Patten quits M&C Saatchi Sponsorship to join rival

M&C Saatchi Sponsorship chief executive Matthew Patten is leaving the company he helped to create five years ago and is rumoured to have a new role at a rival sportand entertainment-based company.

Following Patten’s departure, the agency will be run by joint managing directors Tanya Hughes and David Marren.

Patten helped to set up the sponsorship agency in 1997 to widen the offering of ad agency M&C Saatchi. M&C Saatchi Sponsorship’s launch client was Benson & Hedges, the then title sponsor of the Jordan Formula One team. The sponsorship agency is also part of the “village” arrangement – M&C Saatchi’s joint venture, which sees a host of marketing and communication agencies share clients and ideas.

Patten was previously client services director at the Lowe Howard-Spink agency Orbit International, before it merged into Octagon – the sports marketing agency.

While at M&C Saatchi, Patten secured a number of clients including Silk Cut, NatWest, Unilever and Channel 4. He also worked on a project to raise £10m in sponsorship for a UK-backed mission to Mars, by selling brands the opportunity to advertise on the spacecraft (MW January 27, 2000). The mission is expected to be launched next year. The agency was also recently appointed to manage Travelex’s £6.8m sponsorship of Toyota’s F1 team following a competitive pitch (MW May 30).