Campbell Mithun Esty Wins Fanball Account

Fanball Inc. named Campbell Mithun Esty (CME) in Minneapolis as its agency of record for its newly established Internet fantasy sports division, fanball.com.

CME will provide marketing consultation, brand positioning, a multi-media campaign launching in August, and site design and enhancement. Billings were not disclosed.

“Fantasy sports is exploding into a $5 billion business,” said Rob Phythian, president of Fanball Inc. “This relationship enables us to be on the cutting edge of a whole new approach to delivering recreational sports to the millions of people who now enjoy them.”

Launching fantasy football in the fall to a projected 48 million site visitors, the fanball.com site will ultimately include other major fantasy sports such as baseball, basketball, hockey and NASCAR. The site will feature several tiers of free and premium content, including real-time game results, league and commissioner sections, and weekly contests.

Fanball Inc. publishes a national fantasy sports magazine, Fantasy Football Weekly.

With year-end 1998 billings of $904 million, CME, an Interpublic Group company, is a marketing communications agency with headquarters in Minneapolis and offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle.