“Passion. Engagement. Results.”
Headquartered in McLean, VA , Octagon is the global leader in the sports and entertainment industry with over 25 years of success in client service, sponsorship consulting, event marketing and talent representation
A global sports, entertainment and music conglomerate
Part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (NYS:IPG)
World’s largest sponsorship consulting and talent representation practice
Influences 3 billion dollars worth of annual worldwide sponsorship fees and branded entertainment initiatives
Operates with over 800 employees globally, hundreds of athlete and personality clients and manages over 13,000 events per year
Founded in 1970 as one of the first sports law and management companies in the world
The firm later evolved into ProServ, a sports management firm focusing on tennis
Difficulties began to arise in the 80’s, and the original partners left to start Advantage International
After initial success, Advantage was sold to Interpublic Group in 1997 in order to sustain itself in the market place, and later merged into today’s Octagon
Two main divisions make up Octagon: Athletes and Personalities: broken down into sports and
entertainment categories dealing with talent representation (i.e. basketball, baseball, football, music, First Call, Digital)
Marketing: handling of corporate sponsorship, event management, sales, and client sponsorship dealings
In 2008, Octagon was awarded top sports agency honors by Sports Business Journal and was named the inaugural Sports Agency of the Year
Octagon later acquired a large portion of sports management firm CSMG, including their baseball, coaches, broadcast, and marketing divisions
BASEBALLFelix HernandezJohn LackeyVictor MartinezBen Zobrist
BASKETBALLStephen CurryRudy GayJimmer FredetteKirk HinrichDavid West
BROADCASTINGBrian BillickBill CowherHerman EdwardsAndrea KremerCurt Menefee
MUSICAnastaciaEscalaIL DIVOJames
FOOTBALLAaron CurryShonn GreeneJustin TuckLaMarr Woodley
TENNISElena DementievaJuan Carlos FerreroDaniela HantuchovaRobin Soderling
OLYMPICSNatalie CoughlinKatie Hoff Apolo Anton OhnoMichael Phelps
PERSONALITITESDenise AustinSebastian CopelandHank HaneyJeanette Lee
ENTERTAINMENTMark MagrathPiers MorganNancy O’DellMarie OsmondDr. Drew Pinsky
COACHES/MANAGERSBob BowmanJack Del RioMarvin LewisJoe MaddonMike Smith
RETIRED LEGENDSWade BoggsRandy JohnsonGale SayersEmmitt SmithBart Starr
HOCKEYDustin ByfuglienBrian CampbellPatrik EliasRyan Miller
““Octagon is a global Octagon is a global powerhouse that can powerhouse that can
understand and understand and access the passion access the passion
for the ultimate for the ultimate benefit of our clients, benefit of our clients,
partners, and partners, and constituents.” constituents.”
- Rick Dudley - Rick Dudley
President & CEOPresident & CEO
NORTH AMERICAAtlantaCaryCharlotteChicagoDetroitHuntington BeachLos AngelesMcLeanMinneapolisNaplesNew YorkNorwalkOrlandoOttawaPortlandRenoRichmondRogersSan DiegoSan FranciscoScottsdaleTorontoTulsaWaterloo
EUROPE
BarcelonaBrusselsFrankfurtIstanbulLisbonLondonMoscowMunichParisStockholmZurich
BeijingDubaiHong KongMumbaiRiyadhSingaporeTokyo
Cape TownJohannesburg
HobartMelbourneSydney
AUSTALLIA
AFRICA
ASIA
SOUTH AMERICABuenos AiresRio de JaneiroSantiagoSao Paulo
Octagon has over 800 staff, in 22 countries, on 6 continents
Receive five to ten sponsorship sales during my cold call process for the Stephen Curry Charity Golf Tournament
Sit in on and contribute to over 10 meetings/conference calls with Octagon clients and/or potential sponsors
Research, create, and present at least two of my own marketing campaigns for Octagon athletes and personalities
Present my ideas and work to an Octagon client, and receive his/her feedback about the feasibility of that idea
Discover at least five new companies to try and partner Octagon clients and events with
My Octagon Experience Highlights:
Once in a lifetime learning opportunity Non-stop and fast paced work days Part of a large, extended family Able to work on projects for major clients Given full access to client information and pending deals Allowed to partake in business meetings and conference calls Challenged myself by working on tasks that were out of my comfort zone Achieved all of my goals in one way or another
Jennifer Keene, Senior Director of Athlete and Property Marketing:
Most influential boss I have had Trusted me to be able to complete difficult and critical tasks for clients Allowed me freedom to work on my own projects for Octagon Gave me the chance to meet and communicate with clients and executives Made sure that every day was a learning experience for me Taught me to read and write contracts and how to think critically Treated me as an equal, experienced colleague, and not an entry-level intern
Daily Octagon Interactions:
NYC office included A&P Marketing, Global Events, First Call and Octagon Access
Only A&P Marketing intern in NYC, but worked with interns in other departments
Interacted and connected with colleagues from every division Assisted other NYC interns by providing them needed information from my
division Worked with interns from the McLean office on a weekly basis Interned directly for Jennifer Keene, but completed tasks for various division
heads Met, interacted with, and supervised Octagon clients and potential sponsors
Key Octagon Accomplishments:
Created and presented my own marketing campaign for client Jimmer Fredette Worked on various sales and marketing decks for 10 different Clients Completed over 50 cold calls for the Stephen Curry Charity Golf Tournament Established sponsorship target lists for multiple clients and Octagon-run
events Participated in over 30 various conference calls and in-person business
meetings Designed several one-pagers to send out to perspective marketing partners
What is Jimmerade?
