Co-founder and Director,
Progressive Sports

Matt is an experienced sports sponsorship consultant who has worked across many brand sectors and sports.  Matt has demonstrated a skill and passion for connecting brands with their customers through sport and entertainment.

During his time at Octagon Matt worked across a range of sports including Football, Golf, Cricket, Rugby and Sailing and specialises in developing full campaigns for brands to maximise their rights and business return.

With four Sports Marketing Awards and two shortlistings since 2004 to his name, Matt is clearly ticking the right boxes for brands that want their sponsorships to be successful and industry acclaimed.

Examples of clients that Matt has worked with:

  • Gary Player Invitational – K Club, Dublin
  • HSBC – Golf programme
  • Mastercard – Champions League
  • NatWest – Cricket
  • iShares - Sailing
  • Kronenbourg – Beach Soccer
  • Vodafone – Music
  • Samsung – Chelsea
  • LG Electronics – Cricket
  • Cable & Wireless – Cricket
  • Fox Kids – Football

Property Selection

Matt is also experienced in property selection ensuring that those brands that want to use sports sponsorship as a marketing tool do so with the right partner.  Understanding how a brand can use sports and entertainment to further their business objectives is a complex process and Matt’s experience ensures partnerships are successful.

The selection of the right property to sponsor is a major decision for any brand looking to use sports and entertainment as sectors to create partnerships. By making a comprehensive analysis of the market place the business is in the optimum position to make an informed judgement as to whether it will see a return on the investment it being asked to make. This can help demonstrate internally that due diligence has been undertaken by the brand and can help provide the evidence for the final decision.

Establishing the fair market value for such properties is also key for any brand looking to make moves in this arena. With 10 years experience in the industry at the highest level, Matt has a good steer as to what should be paid for properties.

Matt has advised many clients including, Cable & Wireless, NatWest, and iShares on which properties to invest in.

Event Creation

In addition to this Matt has demonstrated an ability to develop creative and innovative ways for brands to use sponsorship these include inventing Beach Cricket for XXXX Gold in Australia, rewriting the way Cricket grounds are branded, taking sports into unexpected places such as building a 40 Foot catamaran in Canary Wharf for iShares.  

Leverage programme creation and campaign management

Creating a complete marketing programme to support both global and national sponsorships is something that Matt specialises in.

Building programmes that ensure tangible results and delivery is the key to success of any sponsorship programme. Integrating this into the mainstream marketing plan of any business is vital if the sponsorship is to endure success over a long period.

NatWest’s sponsorship of Cricket is a good example of how a sponsorship needed to be reinvigorated and integrated into the bank’s mainstream marketing. After 25 years of sponsoring Cricket the Hollis Sponsorship Awards acknowledged the strength of the programme.

Event Management

Ensuring that events are delivered to a high level of satisfaction for brands is something that Matt can claim a strong competence for.

Critical success planning, risk analysis and strong budgeting are basic yet vital ingredients to a successful event. Matt has been Event Director for a number of events including 2004 Kronenbourg Beach Soccer and 2005 Gary Player Invitational together with responsibilities for event management for hundreds of smaller events connected to larger sponsorships;

  • NatWest Cricket
  • LG Electronics ICC Champions Trophy
  • iShares Extreme 40
  • Cable & Wireless Cricket World Cup