{"id":926523,"date":"2026-04-29T14:41:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/926523\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T14:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:41:18","slug":"bristol-bears-chief-explains-novel-approach-to-player-recruitment-we-are-a-marketing-agency-that-plays-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/926523\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol Bears chief explains novel approach to player recruitment: \u2018We are a marketing agency that plays rugby\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Louis<\/p>\n

Louis Rees-Zammit signed for Bristol on his return from the NFL (Getty)<\/p>\n

The chief executive of Bristol Bears<\/a> has said that the Gallagher Prem side factors off-field profile into discussions over player recruitment, describing the club as \u201ca marketing agency that plays rugby\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tom Tainton was appointed as CEO at Ashton Gate last summer having previously served as the club\u2019s chief operating officer and head of communications.<\/p>\n

The club sit fifth in the Prem table<\/a> as they chase a play-off place this season, and have made a number of eye-catching additions to their playing group over the last few seasons.<\/p>\n

Wales international Louis Rees-Zammit<\/a> returned to rugby from the NFL last summer at the club and has since signed a long-term deal<\/a>, while Ilona Maher<\/a>\u2019s short stint in Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby (PWR) last season drove significant interest both in the Bears and the league as a whole.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tainton cited both as examples of how rugby can market its stars, and said that Bristol consider marketability when contemplating new signings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no point going to market and spending marquee money on a player and just expect them to do something between the white lines on a Saturday,\u201d Tainton explained at SportPro London.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the grand scheme of things, nobody remembers how Bristol got on against Harlequins two years ago. They will remember how a player made them feel.<\/p>\n

\"Ilona<\/p>\n

Ilona Maher’s short stint at Bristol proved impactful for the PWR as a whole (Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Bristol Bears, we don\u2019t call ourselves a rugby club. We are a marketing agency that plays rugby. Yes, our players have to be competent and able to deliver on the field, but if they are not bringing any value off the field, that genuinely factors into our recruitment conversations.”<\/p>\n

Tainton\u2019s comments come with the Prem moving towards an expansion model having removed promotion and relegation<\/a>, and amid fresh investment within English rugby.<\/p>\n

Red Bull bought Newcastle last summer while James Dyson has recently purchased a 50 per cent stake in Bath, with the billionaire owners of AFC Bournemouth also expected to soon complete a takeover of Exeter Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Bristol have been owned by Steve Lansdown since 2008, and Tainton suggested they are fully bought in to the Prem\u2019s vision for the future.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Bristol<\/p>\n

Bristol recently took on Harlequins at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium (Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very easy for us to sit here and use a lot of corporate buzzwords that don\u2019t really mean anything,\u201d he stressed. \u201cYou want someone to see a sport that is cool, inclusive, engaging, and high-octane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d argue we have done the hard bit \u2013 the product is superb. There are young, articulate men and women playing the game. We\u2019ve got a great base to grow from. We now have to take some bold risks to get out of our comfort zone and do things that the sport hasn\u2019t previously done.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Louis Rees-Zammit signed for Bristol on his return from the NFL (Getty) The chief executive of Bristol Bears…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":926524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,21571,748,259568,393,215631,4884,259569,259572,259571,259570,259573,16,15],"class_list":["post-926523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bristol","tag-bristol","tag-bristol-bears","tag-britain","tag-chief-operating-officer","tag-england","tag-gallagher-prem","tag-great-britain","tag-ilona-maher","tag-marketing-agency","tag-prem-table","tag-the-chief-executive","tag-tom-tainton","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116488522559164203","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}