Our latest Industry Insider sees us head into the world of creative agencies as we sit down with Managing Partner at Havas Play UK, Kim Broadbent!
Tell us about yourself, what is your current role and what roles have you done previously?
I’m Kim Broadbent and my role is Managing Partner at Havas Play UK, which is part of a global network of sport, entertainment and culture agencies across 19 markets.
I’ve been at Havas for five years and have always worked agency-side, starting out as an intern at a consumer PR agency. Having a degree in drama, I had no idea what PR was, but found myself selling in stories about pet insurance, collectable coins to Gillette razors. I worked my way into a role that landed me a secondment in the New York office and I ended up becoming a permanent employee for a year.
When I returned to London, I was set on going into sport, so I freelanced until the right role came up in the PR team at Synergy ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2015. The tournament being hosted in England meant I was lucky enough to work on some of the biggest brands in rugby at the time including Mastercard, Emirates, RBS and NatWest.
During my time there my role evolved from working on the PR team to gaining experience in integrated sports sponsorship marketing, helping shape where I’ve got to so far in my career.
What do you do in your current role?
My current role is part of the Havas Play leadership team which involves a fair bit…
I work across the sponsorship side of the business, leading clients such as EE, BT, Jaguar Land Rover, and The FA. This involves working with our strategy and creative teams to develop the client’s sponsorship strategy and activation plans.
This could involve reviewing a brand’s existing portfolio or starting from scratch with cultural navigation – which is our approach to helping identify where a brand should play in culture. I then work with the account teams to deliver the campaign activations and measure their impact.
The less creative side of my job, but arguably one of the most important, involves financial forecasting and resource planning across the year. We can do all this amazing award-winning work for our clients, but we have to ensure we’re running the account efficiently for their budgets, and for the agency.
“Normal” isn’t a thing in sport so what does an “average” week look like for you?
An average week includes a lot of meetings which is usually a mixture of external with clients and rightsholders plus internal team meetings. This will be dependent on what projects the team is working on.
For example, in one week on EE we’ll have a team working the red-carpet activations on a big event such as the BAFTA Film Awards; at the same time a team’s working on a season-long football campaign for its Home Nations Football sponsorship with spikes of activity across the year around international fixtures and tournaments.
During the Men’s Rugby World Cup last year, we had a huge team on the ground in France working with colleagues from our Havas Play France office delivering Defender’s (Jaguar Land Rover) sponsorship campaign. There was about 20 of us from the agency out there for opening week which included an epic launch event on the eve of the tournament, headlined by actor and grime artist, Kano. While in parallel the core account team were prepping the running of match day activity across nine host cities.
So, a very different ‘average’ week!
How did you end up where you are right now? When did you know you wanted to work in sport?
Sport has always been a big part of my life. There’s only 14 months between me and my older brother who was, and still is, football obsessed thanks to our dad’s love for Manchester United. After being forced to be goalkeeper for his back-garden penalty shoot-outs, the obsession soon rubbed off onto me. Schmeichel became my favourite player and now it’s Mary Earps.
Being from a large family with lots of siblings made me very competitive and therefore I was involved in a lot of team sports growing up. Whilst there were the benefits of being active, for me it was about being part of a team and the friendships it gave me and still have to this day.
In fresher’s week of university was the first time I experienced any real tragedy in my life when a close family member unexpectedly passed away. Grief is painful and confusing at any point of life; but at 19 and being far away from family and home, I found it really tough and debated whether to defer for a year.
Not that I recognised it at the time, but the loss gave me a new perspective and respect for time, not wanting to waste a second. Whether that was subconsciously in play already, I decided to stay and start my degree. Sport ended up being a comfort both as a fan watching my team week in week out (back when Manchester United were on top) as well as playing. My routine of running, swimming, and hockey was something I felt I could somewhat control and gave me stability at that time.
I think this, plus the timings of the agency I landed in after graduating got me wanting to work in sport. The agency had BT, the Royal Mint and Procter & Gamble (Gillette, Braun) as clients, who were all involved in London 2012, and were my intro into sports PR and marketing. My first work trip abroad was for Gillette’s TVC, which featured 15+ global Olympians and gave me my first career highlight – interviewing Roger Federer in his bathrobe between the infamous ‘shave’ shots.
What is your number one focus when it comes to your work?
Growth…and in the less commercial-sense. A part of my role, which I really enjoy and don’t take for granted, is growing the team. Both as a unit and how we function together to keep challenging ourselves, improving the way we work with and for our clients. But also, as individuals; ensuring everyone is empowered in a way that’s developing them on their own career path.
