MARK McCormack has said if you give him a hospitality tent and an allocation of tickets, he guarantees the event will be successful.
It worked for Wimbledon, the Olympics and even the Nobel Foundation, but fashion is a very different beast.
McCormack’s IMG – a production company, talent agency and management shop rolled into one – recently announced a deal to buy the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s 7th on Sixth show production arm. 7th on Sixth puts on New York’s Fashion Week, which functions as an upscale trade show for retailers and the media – with none of the direct consumer interaction that McCormack has mastered.
Working his magic under the Bryant Park tents may be a challenge for McCormack, but he’s up for it – and it won’t be the first he’s faced.
“We’re intrigued by fashion,” said McCormack. “The general public is in awe of designers and fashion shows. There’s a mystique about high fashion that people don’t understand.”
Without altering the concept behind the shows, McCormack plans to make them better. “We’ll make it more interesting visually and more comfortable for those at the shows,” he said, citing his most recent experience at the tents. “You stand in line, sit in a bleacher and the show’s over before it begins.”
“Fashion shows are not spectator friendly, but we wouldn’t do anything to damage or alter the traditions of the industry,” he added.
If you’re concerned about alterations, look at what IMG did for Wimbledon. IMG has modernized and marketed it to the world with sponsorships, star players and television deals. Despite the new commercialism, it is still the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world because IMG used the tournament’s reputation and stodgy British traditions as the cornerstone of its marketing.
The only thing the alliance with IMG has failed to do is create a British Grand Slam winner. But that doesn’t matter to IMG. The agency’s stable of star tennis players includes Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport and Venus and Serena Williams.
McCormack, the founder and CEO of IMG, the Mark McCormack Group of Companies, may be one of the most influential men in the world you’ve never heard of. His tentacles reach far beyond fashion and sports, to cultural events and performers, literary works, the Internet and television. IMG has its fingers in almost every pot there is, yet the company manages to stay off the radar screen.
It is said the hard-charging McCormack was the inspiration for the movie character Jerry Maguire. But McCormack is less Maguire and more the super-company Maguire exits after his epiphany.
Known for his vigor, McCormack starts his day before dawn and is usually still working when the young whippersnappers have gone home. And he’s the kind of person important people call when they need a favor.
“He is the ultimate go-to guy,” said Andy Pierce, senior international vice-president, who has worked at IMG for 20 of the last 22 years.
“You look at the calls he makes at 4 a.m. his time and at 11 p.m. his time and you know he’s working harder than you are,” Pierce said. “He sleeps, but I don’t know how much.”
Born in Chicago, McCormack appeared to be destined for the life he has today. A childhood car accident prevented him from playing contact sports, and he consequently learned to play a very good game of golf.
At the College of William and Mary, where he earned a degree in French, McCormack continued playing golf – taking the top spot on his team. He eventually went on to qualify for the U.S. Open and several U.S. and British Amateur Championships.
It was his love of golf that brought him to sports management. And it all started with a simple handshake with Arnold Palmer – the first IMG client.
“I was a pretty good golfer but wasn’t good enough to be a real player,” McCormack reminisced. “I was looking for a way I could stay involved in golf, yet use my law degree. I knew Arnold Palmer from playing golf against him in college, and I told him I wanted to look after his investments and contracts and pay his bills.”
McCormack was already forging into new territory. “Nobody was doing that in those days because there was no real money in it,” he said.
McCormack soon changed that and came to dominate several sports, including golf, tennis, ice shows and motorsports. It has gotten to the point where you can be trained by an IMG client – Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, David Leadbetter Golf Academy, Adidas Soccer Academy, the Baseball Academy and the International Performance Institute are all available – become an IMG client yourself and participate in only IMG-owned and managed events.
If you don’t happen to be a sports star or event organizer, McCormack can help you in other ways. He is the author of several books, including “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School,” “The Terrible Truth About Lawyers,” “Getting Results for Dummies” and “Staying Street Smart in the Internet Age.” (In a strange case of “Do as I say, not as I do,” McCormack didn’t go to Harvard, is a lawyer and has never been on the Internet.)
His books give common-sense advice – he recommends going to work early if you want to depart early – and they have been big sellers.
“I feel technology is fantastic,” he explained, “but you have to learn to use technology and not be used by it.”
He believes business is all about relationships and that sometimes technology gets in the way. “I could work with you and send you an e-mail when you’re 30 yards away – technology tends to let you get away with avoiding interpersonal relationships.”
For McCormack, interpersonal relationships are all throughout his company. All three of his children from his first marriage work for IMG. Breck is the managing director of IMG, Southeast Asia. Todd is senior corporate vice-president and heads TWIinteractive, the company’s Internet initiative. His daughter Leslie lives in London and works at TWI, the company’s television production subsidiary.
McCormack married tennis champion Betsy Nagelsen 15 years ago, and the couple has a three-year-old daughter, Maggie.
Will Maggie join IMG?
“Right now, she’s interested in dancing and buying dresses that twirl,” he said.
Personal profile
Name:Mark McCormack
Job:Founder and CEO, IMG, the Mark McCormack Group of Companies
Age:70
Family:Married, four children
Lives:Orlando, Fla.
Education:B.A. College of William and Mary. J.D.,Yale University
Hobbies:Tennis, movies and reading