Sports marketing and talent management firm Wasserman continued its growth trajectory last week with the acquisition of bluemedia, as well as by consolidating much of its creative teams.

The bluemedia purchase marked the sixth acquisition in about 19 months for the Westwood-based company. Terms were not disclosed for the deal with bluemedia, which is a branding and signage company based in Tempe, Arizona.

Bluemedia, while continuing to operate out of Arizona, will later this year be formally merged into the Wasserman Live division – which handles signage, fabrication, live event production and experiential operations – and bring in company president Gina Patel as a group vice president for the division.

“We’re excited to welcome Gina and the bluemedia team to Wasserman,” Chief Executive Casey Wasserman said in a statement. “We look forward to working together and continuing to push the boundaries of what’s achievable as we bring the world’s leading sports and entertainment events to life – as evidenced by their extraordinary work delivering the branding and signage last month at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.”

Bluemedia was founded in 1997 by Jared Smith initially with a focus on signage for golf tournaments in Arizona. Since then, it has developed a national presence that includes clientele such as the National Football League, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and Circle K.

“We are proud to have created an exceptional business here at bluemedia, and joining Wasserman was the logical next step in our growth journey,” Patel said in a statement. “Wasserman Live’s global expertise is unmatched in the industry and coupled with our in-depth understanding of the U.S. market, we’re excited to see what we can achieve together.”

Filling out a roster

Wasserman’s bluemedia purchase and rebrand is largely in keeping with the 22-year-old company’s recent strategy.

This past September was perhaps the busiest month in this streak. Wasserman that month acquired Canadian hockey player management firm Momentum Hockey, which was immediately rebranded under the existing Wasserman Hockey division; acquired London-based International Football Management, an association football – i.e., soccer – talent representative; and also acquired Long Haul Management, a creative agency that was based in Sherman Oaks.

Wasserman had also acquired London-based marketing agency CSM Sport & Entertainment in October 2023, Beverly Hills-based talent management agency Brillstein Entertainment Partners in September 2023 and Toronto-based lifestyle agency trevor//peter in April 2023.

In addition to announcing its latest acquisition this past week, Wasserman also on Thursday identified a new vertical composed largely of teams from these and other acquisitions.

The creative teams from CSM now join the teams from marketing agency Laundry Service (bought in 2015); lifestyle agency trevor//peter; and Wasserman’s own creative and experiential teams to operate under Wasserman’s brands and properties division.

“By uniting these groups into a wholly integrated, full-service, global creative team that has been purpose-built to deliver against that vision since the very inception of Wasserman in 2002, we are in a singular position to continue to deliver the most compelling creative work our industry has seen,” said Global President of Brands and Properties Elizabeth Lindsey in a statement.

This vertical, which contains about 300 employees, will be managed by Chief Creative Officer Danny Nunez and Global Creative and Content Executive Vice President Alan Palmer. The consolidation formally eliminates the prior companies’ names from the Wasserman umbrella, though the teams will largely be continuing their existing work.

“At the end of the day, we all want to make great work,” Nunez said in a statement. “People want what’s best. But siloed teams create siloed thinking, which leads to red tape and beige creative. That’s what we are optimizing for – the best work.”