08 May 2008
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Octagon's news blackout has been lifted now there's good news to tell
The days of high-risk investment in rights have gone and have been replaced with strategic focus on specific sectors.
There was a time when IPG-owned sports marketing agency Octagon was never out of the press. Every time you blinked they'd bought another consultancy or splashed out on a new set of sports rights. If it wasn't sports rights it was venues - with the US$200 million acquisition of Brands Hatch its most ambitious move.
In the space of five years, Octagon tried to build a sports marketing empire to rival Mark McCormack's 40-year project IMG. But it didn't work - and IPG ended up with a write-down running to hundreds of millions of dollars. Suddenly all talk of Octagon expansion dried up.
Until now. Having kept quiet for two to three years, Octagon is ready to talk again. But this time it has a stronger story to tell...