About us
We sit in the middle on purpose.
The Badminton Agency exists because the sport's commercial market has two sides that rarely talk to each other properly, and both are worse off for it. We work both, which is why the deals we build tend to survive their first renewal.
Why we started
A sport this big shouldn't be this poorly commercialised
Everyone in badminton can see the gap. Very few people work on closing it full time.
Badminton is played by hundreds of millions of people. It fills arenas, draws serious broadcast audiences and produces athletes who are household names in several countries. And yet, outside the equipment manufacturers, its commercial market barely functions.
Brands don't buy it because nobody has ever explained what it does for them. Athletes don't get paid properly because nobody is representing them to anyone outside their kit supplier. Clubs give away assets for a few hundred pounds because nobody has told them what those assets are worth. Every one of those problems is an information problem, not a value problem.
So The Badminton Agency does the translation. We speak marketing-director to the brand side and we speak badminton to the rights-holder side. Knowing what both parties will realistically accept, and what they'll actually deliver once they've signed, is the part that makes a partnership work in year two and year three.
Placeholder: replace with your real founding story, dates and the specific background of the team.
How we work
Five things we hold to
These aren't values on a wall. They're the reasons we turn work down.
We'll tell you when the answer is no
Sport isn't right for every business, and not every athlete is commercially ready today. Saying so early costs us a fee and saves you a budget cycle. We think that trade is worth it.
Ask usOutcomes before inventory
We start with what you're trying to achieve commercially and work backwards to the rights. Starting from available inventory is how brands end up owning a logo position they can't use.
For brandsActivation is part of the deal, not an afterthought
A signature with no activation plan attached is a wasted year. We negotiate the delivery obligations at the same time as the fee, on both sides.
For rights holdersNo vanity metrics
Impressions can be made to justify almost anything. We report against the outcome that was agreed at the start, even when that number is less flattering than the alternative.
Our analysis workBoth sides have to win
A deal where the rights holder feels short-changed or the brand feels oversold doesn't renew. We'd rather build something smaller that lasts three years than something large that lasts one.
Talk to usThe team
Who you'll actually be working with
Small by design. The person you contact is the person who runs your programme, and we split the world between us so you always know who that is.
Michael Leander
Europe (excluding the UK) · Middle East
Contact Michael directly if your business, club or playing career is based in any of those regions.
Oliver Shepherd
United Kingdom · Asia · Africa · The Americas · Oceania
Contact Oliver directly if your business, club or playing career is based in any of those regions.
Not sure which of us to contact, or working across several regions? Write to either of us. We'll point you to the right person.
The difference
Why a specialist beats a generalist here
A general sports marketing agency will sell you the sport they already have relationships in. That's usually not badminton.
“We won't tell you sport is right for your business until we've looked at your business.”Our answer when a brand asks us to pitch on day one
We know the people
Federations, tour players, coaches, club committees and event organisers. In a sport this size, relationships are the whole job.
We know the prices
What things have actually sold for, not what a rate card claims. That's what stops a client overpaying.
We know the calendar
What a player's season actually looks like, so obligations get scheduled somewhere they'll survive.
We know the limits
Where badminton genuinely can't deliver what a brand needs, and we say so rather than sell around it.
Start with a conversation.
Thirty minutes, no pitch deck, and an honest answer at the end of it.