Dentsu Aegis Network global lifestyle marketing agencies MKTG and Team Epic complete integration in United States

Leading Sports, Entertainment and Lifestyle Marketing Agencies Come Together as Part of the MKTG Global Network

NEW YORK (January 4, 2017) – Today, Dentsu Aegis Network announced the completed integration of United States-based agencies MKTG and Team Epic to form a lifestyle marketing powerhouse that combines MKTG’s award-winning capabilities in experiential, creative, strategy, retail and B2B marketing, with the sponsorship and brand partnership focus of Team Epic.

With its core in sports and entertainment marketing, Team Epic will provide MKTG with an enhanced sponsorship consulting, strategy and campaign development offering, as well as a strong pedigree in digital marketing.

This formal integration comes just 14 months since Dentsu Aegis Network named MKTG it’s ninth global network brand, confirming its commitment to further strengthening the Network’s lifestyle marketing offering. From the time of the announcement, MKTG grew from offices in the US, to offices in 21 countries, and from 435 to 1,600 full time staff. This came as the result of integrating and rebranding numerous independent lifestyle marketing agencies that were already part of Dentsu Aegis Network, as well as through the acquisitions of marketing and sports sponsorship agencies in Dusseldorf, Madrid, Mumbai, Paris and Toronto in 2016.

Leveraging its collective experience, MKTG will now provide clients with a truly integrated through-the-line service offering including sports and entertainment consulting, experiential marketing, sponsorship identification, negotiation and activation, hospitality, strategy, research and insights, custom measurement, digital and creative capabilities, content development, design and retail marketing.

The combined client roster includes such long-standing blue chips as IBM (since 1986), Diageo (since 1992), FedEx (since 1993), P&G (since 1999), PepsiCo (since 1999) and AT&T (since 2000). Furthermore, Team Epic’s founders, Mike Reisman and Dave Grant, will lead MKTG’s newly-formed Sports and Entertainment practice and Bob Wilhelmy will become CFO of the combined entity in the US.

“We are excited to join forces, as the addition of Team Epic to MKTG brings us closer to our goal of establishing the industry’s best integrated lifestyle marketing agency network,” said Charlie Horsey, US CEO and Global President of MKTG. “I’m thrilled with the collaboration that I’ve seen, which in a short time has already garnered great success for new clients, existing clients and for each of our employees who have so much additional growth opportunity.”

“As our agencies have come together, we have been quickly energized by a common view of the consumer,” said Mike Reisman, Team Epic Founding Partner and Principal. “We believe the more human a brand can be the more people will desire and embrace it.”

MKTG will now have 600 full time U.S. employees and 7,000 brand ambassadors in the United States. The agency will be headquartered in New York City with US offices in Westport, CT, Charlotte, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

About Dentsu Aegis Network

Part of Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Aegis Network is made up of ten global network brands - Carat, Dentsu, Dentsu media, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, Merkle, MKTG, Posterscope and Vizeum and supported by its specialist/multi-market brands. Dentsu Aegis Network is Innovating the Way Brands Are Built for its clients through its best-in-class expertise and capabilities in media, digital and creative communications services. Offering a distinctive and innovative range of products and services, Dentsu Aegis Network is headquartered in London and operates in 145 countries worldwide with around 35,000 dedicated specialists.

About MKTG

MKTG, part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, is a global lifestyle marketing agency that specializes in delivering strategic, business-oriented marketing solutions for leading brands via sport and entertainment consulting, live experiences, retail marketing, enterprise/B2B engagement, hospitality and sponsorship marketing. We are committed to constantly evolving, refining and inventing innovative brand engagements through deeper understanding of how people think, work and live their lives. Headquartered in New York City, we have 1,600 employees and 7,000 Brand Ambassadors operating in 21 countries across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. 

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For further information contact:

Stephanie Rudnick | SVP, Global Communications Director p: 212-660-3838 e: srudnick@mktg.com

STEPHANIE RUDNICK

SVP, COMMUNICATIONS, MKTG USA

GLOBAL BRAND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR 

MKTG
32 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, 20TH FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10013
T: 212-660-3838 | C: 917-538-2411