Unofficial Partner Podcast

Welcome to All Models Are Wrong, the first in a new occasional series of Unofficial Partner conversations that focus specifically on digital strategy in sport. We first met Alex Balfour when he was chairman of Cricinfo, now part of ESPN in the early days of sports first Dotcom boom. He was one of a small group of people able to articulate the then future of sport’s relationship with technology. It was no surprise then that he landed the key digital role at LOCOG, the organising committee for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since then his career has included several landmark moments, he is currently CEO of Digital Brand Services and working on a digital strategy for the Commonwealth Games Federation, a Technology and Innovation Strategy for the Supreme Committee organising the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and advising on digital commercial strategy for CAAELeven, UEFA’s commercial partner for the 2020 European Football Championship (Euro 2020). The day of recording he’d just left his most recent project working with TEAM Marketing, UEFA’s exclusive commercial partner for the UEFA Champions League, Europa and Super Cups. Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Today we talk to David Coulthard, MBE the Formula One racing driver turned presenter and commentator, who co-founded the sports production company Whisper Films with BT presenter Jake Humphrey and former BBC producer Sunil Patel.Coulthard drove for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull racing teams during his career, winning 13 Grand Prix in all, finishing second in the 2001 driver’s championship to Michael Schumacher. His got his start in F1 in 1993, when he became a test-driver for the Williams F1 team, where he was promoted to the team after Ayrton Senna’s tragic death during the San Marino Grand Prix, with Coulthard’s first race drive taking place a week later at the Spanish Grand Prix, with Damon Hill as his team-mate.We talk about lockdown life in his home town of Monaco, the Senna documentary, what F1 insiders are talking about when it comes to getting the show back on the road, the W Series the women’s race series which Coulthard co-founded and plenty more besides. He was great company, which I think comes through our conversation.If you enjoy the Unofficial Partner podcasts please take the time to rate and review us on iTunes as it helps us find new listeners and move up the rankings.See you next time for more sports business conversations.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Today’s guest is Angus Buchanan, the managing director and co-founder of The Sports Consultancy, one of the leading independent consultancies in the sport and entertainment sector, and occupy a space between rights holders and host cities, a relationship that is under great strain as covid-19 shutdown tears up the sporting calendar. What happens next is the theme of this conversation and Angus is in a good spot to shed light on that question.The host cities contribute billions to the sports economy but get far less media coverage than the other major investors such as media and sponsors.Angus’ team have been able to map out the emerging international and domestic calendar for over 40 sports. This gives them an insight in to the decisions that need to be made on both sides of the host-rights holder divide and so we ask the question, is there a better way of organising the sporting year?Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

In today’s podcast we wanted to talk about something happy, something fundamentally good.  And this week has seen the sports business at its very best.  Brilliant people using sport to raise enormous amounts of money for good causes.So first up I spoke to Nick Rusling, founder and CEO of Human Race, and one of the creators of the2.6 Challenge, which was initiated by the mass participation industry in response to the postponement of events such as the London and Manchester Marathon, which has blown a £100million hole in the expected revenues of thousands of charities up and down the country.And then I talk to Luke Taylor, co-founder of Copa90, We R Interactive and Big Balls Media about the NHS Celebrity Cup, an esports tournament which pitted famous sport and entertainment stars and youtube influencers against each other, raising millions in the process for the national health service.Both campaigns mixed great ideas creative and strategy together with sport, celebrity and social media to brilliant effect.So I wanted to know how they did it and what the rest of us can learn from their experience.I think you’ll like it.https://www.twopointsixchallenge.co.uk/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jEA1ddsvsY&feature=emb_logoIf there any other campaigns you think we should celebrate over the coming weeks and months, just get in touch with me or sean via UnofficialPartner.com or on our social channels.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Today’s guest is Michelle Carney, CEO of Special Olympics GB, a non-profit organisation and the largest provider of year-round sports coaching and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.The organisation has more than 120 all ability, inclusive sports clubs covering 28 sports, providing approximately 27,000 regular hour-long sporting sessions per year.  This is delivered by around 4,000 volunteers who support more than 10,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.I talk to Michelle about how the Special Olympics is funded, the major event schedule and inevitably the impact of the current shutdown on the critical work done by the organisation around the world. I'm interested in how the Special Olympics is viewed by commercial partners, that line between commercial sponsorship and corporate philanthropy and the growing role of brand purpose in marketing decision making.https://www.specialolympicsgb.org.uk/ Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

