Global talent agency takes majority stake in Warwickshire-based Goodform

Royal Leamington Spa-based sports data agency Goodform has sold a majority stake to global talent management agency You First.

Goodform specialises in data and insight to drive engagement and audience growth for clients including Formula 1, NBA, UK Athletics, Six Nations, Formula E, Watford FC, British & Irish Lions, and the English Football League.

Their work includes F1 Fan Voice, Formula 1’s award-winning always-on global research community with over 100,000 members from over 100 different countries, providing insights that have informed key decisions at speed and utilised across Formula 1’s business.

Madrid-based You First is a global talent management, brand services and content marketing ecosystem of agencies in the sports and entertainment industries.

Operating in 14 countries the agency manages the careers of more than a thousand talents and offer end-to-end integrated brand services and innovative solutions in digital assets, consulting, sponsorship, creativity, events, content production and influencer marketing to 160 brands through 21 offices worldwide.

The acquisition provides You First with a strong position in the sports-mad UK market, while enabling Goodform to apply its market-leading Fan Insight approach to wider global markets.

Established in 2002, Goodform is one of the UK’s longest established independent sports marketing agencies.

Juan Aísa, CEO at You First, said: “Alison Dalrymple and the team at Goodform have carved out a unique place for themselves in the UK & global sports market, providing rights holders and others with metrics and data that makes a significant difference to their engagement with fans, sponsors and other stakeholders.

"Having this new skill set within You First will provide not only new business opportunities, but also additional services that can be offered to existing clients – which is very exciting. We look forward to partnering with Alison and the very talented team at Goodform.”

Alison Dalrymple, managing director of Goodform, said: "We are thrilled to become part of such a successful global agency; number 1 in Spain, number 10 in Europe and in the top 20 most valuable sports agencies in the world.

"We share the same work ethic and philosophies and a huge passion for sport, with the focus on client goals and always delivering excellent service.

"The further growth opportunities this partnership presents are already evident with the two agencies already coming together to provide services to a major sports team and benefiting from this new relationship. We are extremely excited by what lies ahead.”

Pictured: The Goodform team picking up the Best Business Serving Sport award at the inaugural Sports Business Awards in 2017