Associate Director, Sports & Live

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth. 

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About WPP Media 

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit wpp.com. 

WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth. For more information, visit wppmedia.com. 

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It’s what elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role, it will be critical to embrace WPP and WPP Media’s shared core values: 

• Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire Transformational Creativity. 

• Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust. 

• Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise. 

Role Summary & Impact 

As an Associate Director, Sports Sponsorship at WPP Media, you will play a pivotal leadership role in developing and delivering integrated sports partnership strategies for Mazda. You will translate Mazda’s business, brand, and audience priorities into distinctive sponsorship platforms and activation programs that build meaningful connections with consumers, strengthen brand relevance, and generate measurable impact. 

Serving as a senior day-to-day client and partner lead, you will guide sponsorship programs from strategic development and opportunity assessment through negotiation, activation, measurement, and optimization. You will collaborate closely with senior Mazda stakeholders, internal WPP Media teams, agency partners, sports properties, rights holders, talent representatives, and vendors to ensure sponsorship initiatives are strategically sound, creatively compelling, operationally excellent, and fully integrated into Mazda’s broader marketing approach. 

This role requires an informed perspective on the evolving sports and entertainment landscape, a strong command of partnership strategy and activation, and the ability to lead complex workstreams with confidence. The ideal candidate is a collaborative, solutions-oriented leader who can connect fan passions to business objectives, influence senior stakeholders, and inspire teams to deliver breakthrough work. 

Skills and Experience 

Sports Sponsorship Strategy & Development 

• Lead the development of integrated sports sponsorship strategies and activation recommendations that advance Mazda’s business objectives, brand positioning, audience priorities, and broader marketing strategy. 

• Translate consumer, cultural, competitive, and marketplace insights into clear points of view and actionable partnership opportunities. 

• Assess potential sponsorship properties, platforms, leagues, teams, events, talent, and emerging sports opportunities based on strategic fit, audience relevance, activation potential, and anticipated business value. 

• Develop business cases, investment recommendations, and sponsorship narratives that clearly articulate the role and value of sports within Mazda’s integrated marketing ecosystem. 

• Lead structured brainstorms and cross-agency working sessions to generate original ideas, scalable activation platforms, and innovative fan experiences. 

• Maintain a current understanding of the sports marketplace, including evolving fan behaviors, media consumption, cultural trends, new technologies, and changes within the rights-holder landscape. 

• Build and maintain strong relationships with leagues, teams, properties, agencies, rights holders, talent representatives, content partners, and experiential vendors. 

• Lead or support sponsorship negotiations to secure the most strategically relevant rights, assets, access, protections, and financial value for Mazda. 

• Identify opportunities to extend sponsorship investments across paid, owned, earned, social, digital, experiential, retail, dealer, hospitality, content, influencer, and community channels. 

Partnership Management & Activation Excellence 

• Provide senior oversight of Mazda’s sports sponsorship portfolio, ensuring each partnership is activated against a clear strategic purpose and contributes to broader brand and business priorities. 

• Lead sponsorship programs from initial briefing and strategic development through contracting, activation, launch, measurement, reconciliation, and post-program evaluation. 

• Develop comprehensive activation plans, scopes of work, timelines, staffing models, responsibility matrices, approval processes, and contingency plans. 

• Ensure sponsorship rights and assets are fully understood, strategically deployed, and maximized across relevant channels and stakeholder groups. 

• Serve as a senior point of contact for rights holders and external partners, establishing clear expectations and maintaining accountability for contractual deliverables, timelines, and quality standards. 

• Oversee the development and execution of fan experiences, branded content, hospitality programs, on-site activations, talent appearances, social campaigns, dealer extensions, and other partnership elements. 

• Coordinate with internal WPP Media disciplines, Mazda stakeholders, partner agencies, legal teams, procurement teams, regional teams, dealers, vendors, and rights holders to ensure seamless integration and execution. 

• Guide creative and production processes, providing clear strategic direction and senior-level review of concepts, messaging, designs, content, event plans, and consumer experiences. 

• Anticipate delivery risks, resolve complex issues, and manage escalations with sound judgment, urgency, and a solutions-oriented approach. 

• Ensure adherence to brand standards, contractual requirements, legal guidelines, league or property regulations, and all applicable approval processes. 

• Provide on-site leadership at key events and activations as needed, ensuring programs are executed to the highest standard. 

Client & Stakeholder Leadership 

• Serve as a trusted senior day-to-day advisor to Mazda, demonstrating a deep understanding of the client’s business, brand, products, audiences, marketing priorities, and organizational dynamics. 

• Lead client conversations related to sponsorship strategy, partnership recommendations, activation planning, budget stewardship, performance, and optimization. 

• Build strong relationships across Mazda and the broader agency ecosystem, creating alignment among stakeholders with differing objectives, responsibilities, and areas of expertise. 

• Develop clear, concise, and persuasive client presentations, strategic frameworks, partnership evaluations, briefs, pitches, points of view, activation plans, and executive updates. 

• Present complex strategies and recommendations in a compelling, accessible manner and confidently facilitate discussions with senior client and partner stakeholders. 

• Provide proactive counsel on marketplace developments, emerging opportunities, competitive activity, reputational considerations, and potential partnership risks. 

• Navigate feedback and competing priorities constructively, using strategic rationale and evidence to influence decisions and maintain forward momentum. 

• Identify opportunities to expand the role and impact of sports sponsorship across Mazda’s integrated marketing activities. 

