CLUB LEGACYZ x BLUEPRINTx

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SPIN GENIE x BLUEPRINTx

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LEADERS IN SPORT x BLUEPRINTx

Great to welcome sports publisher, global events provider and community, Leaders in Sport to the Blueprintx family. Blueprintx have been hired by Leaders to deliver marketing and PR activation for the brand’s new signature event 4se which fuses the worlds of sport, entertainment and culture.

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BLUEPRINTx ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC ADVISORY BOARD

Marketing and management agency Blueprintx is proud to announce the creation of a new strategic advisory board comprised of leading renowned experts from industry’s spanning broadcast, marketing, sponsorship and creative production. The creation of the advisory board comes following a record financial year for Blueprintx and as the agency looks to expedite continued growth in 2023.

The advisory board comprises four senior industry figures – Simon Bax, Andy Sutherden, Nicole Vollebregt and
Guillem Balague. Simon Bax has spent much of his career in the United States where he held positions including
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Chiat/Day, the global advertising agency, Executive Vice-President and CFO of
studio operations at 20th Century Fox and subsequently Executive Vice President and CFO of Pixar Animation
Studios where he reported directly to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Simon commented “Blueprintx’s commitment to
strategy and the foresight for innovation among its enthusiastic team is hugely impressive and I look forward to
being a part of the next chapter of this exciting agency’s journey”

 

Guillem Balague a leading global football pundit, author, analyst and broadcaster who has been awarded wide-
ranging global accolades and awards as a biographical author for the likes of Pep Guardiola, Messi, Maradona
and Mauricio Pochettino said: “Having been a Blueprintx client for over four years it’s a privilege to now also be
able to step into the boardroom and support the agency with their evolution. Blueprintx’s client management is
unparalleled, and I am excited by the next iteration of the agency”

Andy Sutherden has been at the forefront of the sports marketing and sponsorship industry for over 30 years,
having led the sports team at WPP’s H+K Strategies for over half of that time, building global teams and creating
award winning campaigns for clients such as P&G, Castrol, HSBC, Gillette, adidas and Carling. Andy left H+K in
2019 to join talent agency CAA, headhunted as their first International Head of Brand Consulting before setting
up his own consulting business”. Not only is this an opportunity to reinvest relevant experience and knowledge to
help a young, talented agency realise its full potential, but the chance to continue to learn from hugely respected
peers. I always want to be part of a growth story and this is an exciting time for Blueprintx”, commented Andy.

Nicole Vollebregt is a global marketing leader and has been at the forefront of the evolution of the sport and
entertainment communications industry for over two decades. Having led global brand marketing for adidas,
Nicole spearheaded the brand’s recruitment of leading ambassadors including Pharell Williams, Justin Bieber,
Rita Ora and Stella McCartney. In 2021 she founded We Are On Purpose with female partners on a mission to
be accelerators of change, working with start-ups and corporations creating profitable organisations with
inclusion at their core. Nicole commented on joining the Blueprintx’s Advisory Board, “I was drawn to Blueprintx’s
values and ethics as an agency that’s intent on leading the way for global change, in particular its work on an
evolutionary all-female series of eSports events with an aim to inspire women to follow their dreams and bridge
the equality gap in gaming and eSports. I’m excited to be involved in future ventures and overcoming challenges
with innovation, creativity, and collective problem solving”,

Blueprintx co-founders Rob Hughes and George Woffenden said: "The advisory board has been carefully,
acutely and strategically constructed to enable further breadth of industry knowledge across all day-to-day
operations, client servicing and new business strategies. Continuous evolution is one of the fundamental
principles of Blueprintx and we are excited to welcome some of the industry’s most renowned, trusted and
experienced figureheads to the agency.

The appointment of the Blueprintx Advisory Board is effective immediately.

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“To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”

These were the celebrated words delivered by Patricia Arquette at the Oscars in 2015 during her acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress for the film Boyhood. A speech that was, at the time, endorsed by Meryl Streep. While the Oscars has had its fair share of awkward moments, it’s equally been used as a platform for greater societal good and lobbying of causes that touch global audiences. Very rightly so.

