Our latest Industry Insider works with a number of high profile talent in his role as Director of New Era Ingenious. We sat down with Jake Mallen to chat about his career so far…
Tell us about yourself, what is your current role and what roles have you done previously?
My name is Jake Mallen and I am a Director at New Era Ingenious Ltd. After spending 3 years at Leeds Metropolitan University studying Sports Business Management, I went on to do work at New Era Global Sports Management.
After an initial 5 weeks working at the New Era HQ, I was offered a position as a Player Liaison Officer. This role consisted of looking after New Era Global Sports clients on a 24-hour basis assisting them with any off field matters. Whilst in this role, I got the opportunity to work with clients that were near the end of their careers which led me into my current role now.
What do you do in your current role?
As Director of New Era Ingenious, I run a team of 8 staff where we facilitate media and commercial opportunities for current pundits and presenters.
In addition, we run a digital content platform called Rio Ferdinand Presents Five where we are producing shows from our in house studio with a number of our talent and high profile guests.
“Normal” isn’t a thing in sport so what does an “average” week look like for you?
It’s a 7 day week in this role as sport is rolled out across the weeks. Monday is usually full on due to team meetings, analysing clients work from the weekend as well as planning for upcoming appearances.
A to do list is often put in place for the weeks ahead. As well as being in the office working with the team, I will regularly attend appearances for that week that our clients are doing.
The phone is busy, with WhatsApp being the place where most business and booking occur these days, I will be active on there. Thanks to the invention of Zoom, travel to potential opportunity meetings means I don’t need to travel to the UK as much so the diary is blocked out with upcoming meetings.
Each week is different and I am fortunate to have clients that are high profile and get the opportunity to travel across world with their work.
How did you end up where you are right now? When did you know you wanted to work in sport?
I have always been interested in sport from a very young age and had aspirations to be involved in football. It was only until I applied for University where I thought it was possible by carrying out a degree in Sports Business Management.
This covered many areas such as sport sponsorship and marketing where many of the studies were looking into opportunities around teams or the sporting sector.
Thankfully, my dissertation looked at The Role of Football Agents, where I came across New Era Global Sports. Whilst working there, I felt there was a niche in the market for post playing careers and I was supported in this sector by the original founders of the business.
What is your number one focus when it comes to your work?
To ensure there is contractual work for our clients in the new chapter of their lives, regardless of their profile. Transparency, honesty and hard work is key.
Can you tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from it?
Early on in setting up New Era Ingenious, I lost a client due to them believing there wasn’t enough growth or trust in our business or support behind the scenes. I soon realised, I couldn’t do this on my own and needed to scale the workforce so this wouldn’t happen again.
Since that day, we now have full time Office Manager, Videographer, Graphic Designer, Commercial Executive and a ready made studio.
What are you excited about in your industry at the moment?
The industry is ever changing and becoming more digital and tech led. I have always felt comfortable in this space and feel there is real growth with brands looking at content. With that in mind, we have invested in a studio to activate this.
If you could change one thing about your Industry, what would you change?
Transparency.
Sport is a hectic industry, what do you do to switch off?
Never. Ha! I truly believe in offering a 24 hour service for our clients and with that it entails constantly being on call. It’s not all rainbows and sunshine but the reward is just as big. To keep growing and achieving what we have done in a short time, I soon realised this wouldn’t be possible, even when taking a holiday with my family.
What is the one piece of advice you would give to someone wanting to work in the sports industry?
Be willing to do work experience and show your talent. You can never be too creative. I believe if I hadn’t done unpaid work experience, I wouldn’t be in this position now.
How to connect with Jake Mallen and New Era Ingenious…
You can connect with me on Twitter, please keep following our progress at New Era Ingenious on Instagram. It has been a great journey and one we would love you to follow.
Thanks for reading our Industry Insider with Jake Mallen! If you want to read more from the series, you can do so by clicking here.
