The appointment of Sarah Kendall as UK managing director comes as Fuse reveals that revenue grew about 16 per cent last year after a difficult 2020, rising from about £6.9m to £8m.

According to Sports Business, the agency’s former UK MD, Stephen Hutchison, joined The Football Association on 31 January as its head of commercial partnerships. PRWeek has contacted The FA and Hutchison.

Kendall has spent seven years at Fuse, latterly as head of Fuse at PHD UK, where she led the growth of the agency’s sport and entertainment services as part of an integrated Omnicom Media Group offering.

She takes over to lead the 100-strong agency in the UK and will report to Louise Johnson, chief executive of UK and EMEA.

Fuse said Kendall, who joined the business as head of PR in 2015, has overseen major new business wins, the creation of two new revenue-driving divisions – specialist sport and entertainment PR and creative activation – and played a key role in the agency’s 2019 restructure that brought six UK offices into one.

Among her campaign achievements have been overseeing the development and delivery of The FA and Duke of Cambridge’s Heads Up campaign, a PRWeek UK Awards winner.

Johnson said: “Sarah has played an important part in our agency’s growth story. I’m confident that in her new role as managing director she will continue to grow the agency and deliver brilliant success in line with the changing landscape, client expectations and needs.”

Kendall said: “It’s an absolute privilege to be leading Fuse into a new and exciting era. I come into this role at a point of huge momentum for the agency as we continue to deepen client relationships, strengthen our creative and digital capabilities and further unlock the data, insight and commercial potential of Omnicom Media Group in new ways that add increased value to clients’ sport and entertainment properties.”

Fuse’s clients include PepsiCo, FedEx and Enterprise’s UEFA competition partnerships; Vodafone and its recently announced five-year partnership with AELTC and Wimbledon; Klarna and its new partnerships with Chicago Bulls and Angel City FC; and Carlsberg Group, SportsBet, HSBC and Nissan.

The agency reported a significant decline in UK revenue in 2020 amid the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions on sport and in-person entertainment, according to the most recently published PRWeek UK Top 150 Consultancies report. Revenue in the UK fell 29 per cent in 2020.

Hutchison joined Fuse in 2010 as a director, shortly after the agency was founded, and was named UK managing director in 2018.

Article originally published on PR Week here.