The Marketing Arm

TMA (The Marketing Arm) is a marketing and creative agency owned by Omnicom Group.

History

Founded in 1993 by Ray Clark, a former ProServ and Talent Sports International executive,[1] The Marketing Arm was created as the event and corporate sports marketing division of Athletic Resource Management Inc. (ARM),[2] a Memphis-based sports agency headed by Jimmy Sexton[3] and Kyle Rote, Jr., a former professional soccer player in the NASL.[4]

Omnicom Group acquired The Marketing Arm[5] in June 1999.[6]

In 2003, The Marketing Arm joined event operations with U.S. Marketing & Promotions (Usmp), an Omnicom sister agency based in Torrance, Calif. founded by Jason Moskowitz and Michael Napoliello.[7] Usmp now serves as The Marketing Arm's event unit, specializing in field sales and experiential marketing.

In 2004, The Marketing Arm merged its sports consulting division with Millsport, a sports marketing firm owned by Omnicom,[8] to form an agency retaining the Millsport brand name.[9] Founded in 1975 by Jim Millman, Millsport used sports sponsorship as a branding tool.[10]

In 2004, Los Angeles-based agency Davie Brown Entertainment, which was founded in 1985 and acquired by Omnicom in 2001,[11] joined The Marketing Arm. In 2006, Davie Brown's talent division created the Davie-Brown Index (DBI), a celebrity index that determines a celebrity's ability to influence brand affinity and consumer purchase intent.[12]

In October 2005, mobile marketing agency Ipsh! joined The Marketing Arm.[13] Ipsh! was founded in June 2001 by Nihal Mehta and Mike Jelley.[14] Ipsh creates and manages mobile marketing campaigns including SMS, MMS, mobile gaming, application development, mobile websites, and media planning and buying.

In 2011, Omnicom acquired Fanscape, a social media agency, and merged it into The Marketing Arm.[15]

In March 2016, Platinum Rye Entertainment (PRE), a sports and entertainment marketing consultancy specializing in sourcing celebrity talent, became part of TMA.[16]

In 2016, Alcone, an Omnicom agency specializing in promotional, shopper and retail marketing, became a part of TMA.[17]

In 2019, Andrew Robinson was promoted from TMA's president to CEO.[18]

In September 2022, TMA updated its branding with new colors, fonts, designs, and a new web domain and social media handle, wearetma.agency. The rebrand was covered by Adweek.

In January 2023, Trina Roffino was promoted from TMA's president to CEO.[19]

Operations

The company lists offices in New York City; Los Angeles; Chicago; Dallas; Wilton, Connecticut; Irvine, California; London; Manchester; São Paulo; and Shanghai.[20] The agency self reports that it specializes in strategy and execution across sports and entertainment, experiential, celebrity and influencer, digital and social, shopper and promotion, and content production.[21]

In popular culture

In late 2019, State Farm named TMA its new creative agency.[22] TMA’s first ad for the brand brought back Jake from State Farm in February 2020, with Kevin Miles cast as the new Jake.[23] TMA led the creative for State Farm’s first in-game Super Bowl spot in 2021, which featured Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Paul Rudd, and Drake, who served as Jake from State Farm’s stand-in.[24]

The agency is credited with creating the Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" promotion,[25] which has earned a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

In 2013, the agency won two Lions at Cannes for its work on the "Uncle Drew"[26] film for Pepsi Max.[27]