IPG Relaunches Sports Marketing Agency, Advantage International

Ad holding company, Interpublic Group, is relaunching the well-known agency brand, Advantage International, which was started in 1983 before being folded into Octagon in 1997. Whereas Octagon primarily serves athletes and events, Advantage's focus will be on corporate consulting and according to reports it's already got a couple big name clients.

“Given the vibrancy of the sponsorship marketing industry, this is a great time to re-introduce one of the industry’s most respected agency brands,” commented Harris Diamond, CEO of Interpublic’s Constituency Management Group of specialized marketing communications agencies, which now will include Advantage.

The agency will focus on helping corporate clients with sponsorship strategy, property negotiations, branding, activation planning and experiential marketing, Diamond says.

Serving as Advantage International’s president will be sponsorship industry veteran, Tom Haidinger, whose career includes stints at Capital Sports, Major League Soccer, Genesco Sports Enterprises, Six Flags Entertainment and, most recently, his own consulting practice.

MediaPost writes that the shop has signed Hyundai Motors as its first AOR account and is also working on a strategic project for Samsung.

“We’re off to a great start, and we’re extremely excited at the opportunity to take this revered brand to even greater levels of accomplishment,” Haidinger said.

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