In the wake of Sunday’s Oscars ceremony and a slap accompanied by a foul-mouthed rant, the PR industry has set about dissecting the moment and what it means for Big Will and the prestigious awards ceremony.

Some industry skeptics have analysed every inch of the footage from the stage, assessed Chris Rock’s relationship with Will Smith and accused it of being a PR stunt. Surely not?

Physical assault on someone over an ill-judged joke to reignite attention around a global awards ceremony? God forbid the ideas that were left on the creatives’ cutting room floor…

At the time of writing, Will Smith has not long released an apology directed at both his victim Chris Rock and The Oscars. It does what it needs to – offers justification wrapped around his wife’s condition and delivers apologetic sincerity to those he directly impinged.

Similar to his actions, Will Smith’s reputation will undoubtedly take a proverbial slap in the face. There will be a six-month PR assault and, while tainted, his legacy will live on as a formidable Hollywood actor. The Oscars will not condone his actions, while in some guise acknowledging his place as Hollywood royalty. The PR dance will likely be textbook…

So, with the groveling apology now delivered and the reputational repair job underway for Will Smith: was it worth it?

We are living in a world with a global pandemic that continues to fundamentally change people’s lives, a war in Ukraine that followed long-standing conflicts in Yemen, Afghanistan, and many more devastating and dangerous threats. Global icons like Smith hold the ear and attention of so many, on stages that govern and deserve the absolute epitome of success and inspiration. His actions were undoubtedly wrong, on many levels; however, the broader takeaway should be that in those moments, where the world watches, more astute focus needs to be given to the message and legacy you leave and how that inspires towards the greater good of society.

It’s a seismic missed opportunity – and if that’s Big Willie style, I’m not jiggy with it.

 

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“At approximately 8am on 27 January, Paul Ansell, partner of the much-publicised missing woman Nicola Bulley, said goodbye to her for what may be the last time. That morning was like any other but the events that followed would change the lives of Paul, their family and friends forever.

At the time of writing, the circumstances surrounding Nicola Bulley’s disappearance are still unknown but, whatever the eventual outcome, a very public scar will be left with Paul and the wider group of family and friends who have been thrust into the media spotlight brought about by the mystery surrounding the case.

That intense glare wasn’t self-prescribed, engineered or orchestrated – it’s a chalice the family have been forced to wield in a desperate bid to guide public opinion while eagerly seeking ways to maintain media awareness around the case in the hope of finding Nicola.

Even for the most skilled PR industry ninjas, that’s quite a feat. Reputation management, crisis management, lobbying, evolving media narratives, not to mention the word monitoring and being in any way confident whether any of what you are saying or doing is helping the critical cause of finding Nicola. So, it raises the question of whether, in such extreme circumstances, should the right to PR representation be a legal right?

Lawyers across the globe will no doubt respond to such a suggestion with a resounding ‘no’, asserting that guidance towards the media and broader public would fall as part of a wider consultation of their services. A view and adamance that, at its root, stems from the acute topic of disclosure and how much to say, when and where.

In response, PRs would ascertain that those core questions form the basis of every brief they execute; be that a crisis, product or brand awareness brief. Further, PRs would overlay the need for swift, accurate communication – a territory which, historically, has also caused friction between legal and PR counterparts, with lawyers largely siding with the ‘less is more’ option.

To jump down from the fence and add some sensationalism, the answer is quite simple. You wouldn’t enlist a dentist to remove a cataract from your eye any more than you would enlist an ophthalmologist to extract a tooth.

Is there crossover? Absolutely, but it’s vital we remove any and all forms of dilution when it comes to the execution of PR, allow the specialists to be specialists and offer an environment for the best possible outcomes.

In the delicate case of Nicola Bulley, it’s unequivocal that the family would have benefited from independent strategic media counsel. From distancing themselves from allegations, continuing and evolving the narrative as we approach week three, to help guide and communicate with the huge volume of public interest and new wave of ‘TikTok detectives’. In the face of such extremity, is now the time to formalise PR’s role and cement its place in human legislation.”

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LEGACY NOW FAVOURS THE BRAVE

FOR BRANDS AND PARTNERSHIPS IN WOMEN’S SPORT

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