Matchfit Reshapes Leadership As Growth Accelerates

(MENAFN- PRovoke) LONDON - Fast-growing sports PR specialist MatchFit has reshaped its senior leadership team, appointing its first managing director as its founders step back from the day-to-day running of the 20-strong agency to focus on its next phase of growth.

Caz Nicholls has been promoted to managing director less than a year after joining MatchFit as a director from the England & Wales Cricket Board, where she was head of communications.

The move comes after a period of rapid growth for the independent agency, including revenue growth of 50% and the expansion of its Manchester operation.

Co-founders Donald Parish and Will Mitchell – who founded the agency in 2019 – have both taken the title of chief executive and founder as part of the restructure, with Parish taking responsibility for new business and expansion of the MatchFit brand, while Mitchell will focus on future development, special projects and agency IP.

Parish told PRovoke Media that creating a managing director position had not been part of the founders' original plan, but the acceleration of the agency's growth over the past 20 months, combined with Nicholls' impact since joining, had changed their thinking.

“When we went into MatchFit, it was about creating a business for the two of us and seeing how it went. Covid flattened everything and it took a while to get going again. Then we won the Manchester City account in 2021, and that led to us needing to make our first hire. We grew steadily for the next couple of years, but the last 20 months have been a big incline.

“It became clear to us around a year ago that we needed to invest in that next level of leadership to take these relationships to another level and let us do what we're good at.”

Parish said Nicholls had effectively created the new role through her performance since joining the agency:“We didn't hire Caz thinking she would be our MD. She created that for herself because she's been so fantastic. She is the person in our image who can nail the business day to day. The idea of an MD was definitely not in the plan a year ago.”

Nicholls has had an unusual career path across agency, corporate and sports organisations. Before joining the ECB, she worked in-house at Canon as well as for agencies in the UK and Australia.

Parish described her as a“triple threat”:“She's worked at agencies, including a start-up in Australia, she's worked in the consumer agency world in the UK, she worked in-house at Canon, and then moved to the ECB, so she has the rights holder and governing body experience,” he said.

“It's very unusual to have people go back agency-side, but we met Caz in a new business capacity and there was great chemistry when we pitched to her. When we had a director role open up and offered it to her, she decided to go for it.

“She can see things from a number of perspectives, from the agency and client side, and she is upskilling us through raising our standards of measurement. She also has an absolute passion for the craft of PR and for bringing people on that journey.”

Since joining MatchFit, Nicholls has led the development of the agency's audience-first approach and introduced MatchFit Scoreboard, its framework for demonstrating the impact of campaigns.

Nicholls said:“Being given the opportunity by Donald and Will to take MatchFit to its next level of potential is something I'm incredibly honoured and excited about. I want MatchFit to continue to be the place where the best talent is nurtured and developed, and where every member of the team is empowered to create outstanding, audience-first work that drives demonstrable impact.

“My approach has always been to lead by example, with empathy and a high-support, high-challenge mindset. I'll be bringing that into everything we do, to ensure that comms is viewed as a genuine strategic partner, not just a channel.”

The agency expanded from London to Manchester last year, and its team now works with brands, clubs, rights holders and governing bodies including The FA, Manchester City, the ECB, Topps, LiveScore, EA Sports, Asahi and LALIGA.

'PR Is Having An Absolute Moment'

Parish said the agency's ambition was now to establish MatchFit as the leading specialist sports PR consultancy in the UK and compete for increasingly significant briefs.

“Our absolute goal is to be the UK's absolutely iconic sports PR agency,” he said.“Our competition set on one side is the big established agencies, who are fantastic but aren't sports specialists, although they might have a sports division. On the other side are the sports marketing agencies, where PR is part of what they do but isn't necessarily the priority.

“PR is having an absolute moment. There's a premium on the craft of PR coming back and more confidence in the industry, while sport has come out of Covid and people have rediscovered the joy of sport and that sense of belonging.

“This structure means we can access the best PR talent in the UK that is passionate about sport. We want to be accessing bigger briefs, and we've felt a real change over the past year in terms of the opportunities coming our way.”

Parish said MatchFit's growth had been built around long-term relationships rather than moving away from its original client base as the agency became larger.

“Our three founding clients were LiveScore, Manchester City and The FA, and they are all still clients and those accounts are thriving,” he said.“We're so lucky to have clients who wanted to grow with us, even though they are now working with a much bigger agency.”

Sport's Cultural Crossover

The growth of specialist sports communications is also being driven by major changes in the way brands and sports organisations reach audiences, according to Parish, particularly as rights holders attempt to attract younger fans and brands increasingly use sport as a route into culture.

“Like every sector, there's the question of how you approach a new audience set and what Gen Z are looking for,” he said.“We're building a team that is immersed in their world. Everyone who comes here is great at PR but they are also natives in the world of sport.

“Brands see sport as a way of reaching people through partnerships and activations, while governing bodies are trying to drive their sports and participation. Things that worked 20 years ago are completely different now. The rules of engagement are different: it's earned-first and social-first now.

“Fundamentally, you have to understand how sport works on and off the pitch, from the complexities facing rights holders and governing bodies to helping brands talk to their commercial audiences.”

That increasingly includes the crossover between sport, entertainment and popular culture, as brands and rights holders compete for attention well beyond traditional sports media.

“We're seeing that an awful lot in processes and briefs, there's no doubt about it,” Parish said.“More brands and clubs want to appear in cultural media and be seen as culturally relevant, and there is a lot of competition.

“It all comes down to consistency and authenticity, rooted in fan insights. Everyone wants a piece of that entertainment crossover.”

MatchFit is also attempting to move communications further upstream in client decision-making. Parish said the agency was not looking to become a sports sponsorship brokerage, but wanted PR to have greater influence over how partnerships and activations were conceived.

“What we are getting better at is showcasing the impact of that work internally and feeding that back up the chain, to show the importance of putting great PR at the heart of activations,” he said.

“We're not actively on the side of brokering partnerships at the moment, but from a communications planning perspective, we are always telling clients that comms needs a seat at the table. It can't just be there to promote something or get them out of a mess.”

Staying Independent

The leadership restructure also includes the promotion of Neil Wood to director after three years with MatchFit. Wood, who has led work for Topps, Fanatics and Manchester City, will help shape the agency's work for brands and rights holders operating at the intersection of sport and culture.

He joins existing director Cherrelle Jefferson Izod, who leads MatchFit's Manchester office, in reporting to Nicholls. The Manchester operation has grown since Jefferson Izod joined the agency and works with clients including the Rugby Football League, Sheffield City Council around the World Snooker Championship, and Asahi.

Nicholls has also joined Parish and Mitchell on a newly-established MatchFit board. Business leader and Nelsonspirit founder Nigel Cushion has joined the board as a non-executive director and will also provide mentoring to staff across the agency's two offices.

Despite its growth ambitions, Parish said MatchFit intended to remain independent and founder-owned:“The plan is to keep this independent and keep growing with our team,” he said.“You never know what's around the corner, but we love the independent creative spark, the ability to form the best partnerships and create the best solutions.”

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