Engine Shop, the award-winning sports, and entertainment marketing agency, has acquired IEG, the IEG Sponsorship Conference, and ESP Properties’ U.S. brand consultancy from GroupM, it was announced today. The deal unites IEG’s premier sponsorship valuation, research, and measurement services and thought-leadership programming with Engine Shop’s modern approach to multi-channel engagement marketing. Plans include a complete reimagination of IEG’s content and event platforms and a new set of research and valuation services. Engine Shop, is a Bruin Sports Capital company, and today’s announcement represents the latest in its aggressive global expansion.
“We are striving to build Engine Shop into the model, global engagement marketing agency,” said Brian Gordon, Engine Shop, CEO. “IEG’s proprietary services and events have made brands smarter for more than three decades. These are difference-making resources, and we are going to build on that with more tools, platforms and bold thinking to serve the industry at a time when the industry craves well-synthesized data to make the best, most effective decisions.”
IEG will operate as an autonomous affiliate of Engine Shop and continue to be headquartered in Chicago. Its exclusive IEG Valuation and Measurement services will continue to support global brands and rights holding organizations across all lifestyle verticals. Founded in 1982, hundreds of the most influential marketing spenders and rights holders have relied upon and endorsed its analytics tools, forecasts, proprietary valuation and measurement services for the last three decades. Engine Shop will significantly invest in these services, ensuring they meet the needs of today’s changing marketing environment.
The IEG Sponsorship Conference has been an annual fixture on the industry calendar and a centerpiece of IEG’s thought-leadership and best practices for 35 years. Changes to the signature conference will begin in 2019, starting with a new programming format covering multiple consumer engagement drivers (sports, entertainment, music, arts) and a focus on trend-forecasting and thought leadership. In tandem with this, Sponsorship.com, the organization’s editorial home, will relaunch at a later date as IEGWorld with a new approach to content and distribution. WPP acquired IEG in 2006.
Engine Shop’s engagement consultancy will also get deeper with the integration of the former ESP consulting practice in the U.S. This rapidly growing group will offer a new set of proprietary sponsorship valuation and measurement methodologies co-developed with the new IEG team. These will serve the agency’s partners in the planning, negotiation, goal setting and measurement across all channels of their engagement marketing programs.
All of these resources will also support Engine Shop’s esports, international football, Olympic and global sports marketing practices – all initiated through the acquisitions of The Gamer Agency (Dec. ’17), T Burns Sports Group (Feb. ’18) and SA Studios Global Esports and Soccer business (March ’18). Each of these groups will have access to this treasure trove of information and service platforms.
About Engine Shop: Engine Shop, is an award-winning Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing Agency that specializes in modern, omnichannel marketing campaigns that foster consumer engagement through experiences. Its clients include American Family Insurance, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Floor and Décor, Greyhound, Johnson & Johnson, Major League Soccer, Mercedes-Benz USA, Michael Kors, National Hockey League, Tiffany & Co. and Under Armour, among others. It also played a significant strategic role in the recent World Cup winning bid by the United Bid of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Engine Shop is headquartered in New York City with offices in Beverly Hills, Atlanta, and Chicago.
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