FUEL, Ireland’s leading experience and entertainment group, has announced the acquisition of 53Six, the Dublin and London-based sports marketing agency.
Under the terms of the agreement, 53Six will continue to operate under its existing brand identity as part of the FUEL group, led by co-founders Tom Fox (CEO) and Marcus McDonnell (COO).
53Six joins FUEL, the multi-award-winning global group operating across live experiences, creative, employee experience, and high-end content production. Headquartered in Dublin with dedicated teams across the US and UK, FUEL operates on an international scale, delivering more than 650 experiences and events across 55 cities worldwide for a client portfolio that includes PayPal, Coca-Cola, Google, Meta, Airbnb, Universal Music Group, World Rugby, and Amgen. Founded in 2013 by Jamie Deasy and Brian McDermott, FUEL also operates major cultural festivals, including WellFest, Beyond the Pale, and Kaleidoscope festival, the latter in partnership with Festival Republic, Live Nation, and MCD.
FUEL’s global reach spans landmark cultural and sport experiences, including last week’s U2’s 50th-anniversary celebration in partnership with Universal Music Group and Principle Management, the AI-powered fan village at the Amgen Irish Open, World Cup fan zones for Budweiser, global conferences for Coca-Cola, and the Irish premiere of Gladiator II. Named Experiential Agency of the Year at the European Agency Awards and ranked number one agency in Ireland by Eventex, FUEL is also the official Irish member of 27Names, Europe’s leading live experience agency collective.
Founded in 2016, 53Six is a full-service sports marketing and growth agency spanning strategy, creative, content, performance media, and data. The agency’s client portfolio includes some of the biggest brands and rights holders in world sport including Arsenal, Juventus, FAI, Leinster Rugby, the IRFU, Jacksonville Jaguars, Flutter and UEFA.
The agency’s recent work demonstrates its ability to turn strategy and creativity into commercial results. For TEG Sport, full-funnel digital media strategies drove multiple sell-out fixtures, including a record attendance for the Irish women’s rugby team’s first game at the Aviva Stadium. For Betfair, 53Six delivered a fully integrated World Cup campaign in Spain fronted by brand ambassador Luis Figo. Its continuing partnership with Leinster Rugby combines powerful storytelling with the implementation of a new customer data platform to deepen fan loyalty and drive commercial growth throughout the season.
The deal reflects a defining shift across the global entertainment industry: live experiences, sport and culture are converging around fandom, participation and community. By bringing these worlds together, the partnership creates a model built for where the market is heading; one that combines the power of live experiences with the ability to build audiences, deepen fandom and create lasting commercial value.
Speaking on today’s announcement, FUEL Co-Founder and Managing Director Jamie Deasy, who was recently named one of Europe’s top 50 Event Agency Leaders, stated: “We’re delighted to welcome 53Six into the FUEL group. We’ve known Tom, Marcus, and the team for some time, and there’s a very strong cultural fit and shared ambition between our two companies. 53Six brings deep expertise in sport, performance marketing, and audience intelligence, while FUEL brings scale across live experiences, entertainment, and high-end content production. Together, we are building an end to end global growth engine for clients around fandom, combining world class live experiences and content with the fan-data and insight to demonstrate their impact, while creating significant growth opportunities for both businesses internationally.”
Tom Fox, Co-Founder and CEO of 53Six comments: “We were looking for a strategic partner that understood how sport and live experiences are increasingly interconnected, and could further accelerate our growth internationally. Since day one, we’ve believed in the power of sport to create meaningful shared experiences, and in today’s world, that belief feels more relevant than ever.”
Marcus McDonnell, Co-Founder and COO of 53Six adds: “Our capabilities are highly complementary: 53Six brings the sharp end of sports marketing, FUEL brings scale across experiences and high-end production, and together we share expertise in content and creative. That’s a genuinely different proposition for the industry and we are excited to join the FUEL group for this next chapter.”
About FUEL
Headquartered in Dublin with teams across the US and UK, FUEL is a multi-award-winning global group operating across live experiences, creative, content, and employee experience, and high-end production, and major cultural festivals including WellFest, Kaleidoscope, and Beyond The Pale. Ranked number one in Ireland by Eventex and named Experiential Agency of the Year at the European Agency Awards, FUEL delivers activations globally for clients including Google, Meta, Coca-Cola, PayPal, Universal Music Group, Amgen and World Rugby.
Learn more at fuelhq.ie
About 53Six
Founded in 2016, 53Six is the growth agency for sport, combining creative content, performance media, and fan data analytics to drive commercial revenue for rights holders and global brands.
Co-founders Tom Fox (former Setanta Sports and Twitter) and Marcus McDonnell (former NBA and Pitch International) bring deep sector authority in sports technology, digital business, and media rights. They are backed by a team of 20 specialists across performance analytics, strategy, creative, content, and digital product management.
53Six’s client portfolio includes Arsenal, Juventus, UEFA, IRFU, and Leinster Rugby.
Learn more at 53six.ie
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Ruth Prendergast ruth.prendergast@teneo.com
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