It’s been a busy 24 hours at Manchester fashion brand N Brown, with head of media and forward planning Matt Claisse now announcing his departure from the company.
Coinciding with, though presumably unrelated to, yesterday’s announcement that former Newcastle United chief Mike Ashley has taken an almost-five per cent stake in the company, its media chief has quit to set up his own sports media agency, Panther Sports Media.
Panther is described as a “specialist sports media agency, empowering brands and rights holders with media expertise to supercharge their sports marketing strategies” and will offer “a full-service, from sponsorship and strategy selling for rights holders, to media buying and measurement for brands.”
Announcing his plans on LinkedIn last night, Claisse said that he hoped the move would represent his last ever day as an employee.
He continued: “After 2 years at N Brown, I’m slipping quietly out of the door (just as I wanted to) and onto the biggest challenge of my career/life…setting up my own business. As of tomorrow I am the founder, owner and sole soul at my very own media agency.
“This has been the dream for years, but only over the last 6 months have I believed it to be possible and worked to make it happen. In that time there has been self doubt and sleepless nights but I’ve been lucky enough to have friends/family who believe in me, mentors that have supported me and people that have given time and advice to get me started.
Thank you to everyone who’s helped me, this journey has already been a crazy one, and who knows where it goes from here, but whatever happens its gonna be a ******* amazing ride.”
