Rush Sports Marketing & Investment accelerates its presence in Asia through appointment of sports marketing industry veterans Dick and Odell

Hong Kong, 16th January 2013 — Rush Sports Marketing & Investment, the sports marketing and sponsorship agency which operates from its offices in Hong Kong and the UK, continues to consolidate its position in Asia with the appointment of industry veterans, James Dick as Managing Director, Asia and Jonathan (Jonny)  Odell as  Managing Director, Sponsorship Management.

Dick, who joins Rush from IMG Asia, where he was Head of Sponsorship & Advertising, has spent the last six years connecting Asian brands to sports and entertainment properties worldwide. His experience spans more than 15 years in Formula One, World Super Bikes, Moto GP, Olympics, Rugby World Cup, English Premier League, European Tour, Asian Tour, PGAT, ATM and WTA.

He has successfully negotiated rights acquisitions, delivered sponsorship and event activation, as well as return on investment analysis for companies and government organisations including Toshiba, CIMB, SingTel, Omega, Sime Darby, Tourism Australia, Beijing Tourism Administration and Brunei Tourism. In the past five years he has also helped one of the world’s largest sponsors, Barclays, to maximize the investment from its English Premier League sponsorship with a number of innovative deals. The development and negotiation of the global inflight sponsorship of Premier League World enabled Barclays to target and engage with C-Suite level executives across 25 key markets. In addition the development of the global activation platform, Barclays Blueprint for Success in Football, delivered a compelling concept that could sit at the heart of brand communications, increasing the relevance of the sponsorship to Barclays’ business audience.

Odell joins Rush from the American-based motorsport sponsorship agency, JMI, and brings industry-leading experience in developing and executing successful sponsorship programmes for blue chip brands such as PepsiCo, Hewlett Packard, Thomson Reuters, Petrobras, Hilton International, Lenovo, LG and Diageo.

He led the Korean conglomerate, LG Electronics, into Formula One as a Global Partner and oversaw its global activation programme that resulted in over 50 local marketing teams using the Formula One property to enhance marketing campaigns and drive sales. Under Odell’s stewardship, LG was consistently the most exposed brand in Formula One’s broadcast coverage, reaching over 515 million unique viewers each year.

Other highlights of his career include assuming responsibility for Diageo’s stalwart brand, Johnnie Walker, which looked to use the style and sophistication of Formula One with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, to boost engagement with a younger more affluent demographic in emerging markets. The results in countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, China and India showed impressive gains commercially as well as significantly accelerating brand perception, affinity and loyalty to the brand.

The appointment of two such highly regarded and experienced individuals in the super competitive sports marketing business is significant and is testament to the ongoing growth and comparative success Rush has enjoyed since its inauguration at the 2010 Formula One™ Singapore Grand Prix.

Both Dick and Odell’s impressive track records of working in Asia fully complements the collective, although diverse, expertise of the company’s executive management team. To support its established offices in Hong Kong and UK, consultants have also been appointed in India, Korea and Japan, providing local expertise in these key markets.

About Rush

Since its launch at the 2010 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, Rush Sports Marketing & Investment has already delivered over twenty sponsorships across five Formula One teams with a total contracted value in excess of US$40million.

Rush continues to gain momentum and respect in the competitive sports marketing business through its creation of innovative commercial partnerships that connect businesses to sporting excellence in established and fast-growing markets. With a strong focus in Asia, where it supports regional brands toexpand their global reach by using sports marketing, Rush also assists multinational companies seeking to quickly establish their presence in Asia’s booming consumer markets.

Currently, Rush provides strategic consultancy to sponsors and rights holders in Formula One, V8 Supercars, English Premier League football, golf and sailing.

www.rushsportandentertainment.com

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For more information, please contact:

James Dick : james.dick@rushgrouplimited.com  +852 2826 1982
Jonny Odell: jonny@rushgrouplimited.com  +44 1491 570140