We talk to Chubby Chandler and Nathan Homer about the big business questions facing the professional golf tours in Europe and America. It’s a conversation that needs a bit of context, for listeners who haven’t been following what’s been happening in the golf business over the last month or so. First, there’s the obvious theme of how the four major championships and the two big professional tours in Europe and America have responded to the COVID shutdown. There’s been a marked difference in tone and ambition on either side of the Atlantic. The three American based majors went early with new dates in late summer and Autumn, while The R&A has cancelled the 2020 Open Championship entirely. Similarly, Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour has been very quick to publish rescheduled event timetables, which seem to many observers to be on the ambitious side, while Keith Pelley head of the European Tour has been far more circumspect, sending out an email to its playing members warning of the profound effect of the shutdown on the golf economy. The story was broken by James Corrigan of the Daily Telegraph who obtained a copy of Pelley’s email and made it public, read James’ story here...Pelley writes:“Our tour has enjoyed a significant period of growth in recent years, in terms of prize funds, playing opportunities and the overall standard of our events, as well as our broadcast product. The impact of the coronavirus has stopped this rapid momentum in its tracks, and it will, in fact, require us to reassess many elements. You should therefore be prepared that when we do resume playing, the schedule and the infrastructure of tournaments could look radically different from what you have been used to. Many of the things you have become accustomed to, such as top-class players’ lounges or courtesy car services will most likely assume a different appearance, if indeed they are present at all.Then it goes on to say "Prize funds will also most likely be different. … The reality is, the pandemic is going to have a profound impact on the tour financially, as well as many of our partners, both in sponsorship and broadcast areas.”Now, running in parallel to this story is the rumours of a breakaway Premier Golf League, funded by the Raine Group and investment from the Saudi sovereign fund.  In what seems like a lifetime ago now, Geoff Shackelford the blogger, podcaster and Golf Channel contributor broke the story and followed up with a lengthy Q&A with Andrew Gardiner, one of the key people behind the Premier League. I’ll put a lUnofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

I first met Chris Hirst when he became Global chief executive at Havas Creative Network, which meant he was my boss while I worked at Cake the havas sport and entertainment agency in the network’s kings cross village in London. He was previously CEO at Grey London and is routinely ranked one of the industry's most influential people, and in 2018 he published a book called No Bullshit Leadership which has since picked up awards and good reviews across the business pages.We talk about how he looks at the job of leadership and the role of corporate culture at advertising and creative agencies. having written a leadership book myself I was interested in how he separates the hype that tends to gather around prominent sport and business leaders and the reality of their impact on team or corporate performance.We talk about culture in advertising and marketing agencies, how that survives or not after acquisition and his views on sport and sponsorship within the agency networks.As you’ll hear he’s a straightforward type of bloke who doesn’t dodge questions or give bullshit PR responses, which is good given the title of his book.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Thierry Borra spent 25 years working in sport for The Coca Cola Company, and for a large period of that time was responsible for the relationship with the Olympic Games.So what does the postponement of Tokyo 2021 mean for Coke, the IOC’s longest serving partner? How does the Olympics fit in to Coke’s marketing strategy and how do they know whether it works or not?This was an opportunity to go really deep in to the marketing landscape around the Games and to peer in to the often closed world of Coca Cola, a company that spends more money on sports rights than virtually any other, making it hugely influential across the sponsorship sector, where brands of all categories often ask, what would coke do?Thierry left Coca Cola after the Rio Games and has set up his own business Sport Matters, and I ask him what it’s like leaving Coca Cola after so long, and what advice he would have given himself on his first day.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Today’s podcast is one of a regular series of deep dives in to the commercial landscape in a particular sport. Each sport faces challenges that are common to all, but also there are specific differences that make them unique, this might be the commercial structure, the ownership, the political balance between club and country for example, or the role of private equity, which is certainly a feature of any current rugby business conversation.So to get in to the details, I sought the opinions of two people who have held senior commercial roles in the sport. Sophie Goldschmidt and Murray Barnett.Sophie Goldschmidt was formerly chief commercial and marketing officer at the Rugby Football union in England. She now lives in Santa Monica, having become CEO of the World Surf League. Before that Sophie was joint managing director of CSM Sport and Entertainment, and has held roles at the (NBA), the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and Adidas.From 2013 to 2016 Murray Barnett was chief commercial officer at World Rugby, the game’s global governing body, a period sandwiched between a long career at media giant ESPN and more latterly F1.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

Martin Offiah MBE is a rare thing, a rugby league player who is also a household name. As a player in the 1980s and 90s, he had an extraordinary impact on the game, scoring over 500 tries during his rugby league career, making him the highest try-scoring English player of all time, and now features in a statue of great rugby league players outside Wembley Stadium. Born in Hackney, London, Offiah was talent spotted at the Middlesex Sevens and started a career in rugby league, the only professional route available at that time. He was transferred from Widnes to Wigan in 1992 for £440,000, which was the biggest fee for a league player for fifteen years. We talk about his early days as a player, dealing with racism and how he has navigated that sometimes strange post-sports career world of reality television, Offiah starred in the first ever Strictly Come Dancing and now mixes sports punditry with his passion for the environment, working with Connected Kerb, the electric vehicle infrastructure company.The Unofficial Partner podcast is now published daily, and we're proud and grateful that our conversations are being listened to by thousands of people across the sports business every week of the year. If you'd like to enquiry about advertising, sponsorship or branded podcasts, please get in touch with Sean via email sean@unofficialpartner.co.uk or you can reach us via the website unofficialpartner.com.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 400 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.