Used my own time to conceptualize, research and present a unique marketing campaign
Trend of using athletes and EDM musicians in order to promote and market products
Paired Octagon client Jimmer Fredette with EDM DJ Kaskade Connection between Mormon faith, BYU education, and being
nation-wide icons Came up with three companies/products that the two
personalities could endorse together Spalding, FRS Healthy Performance, and WeSC Headphones
Campaign Outline:
Television ads staring the two personalities promoting, discussing, and using the given product
Usage of Kaskade’s music Print media advertisements using the two personalities’
likeness to be run in various sports and music publications YouTube viral videos to accompany the other forms of media, allowing the personalities to interact with fans
Planning Process:
Researched previous endorsements for Jimmer and Kaskade Found companies that were not conflicts to existing partners Had to stick to the guidelines of the Mormon belief Established main goals of the campaign and its benefits to
the personalities, the companies, and Octagon Came up with an innovative way to combine the two
personalities in order to sell a specific product
Decision Making:
Took advantage of partnerships with Spalding and WeSC Showed how each product is relevant in their lives Assessed if there was a current need for such a campaign
and what its potential success rate would be
Implementation:
Compiled my research into a professional PowerPoint deck Usage of music, pictures, links and background information Presented the final concept to Jennifer Keene for approval
What is Camp Culinary?
Given the task to conceptualize, research, and create a camp that Octagon culinary clients Monica Bhide and Mary Beth Albright could run
Worked with an Octagon intern in McLean in order to compile the research and create the foundation for the camp
The camp is to take the education of food and nutrition, and bring it into the 21st Century
Start in Washington, D.C. and expand through the east coast Delivers children the unique experience of working with
celebrity chefs while learning about food writing and cooking Opportunity for kids to strengthen their skills in recipe
writing, blogging, and food photography as well
Camp Outline:
Camp to be run during the summer (five sessions), winter (two sessions), and spring (one session)
Camp to run from 9:00am until 2:00pm, with each session having a different topic
Start off using the two Octagon clients with hope for expansion
Planning Process:
Researched already existing summer food camps in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. area
Used established camps to outline pricing, structure, and features of what our camp would consist of
Split up the work so that each intern had specific tasks Established main goals of the camp and its benefits to the
personalities, the campers, and Octagon Researched and reached out to potential venues for the
camp
Decision Making:
Broke down each session into a specific food category Priced the camp at an affordable rate Researched companies to be official sponsors of the camp Created an official calendar for the various camp sessions
Implementation:
Compiled my research with the other interns’ for the final deck
Presented final concept to Jennifer Keene and Alyssa Romano
Being able to sell yourself, your client, and events related to your clients is a crucial part of finding success within the sport industry
At Octagon, I was responsible for various projects where I had to ‘sell’specific events
Stephen Curry Charity Golf Tournament: Needed to sell sponsorships of the tournament Over 50 target companies in the San Francisco Bay Area Responsible for cold calling and emailing each target, and later following-up Kept a running list of the status of each target and sponsor prospect
Justin Tuck Celebrity Billiards Tournament: Needed to sell sponsorships and teams for the tournament Created target lists for local beer companies, law firms, and hospitals Responsible for cold emailing the targets and assessing which could be leads Formed a running list of the official NY Giants and NFL sponsors for outreach
Selling of Clients: Emmitt Smith sales deck for Hershey’s Chocolate Nancy Lieberman sales deck for Celebrity Apprentice Monica Bhide sales deck for new endorsement deals
Unable to make any definitive Stephen Curry sponsorship sales, but was able to establish five leads that I handed off to Jennifer
Participated in three times the amount of meetings than I had hoped for, including a Justin Tuck charity event
Created one of my own marketing campaigns (Jimmerade) and created one unique client project (Culinary Camp)
I did not personally present my ideas to clients, but work I created for specific clients were ultimately given to them via Jennifer
Established contacts at companies for sponsorship of the Justin Tuck Celebrity Billiards event and for Jimmer Fredette endorsement deals