SP Active buys promotion company Chris Reed Marketing

Sponsorship agency SP Active, which is headed by Matthew Patten, has acquired promotional marketing firm Chris Reed Marketing (CRM) in an effort to expand outside entertainment sponsorship.

Founder Chris Reed left his previous post of marketing director of sports website Rivals.net last summer to set up his own company (MW, July 11 2002). Reed will take the newly created position of vice-president of entertainment and media at SP Active. He has previously held marketing positions at Times newspapers, EMAP Radio and H Bauer Publishing.

Reed has specialised in creating cross-promotional marketing deals between media companies such as IPC, Chrysalis Radio and Associated Newspapers with brands such as Sony Ericsson, Diageo and Ike

a. These deals include next week’s offer in the Evening Standard of five theatre tickets and a drink from Costa Coffee. The paper offered a free bottle of Diageo’s Piat wine for every reader last month.

Reed says: “Linking media with brands means both win at little extra cost. It is a very cost-effective marketing model. SP Active will be a perfect place to build the business.”

Reed also works with a number of film companies giving out free tickets and creating film clubs with magazines and radio stations, with a focus on movies aimed at the over-40 age group.