FUEL buys sports marketing agency 53Six to build a fandom group
Ireland's live experience specialists FUEL have bought into sports marketing. The Dublin-headquartered experience and entertainment group has acquired 53Six, a sports marketing agency with offices in Dublin and London. Terms were not disclosed.
Who is 53Six?
53Six was founded in 2016 and works across strategy, creative, content, performance media and data for brands and sports rights holders. Its client list reads like a fixture list: Arsenal, Juventus, the FAI, Leinster Rugby, the IRFU, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Flutter and UEFA. AdWorld reports recent work including a World Cup campaign for Betfair in Spain fronted by Luis Figo and a customer data platform project with Leinster Rugby.
The 53Six brand stays, and co-founders Tom Fox (chief executive) and Marcus McDonnell (chief operating officer) continue to lead it.
Who is FUEL?
FUEL was founded in 2013 by Jamie Deasy and Brian McDermott and has teams in the US and UK. It has delivered more than 650 experiences and events in 55 cities, for clients including PayPal, Coca-Cola, Google, Meta, Airbnb, Universal Music Group, World Rugby and Amgen. It also runs its own events, WellFest, Beyond the Pale and Kaleidoscope.
Why it fits
The thinking is that sport and live experiences now overlap, and clients want one partner for both. Deasy told AdWorld the two are "building an end-to-end global growth engine for clients around fandom." Fox said 53Six had been looking for a partner that understood how closely sport and live events now connect.
Fandom is turning into one of this year's busiest M&A themes. For specialist sports agencies with rights-holder relationships and data skills, experience groups are now serious buyers.
Running a specialist agency in a hot niche? See who is buying at Agencies.co.