Unique Alumni
From athlete to entrepreneur
Alumnus Russell Reimer has a vision for a new generation of Canadian athletes.
Russell Reimer’s sport marketing company represents athletes such as Jessica Zelinka and Kristina Groves.
Sport has the potential to motivate the masses, according to Russell Reimer, MCS’07. As a partner in Agenda Sport Marketing, it’s Reimer’s dream to get positive messages across using sport as the
/ Photo courtesy Russell Reimer
medium. Raised in southern Manitoba, Seattle-area and Alberta, the 37-year-old Reimer has worked successfully with world leaders in sport and sport marketing for 13 years. Agenda represents 11 elite Olympic athletes, including pentathlete Jessica Zelinka, BA’07, and speedskater Kristina Groves, BA’04.
What is Agenda Sport Marketing all about?
We believe that sport has the power to passionately engage people in a way that is really unmatched by any other medium. We look at sport as a way of connecting and communicating with consumers, of developing economic impact for communities, to positively influence youth and for building great brands. To my knowledge there isn’t a Canadian company that does athlete representation, sport marketing and sport tourism. When we started this we began with what we call an “un-agency” approach. There aren’t a lot of agents period in any field, let alone sport, where money is the
secondary concern. Generally as a representative you are there to get the top dollar. We hope we’ve shown our athletes first and then everyone we’ve dealt with that we are a different type of agency.
Why should we “market” athletes?
This is a question we always are seeking a better answer to. I think most Canadians think of amateur athletes as someone to support or subsidize. And although that is mostly true, the Olympic Games in Vancouver will produce a whole new generation of Canadian heroes, who can do really amazing things in the causes that they choose to support, in the communities that they choose to influence and in the corporations they choose to work with and align with. We used to think about athletes as inspirational, but that’s just the beginning. We want to go beyond inspiration we want to talk about athletes in a real tangible way that benefits corporations and benefits communities. It’s beyond inspiration—it goes to motivation. You can inspire someone, but if you inspire someone to be internally motivated and make changes in their lives personally, that’s what counts.
A number of your clients are U of C students. What are some of the benefits of having clients who are student-athletes? The athletes we work with are genuine, authentic people—they are the best at what they do in the world. They’re sincerely in it to do something amazing for Canada so we want to help them as much as we can. What I’ve seen in the student-athletes we’ve worked with is a type of person young people should aspire to be. Look at Kristina Groves—an exceptional case study in achievement. She has an amazing commitment to education and I think U of C helped facilitate her personal and educational growth. The U of C is the only place where she could have been a full-time athlete and a student at the same time and excelled like she has in speedskating.
How will the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver help further your cause?
I think we’ve got a couple of really once-in-a-generation type of opportunities with the Olympics to change corporate cultures, to change the way Canadian think about athletes, to create a whole new generation of sport heroes that do more than inspire us by their athletic performance—they show us what it is to be Canadian, fully Canadian.
Why do you think Agenda is succeeding at such a young age?
Where I am today is a direct result of the creativity and adaptability of U of C’s master’s program. A lot of the thinking we do every day is a result of my education and it would have not simply happened if I didn’t have that level of flexibility and guidance at the U of C.
—As told to Meghan Sired