RISE recruits Jon Long to head up Sport, Culture & Entertainment advisory practice

23 January 2025 Consultancy-me.com

Middle East professional services firm RISE has launched a new advisory offering for the sports, culture and entertainment sectors, bringing in industry expert Jon Long to head up the new offering.

From its offices in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and the United Kingdom, RISE provides clients in the sports, culture and entertainment sectors with services in commercial strategy, sponsorship activation, and event management. That portfolio is now being enriched with a dedicated advisory offering, which will add a suite of more traditional management consulting services to its mix.

The new practice will provide services such as commercial strategy development and review; sponsorship selection, analysis and evaluation; rights valuation and packaging; financial and economic impact assessment, and innovation to the firm’s roster of clients, which includes sponsors, right holders, event owners, stadiums, venue and asset owners, public sector organisations, clubs and leagues across the region.

Dave McCann, partner at RISE, said: “As an agency with a proven track record of driving revenue for rights holders and business growth for brands, strengthening our advisory offering will help our clients unlock new opportunities in the region’s rapidly growing sports, culture and entertainment sector.”

Leading the new Advisory practice is Jon Long, who has been appointed a Senior Director. He will work closely together with RISE partners Dave McCann and Will Kitchen on setting up and expanding the unit.

Long joins RISE from Onside, where he latterly served as UK and Middle East Managing Director and oversaw a portfolio of over 50 brands, rights holders and investors across sport, culture and entertainment. Before that, he gained leadership experience at Repucom, and spent years on the leadership team of the International Cricket Council.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Long is currently a member of the Marketing & Commercial Commission of World Squash and was Chair of British Canoeing Events through the successful staging of two World Championship events in the United Kingdom.