The Buy Side is our regular series in which we talk to brand marketers about sport and sponsorship.
This week's guest is Stuart Wareman, SVP of Sponsorship, Events and Experiences for Accor, the French multinational hotel group that owns, manages and franchises hotels in over 5300 locations in 110 countries and is the biggest hospitality company in Europe, the sixth biggest in the world. 
Its booking platform brand Accor Live Limitless (ALL) has become a familiar presence in sport. The brand's sport sponsorship portfolio includes the shirt of PSG and official partnerships with Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, The 2023 Rugby World Cup and many other major national relationships. 

Today’s episode is sponsored by our friends at Turnstile.
Do you know what your sponsorship is really worth, or are you guessing? Turnstile uses real market rates to quantify the value every single sponsorship right within a deal, looking beyond the traditional media metrics to calculate the value of the Exposure, Intellectual Property and Direct Benefits.

This enables Turnstile to deliver a recommended transaction price that’s comprehensive, accurate and defensible. So don’t pay too much. Don’t leave money on the table. Know the fair market price, and buy and sell with confidence. If you value your sponsorships, value them properly. Get in touch with Turnstile at turnstilegroup.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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.

The Big Idea is our series on creativity in sports marketing with regular sidekick Simon Moore, the award-winning consulting creative director.
Today we focus on one of the most awarded campaigns in recent years: Burger King's Stevenage Challenge.
If a brand wants to sponsor the best football players, they have to pay millions. But Burger King found a way to endorse them without paying them a single penny. It sponsored a team at the bottom of English football’s 4th division: Stevenage. BK knew that if its logo was on their shirt, it was going to appear in FIFA 20. The brand then launched the #StevenageChallenge, inviting gamers to play with Stevenage and sharing UGC of the likes of Messi and Neymar wearing the BK logo, for BK rewards in return. It turned a small team in real life into the biggest team online.

Main Awards 
- Direct Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions 2021 

CREDITS 
Brand: Burger King. 
Advertising agencies: DAVID Madrid and DAVID Miami. 
Global Chief Creative Officer: Pancho Cassis. 
Chief Operating Officer: Sylvia Panico. 
Executive Creative Director: Saulo Rocha, Andre Toledo. 
Group Creative Director: Fernando Pellizzaro, Jean Zamprogno. 
Creative Director: Fred Bosch. 
Copywriter: Luis Giraldo, Alex Allen, Jared Schermer. 
Art Director: Felipe Antonioli, Andy Tamayo. 
Head of Social: Alex Sanchez. 
Director of Strategy: Jon Carlaw. 
Planner: Stephanie Salvador. 
Junior Planner: Vanessa Amaral. 
Group Account Director: Stefane Rosa. 
Management Supervisor: Jenny Gobel. 
Head of Global Production: Veronica Beach. 
Producer: Marina Rodrigues. 
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Barbara Karalis. 
Production Company: Landia. 
Music & Sound Company: Twenty Below Music, Jamute. 
Audio Mixing: Heard City. 
PR: ABMC. 
Media Placement: Horizon Media & Scout. 
Social Media: MullenLowe. 
Digital Studio: Unicorns & Unicorns. 
Animation: Mr. Klauss.

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.

What's going on at UK Athletics?
The last few weeks have seen a series of stories about the financial plight of the governing body.
In the accounts released in December, UKA returned a £1.8million deficit for 2021-22 with reserves falling from £2.2m to £430,000 in the space of a year.
Subsequent stories have referenced job losses and most recently the decision to close its Alexandra Park head office in Birmingham.
Today's guest is Ed Warner, who was chair of UK Athletics for ten years between 2007 and 2017.
Warner recently wrote a blistering critique of the current state of UK Athletics, in his own newsletter, Sport Inc.

This was in part a response to a piece by Matt Lawton in The Times, which we reference in the first part of our conversation.

That article is here (paywall) Drive To Survive: UK Athletics offering Netflix-style documentary in bid to avoid going bust.
Ed Warner's current roles reflect his previous careers in sport and financial services. He's chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and Crystal Palace's Palace for Life Foundation and holds similar roles at HarbourVest Global Private Equity among others.  
We talked to Ed at The Kia Oval cricket ground in London during the recent SportsPro Live event, so thanks to Nick Meacham and his team at SportsPro for letting us do that. 

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.

Sports Podge is a British sports industry institution. The invite-only networking lunch began life 18 years ago in the upstairs room at the famous Langan's Brasserie in Park Lane, London. 
Ahead of this week's event at the Kia Oval, we took Podge creator Phil Jones, his daughter and business partner, Clare Jones, along with Sports Podge co-founder Jimmy Worrall back to Langan's to discover the secret ingredients that encourage the sports industry's biggest names to come back year after year. 

And to help jog memories of Podge's past we invited some of their friends: 

Emma Atkins (CEO of Groundwork and sports consultant), 

Alexandra Willis (Director of Digital Media and Audience Development at the Premier League), 

Matthew Wotton (Executive Director - Sports, Media and Entertainment, Coutts)

Kit Taylor (Managing Director, PSD Group).  

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.

