Rush sports marketing agency launches at Singapore F1

The independent professional services agency, with offices in the UK and Hong Kong, will specialise in the fast growing Asian markets. Rush has been established by a group of five executives with combined experience in the areas of sports marketing, business strategy, financial investment, marketing communications and PR.

Pivotal to the company is Rush CEO Tom Potter (pictured) who, for ten years, led the sponsorship team for Williams Racing F1. During that time, he helped secure over US$134 million in new sponsorship from brands including Fed Ex, Hewlett Packard and Budweiser. Prior to joining Williams, he was with the McLaren sponsorship and marketing team.

Potter said the company will work with Asian brands keen to reach a global audience, as well as international brands keen to reach Asia Pacific. He says Asian interest in Formula One is growing rapidly, as the F1 calendar expands to include more races in this region.

“Sponsorship as a marketing channel is coming of age and the sports sector is enjoying a period of investment growth. The professional execution of sponsorship is rapidly increasing return on investment (ROI), thus providing an attractive alternative to traditional media spend,” says Potter.

Rush will offer three key areas of business including brokerage service – facilitating introductions between businesses and sports rights holders, management services – such as nurturing B2B activity among a community of sponsors and consultancy service – assisting rights holders to develop their sponsorship strategy.

Rush is already heavily involved with two ‘mega brand’ events - F1 racing and the Americas Cup. Potter adds that while they will handle various sports as they grow and become established in Asia.

“Our primary activity will be Formula One, where we have the most established presence. The Asia region is compelling for us, where new races in the fastest growing economies are raising consumer interest and attracting increasing involvement from the region’s biggest brands,”  he added.