London, Tuesday 27th February – Leading passions agency M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment announces the hire of Conall McAteer as its first ever sport-specific Creative Director.
The move signals a new approach to creative leadership designed to put brands at the heart of consumers’ passions in more curated ways.
Managing Director Laura Coller said, “We’re excited to welcome Conall as we evolve our approach away from a more generalist ECD-led structure to one that will see dedicated CDs responsible for each of the passion specialisms within our business. Creativity is at the heart of everything we do so having creative leaders who are authorities not only in their craft but also in their passion space is essential as we continue to create culturally astute work that puts brands at the heart of things people love in a way that’s authentic, nuanced and truly valuable to fan communities.”
McAteer brings a wealth of experience to the agency, joining from We Are Social where he was responsible for ground-breaking work for clients including adidas football, running and Originals, Meta and Tommy Hilfiger, and previously delivered work including UEFA Women’s Euros, Microsoft x La Liga and AMEX x Wimbledon at Wasserman. He will report into managing partners Jenny Mitton and Ross Watson who oversee the agency’s sport department.
McAteer adds, “Joining M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment at such a dynamic moment for the agency is a dream move. The fluid approach to being sector specialists and discipline neutral offers me the genuine freedom to lead our work through cultural loves and creative truths. This is ideas above deliverables. This is making work for the culture and its communities, not just for the client. In a sports marketing industry flooded with content, standing out and standing for something is more important than ever. I’m excited to help us define, direct and deliver a bold creative future for the agency in sport.”
McAteer’s arrival coincides with the introduction of a new creative process at the agency. ‘Heartbeat’ is designed to ensure that ideation occurs as closely as possible to the passions spaces where clients play.
Coller said, “Heartbeat offers clients connected creativity across our 100+ passion specialists to ideate, design and stress test ideas. By harnessing and galvanising the collective power of our people, who are at the heart of fan communities and subcultures, we’ll deliver even better creative impact for our clients.”
Earlier this year, marking its 20th anniversary, the agency supercharged its strategy offer with the launch of Passion Pulse, a strategic collective of the brightest thinkers across sport and entertainment culture. The new Heartbeat process connects seamlessly with Passion Pulse to provide the next step in building campaigns that resonate strongly enough to turn fans into brand ambassadors .
Coller said, “This new process strengthens our ability to build what we call ‘Fancom’ around brands – growing audiences outwards by leveraging intersectional passions, while at the same time deepening emotional connections.”
Following the agency’s publication of a report titled, ‘Fandom is Dead. Welcome to Fancom’ in January, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment has led a shift away from marketing to mass homogenised groups and towards prioritising coalescing communities with connected interests and behaviours.
