WARREN DELL
sports marketing strategist
Helping brands, sponsors and rights holders turn fan insight into sharper sports marketing, partnerships and campaigns.
I’m a senior freelance sports marketing strategist helping brands, sponsors, agencies and rights holders connect more meaningfully with fans. I specialise in fan insight, sponsorship strategy, creative strategy and campaign positioning, with 16+ years’ experience across sport, culture and brand marketing.
experience
I’ve worked across brand, agency and freelance strategy roles, helping organisations activate sport, culture and fandom more effectively. My experience includes working for some of the world’s best brands and agencies across sports projects that span: global campaigns across 50+ markets, brand repositioning projects, sponsorship and partnership strategy, fan research, audience segmentation, creative platforms, product launches and content strategy.
recently i’ve…
Developed women’s football foresight for The Coca-Cola Company ahead of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Led creative strategy for Coca-Cola’s Premier League “Guess the Goals” campaign.
Designed and ran Powerade UK Playmakers research to refresh audience segmentation and inform EPL activation.
Delivered pitch-winning strategy for Wilson Tennis.
how i help
INSIGHTS
Helping you understand the nuances of sports fandom: who fans are, how they behave, what motivates them and where your brand can credibly add value.
Quantitative and qualitative fan research
Fan identification and segmentation
Fan personas and modes of engagement
FORESIGHT
Helping you stay close to the cultural, behavioural and commercial shifts shaping sport, fans and participation.
Signals and trend analysis
Category and competitor intelligence
Brand innovation and future-proofing
PROBLEMS I HELP SOLVE
I work best when a brand, sponsor, agency or rights holder needs clarity on questions like:
How do we show up in sport in a way that feels credible to fans?
How do we turn sponsorship into a platform, not just logo placement?
How do we maximise the rights in our deal?
How do we identify the right partner, property or sponsorship?
How do we activate athletes, creators and communities in the right way?
How do we create work that lives beyond the partnership announcement?
How do we tell brand and product stories that cut through the feed?
How do we measure what success looks like?
Need help with one of these? Let’s talk.
STRATEGY
Helping you set the direction for your brand, sponsorship or partnership in sport.
Sponsorship strategy
Brand positioning
Rights strategy and activation planning
Partnership platform development
Campaign positioning
CREATIVE & COMMS
Helping turn fan insight and strategic direction into creative briefs, content territories and activation ideas.
Creative & content strategy
Comms planning
Storytelling inspiration
Creator & athlete activation
Campaign & content ideation
SELECTED WORKS
coca-cola epl guess the goals
Developed the creative strategy for the campaign Guess the Goals, one of the brands most successful NCP campaigns.
ASAHI SPORTS PARTNERSHIPS
Shaped how Asahi brings their new brand platform ‘Seek What Is Unique’ to life across their sports partnerships at Havas Play.
adidas crazyfast
Led the campaign strategy for launching the latest X Crazyfast silo for adidas including audience insights and creative strategy.
LLOYDS X BRITISH CYCLING
Developed sponsorship strategy & campaign development at Fuse.
MOBIL 1 POETRY OF MOTION
Strategy lead on Mobil 1 and led strategic development of a new motorsports positioning and brand platform.
SMARTWATER X EPL
Created the EPL partnership strategy for Smartwater including audience identification and how they show up across the rights.
vivrant
SPORTS MARKETING UNCOVERED
You can also read my thoughts and ideas on sports marketing over at Vivrant, a site I created that covers a variety of topics from evolving fandom to the rise of athlete-led media, the best sports storytelling to sponsorship breakdowns.
LATEST ARTICLE:
AN NBA LEAGUE IS COMING TO EUROPE, COULD FOOTBALL HOLD THE KEY?
“Warren is a strategic thinker and branding expert. He’s creative and strong in culture and hugely passionate about marketing, entrepreneurship and leading edge brand and experiential activation. Great team player and very personable. Listens well and is empathetic and has high EQ. Well versed on navigating tricky briefs and organisational hierarchies and strong on digital and social as well as insights and analytics. If you need support on a project, call him!”
Fiona Curtin, Planning & Comms Director, Jameson
“I worked with Warren to help Mobil 1 create a new strategic and creative global brand platform and assets for their various motorsports partnerships. Warren lead the strategic thinking helping to identify a unique point of difference to all the other motorsports sponsors for the Mobil brand. From that unifying strategy we developed various communications assets that bridged all of the different motorsports partnership Mobil is involved with globally. Warren is a great guy; super-smart and fun to work with.”
Nick Morrell, Business Director, TBWA
“Warren was a valuable member of my team at Chivas, his audience and cultural understanding were invaluable in the development of content across our Manchester United partnership, in addition to his involvement in developing the new Chivas brand positioning, providing key insights and direction on how we can win in culture.”
Martin Jaskolowski, Head of Advertising, Chivas Regal
"When it comes to strategy, I highly recommend Warren. He simplifies the complicated and gets to the core of branding. With a clear understanding of his clients goals, he delivers effective brand strategy to inform effective and long lasting brand identities."
Dan Todd, Co-Founder & Creative Partner, Out of Nothing Studio (worked together on Puma Golf & Wilson Tennis)