Rob Mills

SB Weekly - the sport business podcast

Rob Mills, CEO of Gemba, the agency providing insight, strategy and communications services to brands and rights-holders operating in the sports and entertainment sectors is the feature interview on this week's SB Weekly.

It was in adidas' Australia office where Rob cut his teeth in sports marketing, and in a decade’s stint he climbed the ranks to reach marketing director, a position in which he was responsible for the sportswear giant’s brand, communications and distribution strategy. He was also part of the adidas Global Olympic Strategy team.

Rob left in 2001 to start his own agency, Prisma, which became Gemba in 2006 following its merger with Crowe Lovett.

In this week's episode, hear Rob discuss:

• The importance of approaching the sport and entertainment sectors together, not separately
• Using data and insight to help build strong and effective brand campaigns
• How and why Gemba is ramping up its operations in China
• The thinking process behind leaving adidas to go out on his own
• Taking the risky decision to drop the Australian Olympic team ahead of Sydney 2000
• Why the sports industry needs to get better at, and be more open to, recognising transferable skills.