Retail Sports Marketing has appointed Steve Nottingham as CEO and rebranded as RSM&, positioning the company around a broader model of experiential marketing that connects physical experiences with data, commerce, digital media and measurement.

The changes follow the company's acquisition by The Barnett Group and represent an effort to reposition experiential marketing from a largely event-based discipline into a more measurable and scalable component of the marketing mix.

The company's new name is intended to reflect that strategy, with the ampersand representing connections between people and data, physical and digital channels, brands and consumers, and experiences and commerce.

Experiential Marketing Moves Beyond the One-Off Event

Experiential marketing has traditionally centered on physical activations designed to generate direct interactions between brands and consumers. While those experiences can create strong engagement, their impact can be difficult to extend beyond the event itself.

RSM& says its strategy is to make those experiences more plannable, buyable and measurable, allowing a live activation to become part of a broader marketing program that can operate across markets, seasons and audiences.

That shift brings experiential campaigns closer to the operating model of other media channels, where marketers can define audiences, plan investments, track conversions and evaluate performance.

Steve Nottingham, the company's new CEO, will lead that transformation. His background includes more than a decade of global media, marketing and transformation leadership, with experience involving brands such as Cadillac, Diageo, Colgate-Palmolive, McDonald's and Visa.

R.96 Connects Experience With Marketing Intelligence

A central component of RSM&'s strategy is R.96, the company's proprietary intelligence platform.

According to RSM&, the platform connects audience insights with strategy, execution, conversion, amplification and measurement.

The objective is to create a data layer around experiential marketing rather than treating the physical event as the endpoint of a campaign.

That approach could allow marketers to use audience intelligence before an activation, capture engagement during the experience and connect the resulting interactions to digital amplification and downstream business outcomes.

The development reflects a broader movement across marketing technology in which previously separate channels are increasingly connected through customer data and measurement infrastructure.

Physical Experiences Gain a Digital Extension

RSM& is also positioning experiential marketing as a bridge between physical and digital customer journeys.

A shopper may encounter a brand through a retail activation, social content, digital advertising, commerce experience or personalized follow-up. Connecting those touchpoints can give marketers a broader view of how an experience contributes to customer engagement.

For brands operating through retailers, sports partnerships and consumer events, this connection is particularly relevant because physical experiences often take place within environments where purchasing behavior and brand interaction are closely linked.

RSM& says its approach is designed to help brands scale those experiences without losing the human interaction that makes experiential marketing distinctive.

Retailers Become an Important Part of the Model

The company's existing work also reflects the growing overlap between brand marketing and retail environments.

Haleon, a client cited by RSM&, said the company has supported initiatives ranging from soccer-inspired programs to customer-specific activations designed to engage shoppers and support shared business objectives.

The relationship illustrates how experiential campaigns can serve both brand-building and shopper-marketing objectives.

Rather than operating exclusively as consumer events, retail activations can become part of broader programs involving retailers, shoppers, audience data and commerce outcomes.

Market Landscape

Experiential marketing is increasingly being integrated with digital media, retail media, customer data and measurement platforms.

At the same time, marketers face pressure to demonstrate business outcomes from channels that have historically been evaluated through engagement, attendance or brand-lift metrics.

The integration of audience intelligence, digital amplification and conversion measurement addresses part of that challenge. It also brings experiential marketing closer to the broader trend toward connected marketing ecosystems in which physical and digital interactions are measured as components of the same customer journey.

RSM& is positioning its rebrand around that convergence.

Strategic Outlook

RSM&'s leadership transition and rebrand illustrate how experiential agencies are adapting to a marketing environment where isolated campaigns increasingly compete with integrated, measurable programs.

The challenge is balancing two different requirements: preserving the authenticity and human interaction of physical experiences while building the data infrastructure needed to scale and measure them.

If that balance can be achieved, experiential marketing can become more closely integrated with media planning, audience strategy, commerce and customer engagement.

The RSM& model places that integration at the center of its next phase, using its R.96 platform and expanded capabilities to connect live experiences with the wider marketing ecosystem.

Top Insights

• Retail Sports Marketing has rebranded as RSM& following its acquisition by The Barnett Group and appointed media and transformation executive Steve Nottingham as CEO.
• RSM& aims to move experiential marketing beyond one-off events by connecting physical activations with audience data, commerce, digital amplification and measurement.
• The company's R.96 platform is designed to connect audience intelligence with strategy, execution, conversion, amplification and measurement across experiential programs.
• The strategy reflects growing pressure on experiential marketers to demonstrate measurable business outcomes while preserving the human interaction that differentiates live experiences.
• Retail environments remain central to the model, allowing brands to connect experiential programs with shoppers, retailers and broader commerce objectives.

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