Audiences can skip an ad, but they will stay with a film, series, concert or story that genuinely interests them. M+C Saatchi North America sees precisely this difference as an opportunity for a new part of its business.
The agency has established an Entertainment Marketing department that should help brands enter content and the entertainment industry as an integral part rather than an interruption. The new team will bring together talent negotiations and activations, entertainment partnerships, product and brand integration, and branded content development.
The department will be led from Los Angeles by Jen Bacchus, who joins the agency after more than four years at WME. There, she developed strategies related to celebrities, music and the entertainment industry for brands including Visa, Marriott, McDonald’s, T-Mobile and Eddie Bauer.
Her work included talent partnerships, integrated campaigns, private performances, festival marketing, experiential activations and media collaborations. In her new role, she will report to Derek Goode, managing director of M+C Saatchi Sport+Entertainment.
The new team will not operate as a separate content unit. It will be part of the agency’s broader Sports+Entertainment structure, allowing talent, partnerships, content and distribution to be considered from the beginning of the strategic process rather than only after the creative idea has been completed.
The launch of the department follows a change in the way brands are trying to retain audience attention. Interest in branded content is growing again, streaming platforms are developing additional sponsorship and product integration models, while short vertical series, microdramas and creator collaborations are becoming an increasingly serious part of marketing plans.
The department was established following the reorganization of M+C Saatchi North America. Over the past 18 months, the agency has brought previously separate teams together under a single regional model and expanded its leadership across strategy, creative, growth, consulting, health, sports, production and communications.
Recent client wins include Brand USA, Novo Nordisk and the U.S. Soccer Federation. The agency links these partnerships to demand for a model in which brand strategy, creativity, cultural relevance and business transformation are developed within the same system.
For M+C Saatchi, the new department therefore represents more than an expansion of its service offering. The goal is to include brands in content that audiences already want to watch, listen to and share, with results assessed not only by reach, but also by engagement, cultural impact and long-term brand value.
