Two Circles Announces International Expansion

Two Circles, the data driven sports agency acquired by GroupM’s ESP Properties in May 2015, is building a mainland Europe team to be based in Switzerland as well as adding resources to expand its offering in the US through ESP Properties offices in New York and Chicago. These offices will support contracts which are already underway in these markets and facilitate further collaboration within the wider ESP Properties business on an international basis. 

As a result of the expansion, Two Circles has strengthened its management team with  two outside appointments -  Matthew Entwistle joins from his role as Operations Director at Monsoon Accessorize to become Group Managing Director while Dale Kirsop, formerly Head of Membership at the Guardian has been appointed Commercial Operations Director.  Existing Two Circle staff members, Phil Stephan, Jackie Hunter and Kristian Gotsch will take on leadership responsibility for the agency’s Global Consulting offer, Technology Development and European growth respectively with Kristian Gotsch leading the Swiss presence. Claire Rogan continues as Finance Director and will also assume this role across the wider ESP Properties business in EMEA. 

The two co-founders of Two Circles also assume new roles - Gareth Balch takes over as CEO from Matt Rogan who will now take the role of Chairman. Matt will also take on a larger role in the business growth strategy for ESP Properties. 

Commenting on the new developments Gareth Balch, CEO Two Circles, said, “The international platform afforded to our business through ESP Properties and GroupM has accelerated our move to the next level.  Our key focus will now be on consolidating our reputation by continuing to deliver quality client work across all client revenue streams – fan, brand and media, while at the same time expanding our offering internationally.”

John Kristick, Global CEO ESP Properties, commented, ‘’We identified early the huge potential of what Two Circles had to offer to the sports and entertainment market in terms of helping federations, leagues, teams and other organizations develop a much greater understanding of their audience and fan base in order to drive all major revenue streams. We see this capability as core to our ESP proposition.’’