Measurement, Financial Stewardship & Optimization 

• Establish clear objectives, key performance indicators, and measurement frameworks for sponsorship investments and activation programs. 

• Partner with data, analytics, research, media, and strategy teams to evaluate performance across brand, audience, engagement, media, experiential, and business outcomes. 

• Translate program results into actionable insights, optimization recommendations, and compelling stories for client and executive audiences. 

• Lead regular partnership reviews and post-program analyses, identifying opportunities to improve asset utilization, audience engagement, operational efficiency, and return on investment. 

• Oversee assigned sponsorship and activation budgets, including scopes of work, estimates, forecasts, open jobs, purchase orders, invoices, reconciliations, and partner payments. 

• Ensure financial accuracy, transparency, and accountability across all assigned workstreams. 

• Assess the strategic and financial value of partnership opportunities and provide informed recommendations regarding renewals, expansions, renegotiations, or exits. 

• Collaborate with investment, procurement, commercial, and legal teams to support favorable partnership terms and responsible budget stewardship. 

Team Leadership & Operational Excellence 

• Lead and inspire cross-functional teams through clear direction, thoughtful delegation, consistent communication, and constructive feedback. 

• Manage and develop junior team members, strengthening their capabilities in sponsorship strategy, client service, project management, negotiation, activation, and measurement. 

• Create an inclusive, supportive, and accountable team environment that encourages curiosity, collaboration, professional growth, and high-quality work. 

• Review team deliverables and provide coaching that strengthens strategic thinking, attention to detail, and communication quality. 

• Partner with senior leadership to allocate resources, balance priorities, and ensure teams are structured to meet client and program needs. 

• Contribute to the evolution of WPP Media’s sports sponsorship capabilities, tools, processes, best practices, and thought leadership. 

• Develop repeatable workflows and operating standards that improve collaboration, visibility, quality control, and executional efficiency. 

• Share marketplace intelligence and learning across teams to strengthen the organization’s collective sports expertise and client offering. 

YOUR QUALIFICATIONS 

Education & Experience 

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, advertising, business administration, sports management, communications, or a related discipline; or equivalent professional work experience. 

• Minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in sports sponsorship, partnership marketing, sports marketing, experiential marketing, integrated marketing, media, or a related field. 

• Proven experience developing sponsorship strategies and leading integrated activation programs for major brands. 

• Demonstrated ability to manage complex partnerships involving rights holders, leagues, teams, events, properties, talent, agencies, and multiple client stakeholders. 

• Strong knowledge of the sports sponsorship lifecycle, including opportunity assessment, rights negotiation, contracting, activation planning, execution, measurement, and renewal evaluation. 

• Experience managing significant program budgets and complex financial workstreams. 

• Demonstrated success leading client relationships, presenting to senior stakeholders, and influencing strategic decisions. 

• Experience managing and developing junior talent and leading multidisciplinary teams. 

• Automotive, mobility, lifestyle, experiential, or consumer-brand experience is beneficial but not required. 

• Familiarity with dealer, retail, or regional activation models is a plus. 

Skills & Attributes 

• Deep knowledge of the sports sponsorship ecosystem, including leagues, teams, rights holders, agencies, media partners, talent, emerging platforms, and evolving fan behaviors. 

• Strategic thinker with the ability to connect brand and business challenges to relevant partnership opportunities and activation ideas. 

• Exceptional client leadership and relationship-management skills, with the confidence and judgment to serve as a trusted senior advisor. 

• Strong commercial acumen and demonstrated ability to evaluate partnership value, manage budgets, and contribute effectively to negotiations. 

• Excellent project and program management skills, including the ability to lead complex, interconnected workstreams across multiple internal and external teams. 

• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to make complex information clear, persuasive, and actionable. 

• Compelling presenter and facilitator who can lead senior-level meetings, strategic discussions, briefs, brainstorms, and partner negotiations. 

• Proactive, highly organized, and detail-oriented, with the ability to balance strategic leadership and hands-on delivery. 

• Skilled at identifying risks, resolving ambiguity, managing escalations, and maintaining momentum in a fast-paced environment. 

• Collaborative and inclusive leader who builds trust, creates accountability, and brings out the best in colleagues and partners. 

• Creative and culturally curious, with a genuine interest in sports, fandom, consumer behavior, technology, media, and marketing innovation. 

• Comfortable using data and research to inform strategic recommendations, evaluate performance, and optimize investments. 

• Ability to manage multiple priorities, adapt to changing circumstances, and perform effectively under pressure. 

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, particularly PowerPoint, Excel, and Word; familiarity with Keynote and project management platforms such as Asana, Monday.com, or Jira is beneficial. 

• Flexibility to travel and provide on-site leadership at sporting events, hospitality programs, production activities, and sponsorship activations, including occasional evenings and weekends. 
  
  

  Life at WPP Media & Benefits 

  Our passion for shaping the next era of media includes investing in our employees to help them do their best work, and we’re just as committed to employee growth as we are to responsible media investment. WPP Media employees can tap into the global WPP Media and WPP networks to pursue their passions, grow their networks, and learn at the cutting edge of marketing and advertising. We have a variety of employee resource groups and host frequent in-office events showcasing team wins, sharing thought leadership, and celebrating holidays and milestone events. 

  Our benefits include competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days. 

  WPP Media is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. 

  We believe the best work happens when we’re together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That’s why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process. 

  WPP Media is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with WPP Media, please send an email to GroupM Leave Administration at Leave.Administration@groupm.com or call (212) 297-8507 and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. 

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