We’re an agency of sports fans, gaming enthusiasts and culture-seekers who are fortunate to work in areas we’re passionate about. But we all have different causes we care about and prioritise in and outside of work. Havas has a number of initiatives that we all get involved with, whether it’s being on our DE&I committee or running an event for our charity partner, Bloomsbury FC.
I’m focused on helping the people in my team grow in the way that’s right for them. It’s a cliche but when people feel fulfilled and energised, we produce better work which is key to our success and the agency’s growth.
Can you tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from it?
There’s certainly been a few but most related to work was a time in which I was really pushing for a promotion, and I didn’t get it. I’m not very good at sitting still, and in my twenties, I was always in a rush to get to the next thing or next step. Never taking any real time to think about what I wanted and where I was headed.
Looking back, I wasn’t ready for the role, and not getting it did give me time to re-evaluate and gain some much-needed self-awareness. It taught me to be a lot more patient, with myself and others. I’ve got better but still have to remind myself of that every now and again.
What are you excited about in your industry at the moment?
The trajectory sport is on to becoming more equitable. There’s still a long way to go, but the shift I’ve experienced since being in the industry is exciting to see and be a part of.
Sport has always been an incredible platform to highlight the inequalities in wider society, but more recently it’s shown how it can lead the charge in pushing the conversation to bring about real change.
Women’s sport has moved away from something brands and fans should care about to something they want to care about, and now can’t ignore. From the Lionesses changing government policy to give girls’ equal opportunity to play football to the USA women’s football team changing legislation for equal pay and benefits, shows the power women are having in the game.
More widely, the narrative to be an athlete (particularly male) you need to be this one-dimensional super-human who’s only purpose is to perform, is becoming outdated. While social media gets a lot of criticism, it’s given fans increased access to their favourite sports stars. In turn, it gives athletes the ability to decide what they want to share about themselves and take control of their personal brand which previously was constructed by mainstream media. For some that’s resulted in them being honest about their mental health struggles, sharing their passions outside of their day job or raising awareness for a cause close to their heart.
Not only does this make sport a more accepting place for all but embracing people to be themselves makes it way more interesting – for brands, rights holders and fans.
If you could change one thing about your Industry, what would you change?
The people who are resistant to change. I wish I could say it was a minority but sadly I don’t think it is.
People who thought Luis Rubiales shouldn’t be sacked for a non-consensual act to a player after winning the biggest accolade in football. People who tell athletes to stay in their lane when they speak out to support kids in poverty, or against racism. People who resort to online abuse to express how they can’t tolerate women commentating on football.
And it’s not keyboard warriors behind a screen it’s people who have a voice and role in the industry. Leaders in organisations, governing bodies and brands who are responsible for where key decisions can get overruled or simply not given the time of day.
Gianni Infantino’s words ‘to all the women’ on the eve of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final last year to “just push the doors” saying that they have the “power to convince us men” highlighted exactly this.
While it’s excusing those in power of any accountability, these women didn’t need the FIFA president to tell them they need to be the ones to push the door open. The examples I referenced above, essentially women asking for equality, shouldn’t be ground-breaking in 2024.
If it was as simple as ‘just pushing on an open door’, it also wouldn’t be ground-breaking. It’s how they managed to break down the doors of the some of the world’s most archaic and patriarchal systems that is.
Sport is a hectic industry, what do you do to switch off?
To switch off I try to spend as much of my free time away from a screen, which only gets harder as like most of us are now, I’m reliant on my phone for most things.
I still do a lot of sport outside of work which includes have a mixture of training from powerlifting, HIIT classes to yoga and running. I like doing things where I have to be present. While I love running for clearing my head, something very technique-based such as powerlifting forces me to be in the moment. Especially when you’re getting to heavier weights. My concentration slipping for a second could mean me not making that one rep max rep or injuring myself. Similarly, yoga is a whole other level of being mindful. One slip of focus and I’m falling flat on your face, which has happened!
What is the one piece of advice you would give to someone wanting to work in the sports industry?
Be curious. Curious about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and what the people around you are doing. That’s the only way to understand how you’re working together, your role in the team and where you can unlock opportunities.
I wasn’t aware the job and part of the industry I’m now in even existed until I started asking questions while in my first job. Simple questions can open up conversations, opportunities and get you to places you didn’t expect. People always want a curious person on their team!
How to keep up to date with Havas Play UK…
You can follow Havas Play UK on LinkedIn or check out their website.
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