GMR Marketing Launches GMR FC, an Agency Expansion Aimed to Help Brands Experience Football

As the United States approaches the biggest single soccer weekend in the nation’s history, GMR Marketing, in partnership with boutique advisory agency 18K Sports, has launched GMR FC, a team of experts focused on helping brands Experience Football.

GMR FC offers brands unparalleled consulting and access to a network of football culture and partnerships. Alongside 18K Sports, whose co-founders Dave O’Connor and Will Thomas bring 30 years of football experience across rights holders and brands, GMR FC is leveraging decades of collective knowledge to create brand experiences for every human that will be directly touched by football in the years to come.  

“I fundamentally believe the FIFA World Cup in North America in 2026 will be the biggest sports and cultural event of our lifetime,” said Adam Lippard of GMR FC. “The commercial pathways for brands to exploit are vast. Luckily for them, the myriad opportunities to engage billions of fans are available today, and GMR FC is their gateway to opening those doors.”

GMR FC’s expertise ranges from partnership consulting that fulfills fan passions, to global experience activations and corporate hospitality for the businesses that keep the beautiful game running. GMR FC has worked at the last 13 Men's and last 6 Women's FIFA World Cups, and its portfolio includes more than 50 brands over the last decade, including Adidas, HPE, Nissan, Visa, ESPN, Univision, and Rakuten.

“As we kick-off the FIFA Women’s World Cup, FIFA is predicting record breaking global viewership and attendance,” said Jessie Giordano of GMR FC. “Combined with massive momentum in men’s and women’s soccer in the US, the power of soccer when it comes to engaging a passionate and captive audience is clear.

“The culture of football extends well beyond endemic soccer fans, offering something for every single brand on the planet to get in on the action.”

To help meet this moment, GMR FC offers a differentiated perspective on connecting fans and brands via the game of football through experience. A human’s experience with a brand and their products, in the context of a powerful moment like a World Cup, or any other football moment, produces a lifelong connection. Backed by GMR’s SOLE Science data and analytics practice, GMR FC’s experts know how to leverage these moments to author, craft, design, connect and measure results.

“We are proud to align with GMR to bring GMR FC to life,” O’Connor said. “Football in North America is entering the most exciting phase in its development and the commercial opportunities surrounding this are endless. We are excited about the opportunity to combine our intrinsic in-house commercial knowledge with GMR’s unrivalled ability to build and deliver unforgettable experiences across the entirety of the football ecosystem.”