Led by a world class management team of innovative, sports marketing professionals, Mindspring seeks to work with clients and partners who share our vision and philosophy, but perhaps lack the resources or experience needed to take their organizations to higher levels. Our methodology and approach, developed and refined over the years on projects such as the UEFA Champions League, the Champions Hockey League, Formula One and Americas Cup sailing, has proven successful and widely respected.
Mindspring believes in the intrinsic value of sport as a way for people to "live their passion". Our mission is to provide the optimal commercial and organisational basis for sport so that people can experience their passion in the best possible environment.
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CRAIG THOMPSON - CEO
Craig co-founded Mindspring with Tom Huston in 2006 after 11 years as Managing Director of T.E.A.M. Marketing in Luzern, Switzerland. Craig was part of the group at T.E.A.M. that started the UEFA Champions League, the billion dollar annual European club football (soccer) league.
Craig Thompson is best known as an innovator in the field of sport marketing. He has been intimately involved in the creation and delivery of numerous international sporting events, including; the World Beach Volleyball League (FIVB), the World Equestrian Games (FEI), the International Triathlon Union World Series (ITU), the Mobil African National Athletics championships (IAAF), the UEFA Champions League (UEFA), the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco, the Champions Hockey League and Victoria Cup (IIHF and NHL), the Diamond League (IAAF), the UFL professional football league (UAE), and the 34th America's Cup World Series.
The reason for Craig's success is his ability to look at a sport property as a "product" in a highly competitive marketplace and asses it's inherent strengths and weaknesses, identify the unique selling points, and then re-focus and re-brand the sport. Once this is accomplished Craig has the experience to create the marketing concept, develop the sales team, and the operational approach.
Recently Craig conceived the idea for the 34th America's Cup to create a legacy of "Caring for the World's Oceans". This program is perhaps the best example so far of a sport truly integrating an environmental / social cause into it's DNA, as sailing is a wind-powered clean sport, where sailors love the sea, and everyone understands the close link and reason for this initiative (see more on Americascup.com).