Associate Director, Sports & Live

About WPP Media

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. With exceptional talent, trusted data and intelligence, and world-class partnerships – all united by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open – we help clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth.

WPP Media is WPP's AI-driven media operating unit, bringing together media, data, and partnerships to deliver creative personalisation at scale. Connected through WPP Open and powered by Open Intelligence, clients see exactly where, how, and why their media investment is working.

For more information, visit wppmedia.com .

About WPP Media

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit wpp.com.

WPP Media is WPP’s global media collective. In a world where media is everywhere and in everything, we bring the best platform, people, and partners together to create limitless opportunities for growth. For more information, visit wppmedia.com.

At WPP Media, we believe in the power of our culture and our people. It’s what elevates us to deliver exceptional experiences for both our clients and each other. In this role, it will be critical to embrace WPP and WPP Media’s shared core values:

Be Extraordinary by Leading Collectively to Inspire Transformational Creativity.

Create an Open environment by Balancing People and Client Experiences by Cultivating Trust.

Lead Optimistically by Championing Growth and Development to Mobilize the Enterprise.

Role Summary & Impact

As an Associate Director, Sports Sponsorship at WPP Media, you will play a pivotal leadership role in developing and delivering integrated sports partnership strategies for Mazda. You will translate Mazda’s business, brand, and audience priorities into distinctive sponsorship platforms and activation programs that build meaningful connections with consumers, strengthen brand relevance, and generate measurable impact.

Serving as a senior day-to-day client and partner lead, you will guide sponsorship programs from strategic development and opportunity assessment through negotiation, activation, measurement, and optimization. You will collaborate closely with senior Mazda stakeholders, internal WPP Media teams, agency partners, sports properties, rights holders, talent representatives, and vendors to ensure sponsorship initiatives are strategically sound, creatively compelling, operationally excellent, and fully integrated into Mazda’s broader marketing approach.

This role requires an informed perspective on the evolving sports and entertainment landscape, a strong command of partnership strategy and activation, and the ability to lead complex workstreams with confidence. The ideal candidate is a collaborative, solutions-oriented leader who can connect fan passions to business objectives, influence senior stakeholders, and inspire teams to deliver breakthrough work.

Skills and Experience

Sports Sponsorship Strategy & Development

Lead the development of integrated sports sponsorship strategies and activation recommendations that advance Mazda’s business objectives , brand positioning, audience priorities, and broader marketing strategy.

Translate consumer, cultural, competitive, and marketplace insights into clear points of view and actionable partnership opportunities.

Assess potential sponsorship properties, platforms, leagues, teams, events, talent, and emerging sports opportunities based on strategic fit, audience relevance, activation potential, and anticipated business value.

Develop business cases, investment recommendations, and sponsorship narratives that clearly articulate the role and value of sports within Mazda’s integrated marketing ecosystem.

Lead structured brainstorms and cross-agency working sessions to generate original ideas, scalable activation platforms, and innovative fan experiences.

Maintain a current understanding of the sports marketplace, including evolving fan behaviors, media consumption, cultural trends, new technologies , and changes within the rights-holder landscape.

Build and maintain strong relationships with leagues, teams, properties, agencies, rights holders, talent representatives, content partners, and experiential vendors.

Lead or support sponsorship negotiations to secure the most strategically relevant rights, assets, access, protections, and financial value for Mazda.

Identify opportunities to extend sponsorship investments across paid, owned, earned, social, digital, experiential, retail, dealer, hospitality, content, influencer, and community channels.

Partnership Management & Activation Excellence

Provide senior oversight of Mazda’s sports sponsorship portfolio, ensuring each partnership is activated against a clear strategic purpose and contributes to broader brand and business priorities.

Lead sponsorship programs from initial briefing and strategic development through contracting, activation, launch, measurement, reconciliation, and post-program evaluation.

Develop comprehensive activation plans, scopes of work, timelines, staffing models, responsibility matrices, approval processes, and contingency plans.

Ensure sponsorship rights and assets are fully understood, strategically deployed, and maximized across relevant channels and stakeholder groups.

Serve as a senior point of contact for rights holders and external partners, establishing clear expectations and maintaining accountability for contractual deliverables, timelines, and quality standards.

Oversee the development and execution of fan experiences, branded content, hospitality programs, on-site activations, talent appearances, social campaigns, dealer extensions, and other partnership elements.

Coordinate with internal WPP Media disciplines, Mazda stakeholders, partner agencies, legal teams, procurement teams, regional teams, dealers, vendors, and rights holders to ensure seamless integration and execution.

Guide creative and production processes, providing clear strategic direction and senior-level review of concepts, messaging, designs, content, event plans, and consumer experiences.

Anticipate delivery risks, resolve complex issues, and manage escalations with sound judgment, urgency, and a solutions-oriented approach.

Ensure adherence to brand standards, contractual requirements, legal guidelines, league or property regulations, and all applicable approval processes.

Provide on-site leadership at key events and activations as needed, ensuring programs are executed to the highest standard.

Client & Stakeholder Leadership

Serve as a trusted senior day-to-day advisor to Mazda, demonstrating a deep understanding of the client’s business, brand, products, audiences, marketing priorities, and organizational dynamics.

Lead client conversations related to sponsorship strategy, partnership recommendations, activation planning, budget stewardship, performance, and optimization.

Build strong relationships across Mazda and the broader agency ecosystem, creating alignment among stakeholders with differing objectives , responsibilities, and areas of expertise.

Develop clear, concise, and persuasive client presentations, strategic frameworks, partnership evaluations, briefs, pitches, points of view, activation plans, and executive updates.

Present complex strategies and recommendations in a compelling, accessible manner and confidently facilitate discussions with senior client and partner stakeholders.

Provide proactive counsel on marketplace developments, emerging opportunities, competitive activity, reputational considerations, and potential partnership risks.

Navigate feedback and competing priorities constructively, using strategic rationale and evidence to influence decisions and maintain forward momentum.

Identify opportunities to