i2media Group presents an exciting opportunity to acquire a unique, established business. Over the last 17 years, they have developed market leading brands, industry defining events and international communities within the fitness, wellness and mixed martial arts industry. In addition to this, the group has successfully developed innovative content marketing technologies that can manage and publish large archives of content onto multiple platforms at any one time.
Why Now?
Content is the corner stone of innovative marketing strategies because the digital age has revolutionised every aspect of life. This means it’s essential to develop coordinated marketing strategies to create success in this fast-paced industry.
No aspect of media dies, however it will always evolve, and the most successful companies are capable of moving with the times. It’s vital to adapt quickly and adopt strategic plans based on insight implemented in a timely and efficient manner. i2media Group is at the forefront of innovation in media, fully embracing this change and accepting that media must always be a moving target. Their expertise excels within niche industries which have grown into global phenomenon’s, namely health, fitness, wellness and the sport of mixed martial arts.
Embracing Change
The group has developed markedly to date, establishing partnerships, loyalty and trust with leading organisations globally, while creating a body of assets that offer huge growth potential. This has been achieved by using consumer insight and technologies to produce innovative and nuanced strategies that embrace multi-channel marketing. Having operated for years within a targeted e-commerce environment, they’re experts at delivering highly relevant and useful advice via high quality products and services. This success has been thanks to an ability to concentrate on the evolving needs of the clients and partners to date, while investing in its long-term status. The group now feels it is the time to partner with a larger organisation who can realise the significant growth potential of its marketing assets. This will help the right partner to gain a competitive advantage as well as profit from the ancillary development of its brands.
Executive Summary
By acquiring i2media Group and its assets, the right buyer will benefit from the following opportunities:
- The ability to immediately implement substantial content marketing strategies via the huge archives of health, fitness and wellness content via the use of the SIA publishing system.
- Gain an indomitable advantage over competitors in terms of search engine ranking positions.
- Develop content marketing strategies to create awareness and attract the diverse audience demographic of mixed martial arts fans.
- Add a skilled and experienced publishing division to existing company infrastructure in order to develop ongoing content marketing assets in other key marketplaces and categories for expanded content marketing benefits.
- Attain an experienced management team with extensive industry relationships, insights and data.
- Acquire well established media titles, bringing the ability to market branded products to targeted audiences, gaining market share from competitors.
- Expand experiential marketing by owning a major industry event within the sport of mixed martial arts, benefitting from brand awareness via international TV and digital platforms.
- Increased revenue generation via a group of media assets and live events that can be profit centres via advertising / sponsorship and hosting revenue.
- Further develop the TRAIN and Fighters Only brands within health and fitness and Mixed Martial Arts via ancillary branded products which can be sold via e-commerce platforms at high margins.
Company Organisation
Chairman
Chief Executive
Non Exec Director
Finance Director
Content Director
Marketing Director
Accounts
Financial Controller
Accounts Assistant
Commercial
US Based Saleman
Editorial
Consultant Editor
Sub Editor
Regular Freelance Contributors
Contributors – 11
Photographers – 4
Videographers – 2
Production
Art Director x 2
Designer
Video Editor
SIA Manager
Digital / Marketing
Digital Marketing Executive x 2
Digital Editor
Additional Information
i2media Group is a sales and marketing service provider for clients across a variety of media, specialising in health, fitness, wellbeing and sports. The company is currently owned by its three shareholders, Rob Hewitt 46% shareholding (Chief Executive), John Josephs 32% shareholding (Non-Executive Chairman) and Maurice Dobson 22% shareholding (Non-Executive Director).
The business focus is on the provision of strategic, cross-platform media in key international territories from their offices in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. For the last two decades, the i2media Group has helped brands flourish in the fitness and MMA industries across the US, UK and Europe and the UAE/Middle East. This has been achieved by providing a fully serviced digital, print and content marketing agency that ensures clients can be found, seen, heard and understood, either via i2media Group owned platforms or via content and marketing strategies built and managed by us on a client’s behalf. The group has also operated in the US for the last 12 years and to capitalise on the growing territories of market interest, by seeking out the best e-commerce partners to work with.
In March 2019, the group established a relationship with its funding partner Carlton James Investments who committed to an initial loan of £1,000,000 to fuel the company’s plans to develop high value saleable assets in content and technology while supporting the development of the company’s partnership strategies, brands, media assets and significant live event. The Carlton James funded development plan is in progress and has been a success to date.
The strategies underpinned by the i2media Group’s model and technology are designed to provide long term brand and business growth within an e-commerce environment by following the key stages of consumer influence:
- Awareness and Discovery
- Consideration
- Purchasing
- Advocation and Reconversion
When commerce, content and community are combined, an ecosystem is created that increases the lifetime value (LTV) of consumers. Over the course of the 8 years that i2media Group partnered Bodybuilding.com, they grew to know the former’s active consumers. Those consumers who visit content articles and community once a month, purchase 4.5x per year, compared to a consumer who only visits the store to shop based on promotion who then purchased only 1.2x per year.
With an average order value of $85, the i2media Group understands content combined with community is worth an additional $280 per year, per consumer. Additionally, a content and community environment will also create even higher values via the ability to generate revenue from display advertising, native advertising and recommended product placements within the relevant pages of content.
Content is essential in the digital world and will only increase in value in the years to come due to all the principles mentioned within this presentation. Companies can’t wait 3-5 years to get their content engine in the place – it needs to be done today. The cost and time taken to build the assets and the expertise from scratch can be both expensive and damaging to the competitive edge gained from being first and becoming the biggest. The ability to attain this has never been available before with such ease (thanks to SIA) and the ability to maximise the opportunity comes with everything that i2media has to offer. These are the additional benefits.
Quantity and Quality: A rare occasion to gain massive amounts of quality content created by some of the most recognised publishing brands within their respective industries.
3 C’s of E-Commerce: The ability to create an eco-system that increases the lifetime value (LTV) of your consumers, as well as the content marketing ability to drive awareness and conversion of new customers, thereby increasing market share while protecting it from churn.
Consumer Insights and Expertise: Dedicated publishing abilities using in-house teams who can be expanded to produce content for other lucrative markets (beauty, lifestyle, home and garden etc) and has the expertise to release it in a timely manner to maximise its potential.
Go Global Overnight: The SIA system has the ability to be able to handle different content catalogues based on localised language and translation. Personalised local content marketing will dramatically widen the competitive advantage.
What would you be buying: Ownership of all content assets to be used in anyway desired. Ownership of the TRAIN brand, trademarks and the publication. Ownership of the SIA content platform along with a dedicated in-house production and implementation team that will ensure on-going content production across all markets. Ownership of the Fighters Only brand and trademarks together with its goodwill within mixed martial arts and the most important industry event with its awards show.