Crypto.com has been one of the biggest spenders in the sports sponsorship market over the last three years, putting its brand to properties including FIFA World Cup, F1 and the Aston Martin team, UFC, Australia Football League and the naming rights to the Staples Centre in Los Angeles among many others.
Every major sports property in the world rushed to do deals in a category of companies seeking to pay high fees in return for global brand awareness and brand trust.
Then came the FTX scandal which rocked not just the crypto and web3 sectors but also the sports world, which sought reassurance as to whether they were going to get paid.
It's this rollercoaster we explore in this podcast, with Crypto.com's head of sponsorship Alex Shapiro, whose cv also features Visa and ESPN, along with Buy Side co-hosts Sally Hancock and Shaun Whatling.   

Today’s episode is sponsored by our friends at Turnstile, who are asking a good question: do you know what your sponsorship is really worth, or are you guessing?Turnstile uses real market rates to quantify the value every single sponsorship right within a deal, looking beyond the traditional media metrics to calculate the value of the Exposure, Intellectual Property and Direct Benefits. This enables Turnstile to deliver a recommended transaction price that’s comprehensive, accurate and defensible. So don’t pay too much. Don’t leave money on the table. Know the fair market price, and buy and sell with confidence. If you value your sponsorships, value them properly. Get in touch with Turnstile at turnstilegroup.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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.

What's the difference between the US and European sports marketplace? 
Few people are better positioned to answer this question than Jon Stainer, the US based Englishman who is Global General Manager of Nielsen Sports, the leading source of sports measurement and analytics around the world.
Stainer has led multiyear relationships with the NFL, NBA and Premier League during his time at Nielsen, bringing a truly international perspective on the sports industry, working on three Olympic Games and two FIFA World 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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.

What's your next job? Where will it come from? What are the factors that make you more or less likely to get it?
What's your office culture like? Can you maintain culture when most people are working from home? Do you trust colleagues to work hard from home?
What about networking, is it the secret to career success, or just a euphemism for drinking?
Is the sports business a booze culture? What does sport look like to people who don't drink?
How old is too old to work in sport?
Is 45 the new 60?
All these questions and many more are put to our guests, Ishveen Jolly and Mark Thompson.
Ishveen is Founder and CEO of OpenSponsorship, an Inc magazine Top 100 Female Founder and a Forbes 30 Under 30 alumni.
Mark is Chief Operating Officer of newly promoted Burnley Football Club, and formerly a strategic consultant for Two Circles. The recording took place at the new London offices of Spectacle Partners and we thank them for their support.
Interested in How To Get On In The Sports Business, here are some other UP podcasts you might want to listen to:
UP163 Paul Nolan's Careers Advice
UP269 Sports Business networks and how to build them
UP245 What it means to be Unsigned

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.

The big retailers are years ahead of sport when it comes to understanding their own customers.  
So we asked today's guests what can sport learn from Sainsbury's, Tesco, Target and Amazon. 
We're joined by Finn Bradshaw and Claire Kelly.
Finn is head of digital at the International Cricket Council, the game's global governing body.  
Claire is General Manager of Gemba Europe. 

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.

Kumar Sangakkara is one of the most important and influential voices in international cricket today and in an ideal position to offer insight in to many of the current sports business themes. The IPL has changed cricket forever, and is challenging the status quo of the traditional game, run by the national governing bodies and the ICC.
As a player, he's regarded as the greatest wicket keeper batsmen of any era, he scored 28,016 runs in International cricket, the second highest total of all time. In 2019 he became President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. His MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture was a powerful and brave criticism of corruption and incompetence in Sri Lanka cricket, and a rallying call for change in the way the sport is governed. He is currently director of cricket for the Rajasthan Royals IPL franchise, and he talked to us from the road between matches. 
The other guest is Rowena Samarasinhe, a partner at Level law firm and managing director of GenSport, previously General Counsel at Dentsu's athlete management service and has held senior roles in squash and rugby union. 

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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.

DAZN continues to be one of the most talked about companies in the sports media world since its launch in 2016. But the story is shifting from its initial ambition to be 'The Netflix of Sport'. The last set of accounts showed DAZN's operating losses of $1.3billion, taking the total Group loss to $5billion in five years.
Yet the company remains a significant bidder for sports rights. According to the sae  accounts, DAZN has a committed rights spend of $3.2bn through to the end of 2028, and this month announced a ten year deal to stream NFL Game Pass International from the 2023 season, enabling fans outside the US to watch every NFL regular and postseason game, including the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, its attempts to build a foothold in the UK domestic football market continue, including a proposal to stream all 1,656 matches of the EFL, challenging the 3pm blackout and a likely bid for domestic Premier League rights in the next cycle.
We talk to Veronica Diquattro, DAZN's CEO of Global Markets who's joined by Richard Johnson, sports marketing strategist formerly of Manchester United, New Balance and Ineos Grenadiers Cycling Team.

Today’s episode is sponsored by our friends at Turnstile, who are asking a good question: do you know what your sponsorship is really worth, or are you guessing?Turnstile uses real market rates to quantify the value every single sponsorship right within a deal, looking beyond the traditional media metrics to calculate the value of the Exposure, Intellectual Property and Direct Benefits. This enables Turnstile to deliver a recommended transaction price that’s comprehensive, accurate and defensible. So don’t pay too much. Don’t leave money on the table. Know the fair market price, and buy and sell with confidence. If you value your sponsorships, value them properly. Get in touch with Turnstile at turnstilegroup.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 @UnofficialPartner

We 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.