Dark Horses Joins TBWA to Take Sports Marketing Global

Dark Horses — the award-winning specialist sports marketing agency— has become part of TBWA, bringing its unique approach to getting under the skin of fandom in sports, fitness, health and wellbeing, to the heart of the disruption company.

The move, which will see it join forces with TBWA\London, is designed to take advantage of a shared belief in disruptive creativity that impacts culture by meeting consumers where their passions are strongest. Dark Horses will retain its brand, positioning and separate identity, and continue to deliver its specialist services to existing clients and on new projects.

Dark Horses joined Omnicom in 2023. It has created award-winning work for clients including adidas, Nissan and Prime Video, as well as high profile campaigns such as 'No Home Kit' for Shelter. TBWA\London meanwhile, has enjoyed a transformative period, and in 2024 experienced a record year.

Dark Horses will be headquartered in the UK while bringing its expertise in sports to global clients across multiple markets. TBWA’s ‘global hub’ model — that has been deployed successfully for its other global specialist agencies like Aura (luxury), DxD (design) and Plex (B2B) — will now see Dark Horses expand its footprint across the TBWA Collective. Notably, the Dark Horses expansion in the Netherlands earlier this week in partnership with TBWA\NEBOKO,180 and DDB— led by sports marketing heavyweights Peter Lansaat and Guido Klomp — is a testament to its success.

​Erin Riley, TBWA’s global CEO noted, "Sports has long been an area of strength for TBWA with brands like adidas, Gatorade and Nissan. Integrating Dark Horses even more closely will further bolster this expertise at a time when the world of sport is becoming even more powerful for brands. The resilience of live sports viewing, the growing influence of fans across digital platforms, and the explosion of co-creation and experiential opportunities means there is greater dimension to how brands can engage with sports teams, stars, and culture. Dark Horses' level of inside sport experience combined with TBWA's disruptive creativity will help our partners to unlock all of this potential with unmatched impact."

The business will report into Larissa Vince, CEO of TBWA\London, Matt Readman, CSO of Dark Horses and Andy Jex, CCO of TBWA\London. Larissa and Andy will also retain their TBWA\London roles.

TBWA\London CEO, Larissa Vince said, “We are so excited to be joining forces with the Dark Horses crew. Their passion, commitment, creativity and sports expertise are evident in their work to date and now is exactly the right time to scale their work around the world through closer ties with the TBWA Collective.”

Dark Horses’ former CEO, Melissa Robertson has led the agency as its CEO for the last five years. Following the completion of the successful acquisition by TBWA/Omnicom, and with Dark Horses moving into TBWA\London, she has decided to move on to new challenges. Similarly, former CCO Steve Howell has made the decision to step down. We thank them both for their great contributions to the business and wish them all the best.