TDE marks broader approach with name change: On Your Marks

#THIS ARTICLE IN DUTCH is written by Emilie Maclaine Pont | translated by Liesbeth Wallien

Sports marketing agency TDE recently changed its name to On Your Marks. A better fit for its determination to renew sports marketing. Managing partner Lennart Boven about the ambitions and motives of On Your Marks.

TDE was founded in 2016, initially focusing on ‘production’. The company was developing platforms and apps but was not involved in the creative side of things. ‘Although we did have creatives in house’, Lennart Boven says. ‘Instead of not creating and just producing, we were increasingly given a creative role when a project was launched. We helped design concepts, for instance.’

Innovative Tour shirts
Fast forward eight years and TDE – originally a combination of Triple Double (meanwhile taken over by Golazo) and E-sites has evolved into what you’d call a full service sports marketing bureau. Boven: ‘We now provide an A to Z service to our clients. We stand out thanks to our technical roots, and we are always on the lookout for innovation, even if it means taking the less travelled road.’

As an example Boven refers to a project for their client Team Visma | Lease a Bike. ‘For a couple of years we have had success with special Tour shirts. The Tour de France organisation thought the team’s yellow shirts looked too much like the coveted yellow jersey. The simple solution would have been to modify the shirts’ colour. But we took a different route by creating a complete campaign featuring a unique Tour shirt. This offered new opportunities for new sponsors, like theme park Efteling last year, and the shirts sold well. That is not common in road cycling.’

One of On Your Marks’ innovations is Paraverse, a metaverse developed with innovation subsidy  for the European Championships for para-athletes. Boven: ‘In this digital world there are literally no restrictions. We made sure that young fans in particular across the world would get to experience the European Championships from close up.’

Boven is convinced that the name change from TDE to On Your Marks also emphasises the change in course the company set a few years ago. ‘Especially since Triple Double was taken over, we see ourselves as a sports marketing agency that supports its clients – sponsors and right holders – in all areas. Nothing changes for our clients by the name change. We still do what we always did, but we wanted to make a statement: we need each other to innovate and leave the beaten track.’
Innovation by smart cooperation
Besides Team Visma | Lease a Bike, On Your Marks’ clients include Nationale-Nederlanden, Ziggo Sport, Eredivisie and Johan Cruijff Arena. ‘We have a total of 50 to 60 clients. That may sound like a lot, but that’s what you need in sports marketing to get a good turnover. But more, more and even more, is not our motive. Most of all we like to be innovative and deliver quality.

On Your Marks can fall back on Handpicked, the group of agencies of which it is a member. ‘We have done so from the start, as this is a group that grew from E-sites’, Boven explains. ‘Meanwhile over 300 people work for the different labels in the group. Handpicked takes care of our finances and HR. On top of that we share knowledge and capacity is never a problem. This construction is perfect for us; it gives us the freedom to grow and run our business.’

On Your Marks dedicates itself to collaborations with freelancers and other agencies. ‘We try to build a relationship with them as well. We believe that you don’t have to work for us under an employment contract to be part of our company and work on beautiful creations. At the same time it is how we make sure we have the best specialists and diversity when it comes to background and knowledge. That way we can meet every demand optimally.’

For more information: www.onyourmarks.agency