working under the leadership of Global Head of CAA Sports Consulting Greg Luckman, Socher and Doriat will serve as Head of CAA Sports Consulting Germany. With a team of more than 300 people dedicated to servicing brands, CAA Sports provides clients full-service marketing services spanning strategic advisory, experiential, hospitality, and analytics.
“In a short period of time, we have solidified CAA’s leadership position in the sports consulting space in the U.S., and are equally focused on delivering our best-in-class service offerings to clients globally,” said Luckman. “Marc, Dom, and their team are among the most accomplished and well-respected international brand marketing executives, and we look forward to collaborating on world-class opportunities for our clients in Germany and beyond.”
“We are really excited to be part of CAA Sports. For us, this is a natural next step in our story,” said Socher. “CAA’s knowledge and network within the world of sport and entertainment will add value to our service offering and thereby to our clients and our team, and that is tremendously motivating.”
“We believe that storytelling for brands using the communicative power of sport talent and properties is the future of our industry,” added Doriat. “CAA has unmatched credentials in entertainment and is well-positioned to assume a dominant position in the global sports consulting business. Our clients and our team will strongly benefit from the agency’s momentum and we look forward to building CAA Sports into one of the most prolific consulting firms in Europe.”
The acquisition of Cemano marks the seventh company acquired by CAA Sports in 12 months, and the 11th company in 24 months for CAA.
In 2014, CAA Sports established its presence in Munich, with the acquisition of full-service event marketing agency, professional golf management GmbH (pgm), which specializes in the development and management of national and international events in amateur and professional golf and has expertise in event conception, as well as golf consulting and strategic development.
On June 8, 2015, CAA acquired two industry-leading corporate hospitality firms – Goviva and Beyond Sports & Entertainment – to combine forces with Inside Sports & Entertainment Group, which the agency acquired in 2014, to become CAA Premium Experience. CAA Premium Experience is a best-in-class, full-service hospitality, event management, and marketing practice that features more than 50 employees working with Fortune 500 companies across hundreds of global sports and entertainment events annually. The company combines the creativity, innovation, and state-of-the-art client service of the world’s most accomplished corporate hospitality executives and organizations with CAA’s unmatched resources and relationships within entertainment, sports, and pop culture to deliver world-class VIP experiences for customers globally.
Most recently, CAA Sports announced its acquisition of ICON Venue Group, an owner’s representative and project management firm, whose world-class portfolio is the most extensive in the sports and entertainment industry, and includes The O2 arena in London, Consol Energy Center, Prudential Center, Sprint Center, Rogers Place, Sports Authority Field, 10 of the 14 MLS stadiums constructed or renovated, and the Wrigley Field Restoration project, among many others. CAA Sports’ industry-leading Property Sales group has completed more than $3.5 billion in new sponsorship business on behalf of its clients, including Red Bull Racing, FC Barcelona, and Chelsea FC, among others, and orchestrated precedent-setting agreements for the new Yankee Stadium; the Marquee partnership deal at Madison Square Garden; the naming rights for the San Francisco 49ers Levi’s Stadium; and the recently announced Chase Center.
In 2015, the agency acquired Fermata Partners, a specialized consumer products licensing agency that represents more than $2 billion in annual retail sales. CAA’s merchant bank, Evolution Media Capital (EMC), provides traditional investment banking services, as well as a broad range of strategic advisory services to maximize growth and expansion for its clients. Since its inception in 2008, it has advised on more than $44 billion in transactions.
ABOUT CAA SPORTS
The four-time recipient of the award for “Best in Talent Representation and Management,” presented by the Sports Business Journal, CAA Sports represents more than 1,000 of the world's best athletes in such sports as baseball, football, hockey, basketball, soccer, tennis, and golf, in addition to coaches, on-air broadcasters, and sports personalities. Beyond traditional athlete representation, CAA Sports provides unique opportunities for clients off the field, in areas including licensing, endorsements, speaking, philanthropy, books, and video games. CAA Sports also works in the areas of broadcast rights, corporate marketing initiatives, and sports properties for sales/sponsorships, for which the agency won “Best in Property Consulting, Sales, and Client Service” at the 2016 Sports Business Awards.
CAA Sports is a division of leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). CAA represents many of the most successful professionals working in film, television, music, theatre, video games, sports, and digital content, and provides a range of strategic marketing and consulting services to corporate clients. Founded in 1975, CAA has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, London, and Beijing, among other locations globally. CAA’s clients include actors, actresses, writers, directors, producers, musicians, athletes, and other influential artists and executives. CAA works closely with production companies, technology companies, and corporate brands, providing services that include marketing through entertainment, strategic counsel, financing, communications strategy, and philanthropy consulting.