Marketing agency’s new Fabric unit aiming to tap into what its head calls ‘hyper-passions’.

• Posted: September 24 2020
• By: Michael Long

M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment has announced the launch of M&C Saatchi Fabric, a new specialist marketing unit that will work with rights holders and brands looking to tap into the lifestyle space.

With an initial office in Sydney, the new division will be headed up globally by board director Laura Coller, who already leads the company’s existing lifestyle division.

Krystyna Frassetto, the agency’s head of communications, will manage the Australian operation, while additional offices in London, New York, Johannesburg and Berlin will reportedly open in the coming months.

Areas of focus for the unit will include the likes of fashion, food, beauty, health and wellbeing – lifestyle categories which, according to M&C Saatchi, accounted for one in every two online transactions last year.

“The essence of lifestyle culture is the shift from product consumption as functional utility to product consumption as community membership,” said Coller.

“Things that were once necessities or hobbies are now passions, which has led to growth and opportunity in the space. This, paired with the fact that consumers are living their passions in a more always-on way, has led to a category that we are calling ‘hyper-passions’.”

Steve Martin, M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment’s global chief executive who relocated to Sydney last year, has said that “a lot can be learnt from sport and entertainment marketing on how to build fandom and drive loyalty”, according to a report by Australian media and marketing news outlet Mumbrella.

“There are traditional, sophisticated ecosystems centered primarily around long-term sponsorship deals and broadcast rights, as well as athletes, celebrities, and major events, that offer created well-established ways for brands to activate,” Martin said.

“In Australia, we are seeing increasing crossover and blurred lines between what were traditional ‘sport’ or ‘entertainment’ brands, and what is now perceived as ‘lifestyle’.”