Elevate Sports Ventures, the best-in-class sports and entertainment consulting firm, has today announced the formation of a new, global brand consulting practice, and has appointed award-winning industry leader Cameron Wagner as Chief Client Officer to lead the vertical. With over 25 years of experience in global brand marketing and platform development, sponsorship consultation and partnership management on behalf of Fortune 500 companies; Wagner will maximize Elevate’s expertise in data and insights, design and experiential solutions and international network to connect and integrate brands in dynamic, authentic ways with fans and consumers.
Elevate’s brand consultation group will offer sponsorship strategy, platform development/management, and event activation; as well as portfolio valuations, measurement/performance evaluations, talent negotiation, and more. More information is available here.
Driven by the belief that sports and live events have the power to forge and create unparalleled, meaningful connections between consumers and brands, Wagner’s vision and work has created some of the sports industry’s most iconic and poignant images, impressions and brand associations. Prior to her role with Elevate, Wagner was the Chief Client Officer at GMR Marketing, where she led teams across five international offices and four continents, managing global sports and entertainment programs for world-class brands including Procter & Gamble, Google, Humana, Visa, Lowe’s Home Improvement, US Bank, Bridgestone, Capital One, Danone, HPE, Intel and many others.
“Cameron brings a wealth of experience in brand strategy, partnership negotiation, global marketing and experiential activation on a global level.”
Chip Bowers
President of Elevate Sports Ventures
“To build Elevate Sports Ventures’ new brand representation vertical, it was imperative we appointed a forward-thinking, thoughtful, and solutions-driven executive to lead the charge. Cameron is a well-respected industry executive, with a reputation for building impactful and innovative global brand campaigns; her differentiated and results-driven approach matches Elevate’s analytical process, corporate culture and industry ambitions. Cameron’s understanding of consumer convergence in sports and entertainment, as well as her unwavering commitment to providing client brands intelligent insights that inform and direct thoughtful decision-making will be the impetus behind Elevate’s new brand consulting vertical.”
“At Elevate Sports Ventures we have the opportunity to build a brand consultancy that addresses the critical current and future brand needs: speed to the market with real-time consumer and customer insights. Elevate is built differently. Our team delivers experience across sports, music and entertainment from the property, media and agency side, and is powered by an Insights Team with management consultancy and analytic backgrounds. As a result, we have a deep and applicable understanding of the strategies and tactics that drive brand results, which is the foundation of the programs, platforms and evaluations we build and deliver. But that alone is not what makes us different, our diverse expertise across the partnership landscape allows us to see and develop opportunities for innovation and mutual value for brands, fans and the properties in a way that defies conventional sponsorship models and programming. While every consumer may not be a fan, every fan is a consumer. We use the science of data and the art of creation to connect brands to consumers through partnerships in ways that are unexpected and create enduring relationships,” said Cameron Wagner, Elevate Sports Ventures Chief Client Officer.
The launch of Elevate’s new brand consulting vertical follows the agency’s announcement of two major acquisitions in 2021: industry-leading design and experiential solutions consultancy, Infinite Scale; and pricing analytics and ticket distribution technology company Dynamic Pricing Partners. Since January 2021, Elevate has announced new client partnerships with EuroLeague Basketball, Bellator MMA, MATCH Hospitality and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, the Circuit of the Americas, Manchester’s new 23,500-capacity Co-op Live arena, and more. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, Elevate’s corporate partnerships department supported the naming rights for PayPal Park between the MLS San Jose Earthquakes and PayPal, as well the founding partnership and kit sponsorship between St. Louis CITY SC of MLS and Purina.
In less than three years since its founding, Elevate has amassed a client roster of teams, brands and venues from among the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, professional US and international football, international soccer, professional tennis, MMA, motorsports and horse racing, Division I athletics and more. Elevate’s early success recently earned the consultancy’s second nomination to SportsBusiness Journal’s acclaimed Sports Business Journal Awards in the “Best in Property Consulting, Sales and Client Services” category in three years.
About Cameron Wagner, Chief Client Officer for Elevate Sports Ventures
In her role as Elevate Sports Ventures’ Chief Client Officer, Wagner is responsible for developing and leading the agency’s global brand consulting vertical. With over 25 years of experience in global brand marketing and platform development, sponsorship consultation, and partnership management on behalf of Fortune 500 companies; the award-winning industry leader will maximize Elevate’s expertise in data and insights, design and experiential solutions and international network to connect and integrate brands in dynamic, authentic ways with fans and consumers.
Driven by the belief that sports and live events have the power to forge and create unparalleled, meaningful connections between consumers and brands, Wagner’s vision and work has created some of sports history’s most iconic and poignant images, impressions and brand associations.
Prior to her role with Elevate, Wagner was the Chief Client Officer at GMR Marketing, a global leader in sponsorship and experiential marketing; where, over the course of her tenure, she led teams across five international offices and four continents, managing global sports and entertainment programs for world-class brands including Procter & Gamble, Intel, ExxonMobil, HPE, Humana, Visa, Lowe’s Home Improvement, US Bank, Bridgestone, Capital One, Danone, and many others.
In her leadership position with GMR, Wagner oversaw US-based offices in New York, San Francisco and Charlotte, as well as teams in international offices including UK, Brazil and Tokyo, amounting to a team of over 150 executives; in addition to serving on the agency’s executive leadership and global growth team. During her more than 14-year tenure with GMR, Wagner played a key role in the agency’s international expansion in support of its global portfolio of work, notably leading significant client campaigns and efforts in the UK, Brazil and Tokyo.
Among her industry accolades, Wagner counts her service and efforts for client brand Procter & Gamble during the 2012 London Olympic Games as one of the most significant and meaningful of her career. The award-winning program reflected Wagner’s affinity for and prowess in managing and directing brands with global ambitions and a desire to develop relationships with fans and consumers driven by powerful, shared human connections and emotions.
Recognizing the significant role leading female executives play in championing diversity in the sports and entertainment industry; Wagner is committed to fostering a culture of respect, inclusion and mentorship throughout Elevate. For over a decade at GMR, Wagner played a leadership role in agency’s efforts in diversity and inclusion, as a founding member of GMR’s “Glow” Women’s Initiative as well as serving on the Leadership Council’s “Leadership and Equity Taskforce;” initiatives dedicated to taking actionable, accountable steps towards building equality and gender and racial diversity at the global agency.
Wagner additionally led significant programs for major brands including Coca-Cola, Visa and Hasbro during a decade-long period as a senior leader in the consulting division of IMG where she amplified major client brand programs across global sports properties including the Olympic Games, NASCAR and the NFL, to name a few.
A recipient of Sports Business Journal’s renown “Forty Under 40” honors, Wagner and her teams have consistently produced award-winning platforms on behalf of client brands on a global scale; notably winning Sports Business Journal’s 2011 “Consulting Agency of the Year and 2014 “Experiential Agency of the Year.” Award-winning client programs under Wagner’s leadership at GMR included an Event Marketer Silver Ex Award in 2013 for Proctor & Gamble’s Family Home at the 2012 Olympic Games and an Event Marketer Silver Ex Award in 2017 for Humana’s Bring the Parks to You Tour.
Wagner earned her B.S. in Communications Degree from Appalachian State University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude; acted as an Ambassador for the Admissions Department; and held a leadership position in Delta Zeta sorority. She currently resides in Charlotte, NC, with her husband and two sons; and is an active member of the community, where she has served on the board of the Charlotte Housing Authority Scholarship Fund; the Bethlehem Center and as a CHAMPS mentor in the Brookside Homes community. She is also an avid golfer and runner.
