Intersport Launches Multicultural Division – incito!

[June 20, 2012] CHICAGO – Chicago-based Intersport has launched incito!, a multicultural division within the 26-year-old sports and entertainment marketing agency. incito! – a Latin word meaning to excite/inspire/engage – leverages cultural passion points, such as sports, entertainment, cause, music and cultural heritage, to connect brands to Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans. incito! is uniquely capable of delivering full-scale ideas because of Intersport’s rich history and expertise in the marketing space. Intersport’s two divisions – Sponsorship & Event Marketing and Television & Digital Media – combine to provide fully-integrated marketing platforms (events, television, digital and social media) for the world’s biggest brands. Intersport is a two-time SportsBusiness Journal Best in Sports Event & Experiential Marketing finalist; a seven-time member of the Event Marketer It List; a two-time Event Marketer Ex Award winner; and an Emmy, Telly, Webby and NATPE award winner for production excellence. incito! will utilize Intersport’s extensive experience in conjunction with authentic insight into the multicultural space to provide brands and agencies multicultural, multi-platform solutions.

incito! is led by Senior Vice President Michael Rodriguez, who brings nearly 15 years of agency and sales experience to the division, the last five of which are squarely rooted in the multicultural space. Prior to incito!, Rodriguez created, developed and served as the President of Wave – the multicultural agency of The Marketing Arm. While at Wave, Rodriguez’ group won Event Marketer Ex Awards for Best Multicultural Program in 2008 and 2009, and was honored with a 2009 Silver Telly Award. Supporting Rodriguez is a team of experienced marketing professionals who provide unique and relevant knowledge to the group.

In 2011, as a precursor to the launch of incito!, Intersport helped Allstate with a multicultural event marketing initiative aimed at providing college and career resources for high school-aged Hispanic students in the Chicagoland area. Intersport activated 10 New Futuro college workshops, culminating with the New Futuro Summit at the University of Illinois-Chicago. The event featured a partnership with Univision and nearly 50 regional colleges and universities, as well as showcased Allstate’s commitment to advancing Hispanic youths. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn was among many local and state dignitaries who showed up to support New Futuro. In 2012, Intersport is helping New Futuro expand outside the state of Illinois, activating in regional cities such as Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.

incito! is another milestone for Intersport, which has launched two highly successful divisions in the last five years: CelebTV, an award-winning digital entertainment news network, and 20 West, an independent producer of reality programming, including the pop culture hit “My Strange Addiction” on TLC.

For more information about incito!, please log on to: www.incitoworld.com.

For media inquiries, please contact Lauren Price at lprice@intersportnet.com or 312-645-5417.