>> World’s Biggest Sport & Sponsorship Group Created
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
By Stephen Proctor, SMS
IFM DEAL WITH SMS CREATES WORLD’S BIGGEST SPORT & SPONSORSHIP RESEARCH GROUP
New global evaluation standard for exposure set to be applied
In one of the busiest years ever for sports research, IFM International Sportanalysen GmbH (IFM), the large
German research consultancy, has acquired the majority shareholding of Britain’s Sports Marketing Surveys
(SMS) to form the world’s biggest specialist company in sports research, evaluation and media analysis.
The new €25m global market leader in sports research boasts clients at the very top of the sporting rights and
sponsorship ratings – ranging from the International Olympic Committee to FIFA; the America’s Cup to
Wimbledon; F1 teams to the Bundesliga; and Mercedes to Red Bull.
Collective experience covers more than 20 years in the international sports marketplace (SMS was formed in
1984 and IFM in 1988), and the principals have pioneered many significant developments covering quality
research into events, venues, sponsorship and lifestyle. During that time, the sports sponsorship market alone
has grown dramatically – going from €3.8bn to €22.8bn in 2007.
Announcing the new operation at ISPO in Munich today, Heinz Abel, CEO of IFM said: “IFM was already a major
player in the sponsorship research business, but by adding SMS we are now a significant force in the industry –
many times bigger than our nearest rival. The SMS operation enhances our international consultancy presence,
our sports market research capability and our ability to quantify the visual impact and quality of brand exposure
for our clients across the world.”
Commenting on the takeover, Stephen Proctor, Managing Director of SMS who retains a Board position in the
new group, said: “We’ve had many approaches before, but this deal makes sense if we are to improve our
offering to existing clients and put our services in front of a wider range of rights holders and brands. It brings
together two independent operations that put impartiality at the top of the agenda and I’m delighted it has been
finalised ahead of a major year for sport.”
The Karlsruhe-based IFM group and SMS based in Wisley, Surrey, now combine to offer an unrivalled worldwide
service to clients in the sports marketing and sponsorship sector. The group has offices on every Continent and
in all major sporting markets – including the US, Brazil, China, Japan, South Africa, France, Belgium, Greece,
Turkey, Korea, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.
By virtue of the size of a combined operation involving almost 300 people, the move signals the arrival of the
industry’s first common measurement standard in terms of image brand recognition and sponsorship evaluation
on a global scale.
“We both use the same automatic image and brand recognition system and similar methodology, so it will be
possible to standardize the measurement and create an industry benchmark that applies across all sports around
the world,” said Stephen Proctor. “Such a measurement will be popular with rights holders and sponsors alike
and express the true value of sporting investments.”
Both Heinz Abel and Stephen Proctor are highly regarded in the sports industry as independent experts in the
field who deliver impartial reports and advice to major rights holders and sponsors. From a UK standpoint, the
new operation offers SMS clients greater reach into Eastern Europe and China, while IFM clients benefit from
complementary services in Asia, particularly in Japan.
“Increasingly, clients are looking for us to provide greater levels of quality evaluation to justify major
investments and detailed analysis to quantify returns, especially on TV exposure gained at major sporting
events,” said Stephen Proctor. “Adding our expertise to that of IFM will mean that the figures we produce for
clients sponsoring events this year will be the most accurate reflection of the returns on investment ever
produced,” he added.
Background on both companies can be found at: ifm-sports.com and sportsmarketingsurveys.com.
Issued on behalf of IFM and SMS by Sports Impact.
For further information and news of interview opportunities, please contact John Collard of Sports Impact on
+44 (0)20 8971 9230 or
at johnc@sports-impact.com
Editor’s Notes:
Sports Marketing Surveys Ltd – is one of the world’s leading sponsorship and sports research agency.
Established in 1984, Sports Marketing Surveys is entirely independent with over 20 years experience in the
industry. The company has its headquarters in the UK and through its network of international offices provides
multi-country research to sponsors, rights holders, federations, sports goods manufacturers and those wanting
information on the industry.