Kevin Adler is the Founder, President and Chief Engagement Officer of Engage Marketing.  He is a 20+ year veteran of the integrated marketing industry having worked professionally in television production, public relations, advertising, event production, and sponsorship and event marketing.

Adler’s career started in the broadcasting field, working in a freelance capacity for ABC Sports (Monday Night Football, College Football, PGA Championship), NBC Sports (NBA Finals), Turner Sports (NBA Playoffs), and Fox (NHL and NFL) among others.

He then moved on to gain experience in public relations working for a small firm in Chicago and then ultimately managing Gatorade’s consumer public relations for international PR firm Burson-Marstellar.  From Burson, Adler moved into event production and management developing and implementing experiential programs such as the PGA Championship FanFest, Cartoon Network Smash Tennis and the Service Merchandise NASCAR Show Car program for international event agency PGI.

From PGI, Adler moved on to become one of the first employees of Leo Burnett sister agency Starcom Sports Marketing in 1999.  Starcom Sports Marketing re-launched in December of 2001 as Relay as part of the overall merger/acquisition between Publicis and BCOM3 (the holding company that owned Starcom, Leo Burnett, MediaVest, etc.).  Adler became a key member of the Relay executive management team.

During his tenure with Starcom Sports Marketing/ Relay, Adler developed and implemented sponsorship and event strategies for clients such as Allstate (Women’s World Cup sponsorship and U.S. Soccer Federation), Hallmark (Salt Lake Winter Olympic Sponsorship and various figure skating platforms), LEGO (creation of global, multi-year licensing and sponsorship deals with the NBA, NHL, Gravity Games and top action sports athletes), Nintendo, Kellogg’s and others.  Adler oversaw Relay’s strategic consulting, business development, research and creative teams during his time with the agency.

With a vision for a fundamental paradigm shift in how brands approach the strategic planning process and ultimately enter into dialogues with their consumers, Adler founded Engage Marketing in the summer of 2006.  The agency specializes in working with Fortune 1000 brands to create and implement consumer engagement strategies that harness the power of sponsorships, events, promotions, digital / social media and public relations to create deeper levels of consumer engagement and most importantly, directly measurable business impact.  In January of 2009 the agency added a property representation function to its suite of services focused on serving as the lead corporate partnership development agents for a select group of sponsorship properties.

Under his leadership Engage Marketing has been recognized in both local and national press as well as with several prestigious industry awards including a 2008 Reggie Award and being named a Top 100 Agency by Event Marketer Magazine.  The agency has built an impressive roster of client work, serving blue chip brands including Crocs, Wrigley, Vonage, Timex, Hooked On Phonics, Wilson Golf, BP, Western Union, Unilever, American Family Insurance, Schwan’s, WWE, Teva and others.

Adler is a nationally recognized expert in the field of sports marketing and consumer engagement, has been featured as a speaker at multiple industry conferences and has been quoted in national press such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, CNBC, CNN, Time Magazine, The Today Show, and others.  He resides in suburban Chicago with his daughter Annabelle, and their golden retriever Summit.