Matt White and Michael Wilkins launch sports media advisory
Michael Wilkins and Matt White
Two of Australia’s most experienced sports media executives have teamed up to share their “inside knowledge” on corporate strategy, communications, media and sports, through a new advisory.
Playback Advice is a new consultancy from Matt White and Michael Wilkins. The pair met when they were both copy boys at the Manly Daily in the late 1980s, and have since gone on to lead varied careers in the media and sporting landscape.
“We’ve tackled some of the biggest media deals in the country and navigated a rapidly changing sport and media landscape”, a one-pager sent to Mumbrella claims.
White is currently a host on SEN Radio, and was Ten’s head of sport between 2014 and 2020. Prior to that, he spent ten years as a sports commentator for Seven, and has worked on projects for Amazon Prime and Stan Sport.
Michael Wilkins was managing director of News Corp’s National Sports Network for five-and-a-half years, and NSW manager for three years prior. He also worked as managing editor of The Daily Telegraph, and in various managerial and editorial role across News Corp, including NSW managing director.
Wilkins told Mumbrella the pair are specialists in media, communications, and sport, and will be offering reputation management and coaching in leadership and presentation. He said the consultancy firm can “offer brands ways to interact with media and sports if they are thinking about exposure and sponsorship, and sports an understanding of how to best leverage their IP and get better coverage.”
He said the pair are “using our experience as both journalists and media executives to provide insiders’ knowledge on how to interact with all levels of media in Australia” and is suited to “any organisation that struggles with managing its reputation in a dynamic media environment.”
White said Playback Advice has already started working with sporting organisations “which perhaps don’t have the staff resources or skillsets in media, broadcast negotiations or forging commercial partnerships with sponsors”.
The advisory won’t stick strictly to sporting clients, having already worked with one corporation unrelated to the sports industry “which needed to manage a reputation issue”, according to White.
“We are happy to coach and mentor executives in sporting organisations on how to present themselves to media. We have seen how fast the digital landscape has changed media so can apply that knowledge to help sports or related industries like venues move faster in reaching new audiences.”
Wilkins and White started their careers together, and have kept in touch of the year. As the pair became executives they “always talked about where brands, sports and media could be doing better.”
A few months ago, they decided to combine their “huge store of knowledge, which we could utilise to help others achieve their goals”, as Wilkins explained.
“Media seems like a minefield to many. To us it is just a matter of how to point organisations in the right direction.
“We can tell you what’s going to happen in a news conference and what media executives are thinking in the boardroom. And we both have pretty good contact books.”
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