You First, the Spanish talent representation and brand service agency in sports and entertainment with an international presence, is now operating permanently and globally under the Gersh brand, the prestigious representation company for Hollywood artists. The change represents the culmination of the progressive integration process of You First into the group after the acquisition carried out in December 2024 and marks the unification of the entire company under a single identity.
As the agency explains in a statement, the integration represents the natural evolution of You First within Gersh. Since last June, its football and basketball representation units began to operate under the Gersh identity and now, the areas specialized in brand services, rights holders and content platforms also begin to operate under this brand.
Thus, a proposal to the market is consolidated at a global level that combines capabilities in representing talent, sports, entertainment, marketing, content generation and brand services, rights holders and audiovisual production. The addition of You First to Gersh has driven the growth of both companies in key markets, such as the United States and Europe, strengthened their capabilities and generated synergy opportunities for both the talents and brands they work with.
Gersh, one of the world’s leading talent representation agencies, manages the careers of actors such as Jacob Elordi, Harris Dickinson and Chase Infiniti, among others. And thanks to You First he has added a sports portfolio that includes Alexia Putellas, Luis de la Fuente and Trent Alexander-Arnold in football; and Jarrett Allen, Edy Tavares or Jeremy Sochan in basketball. Now it also works with sports brands and organizations such as Continental, Lacoste, Lay’s, Pepsi, Samsung and Euro League.
Companies defend the complementarities of their proposals at the business and market level
Almost two years after the announcement of the acquisition, those responsible for You First reaffirm the value of a movement based on the complementarity of the proposals and the contribution of the team’s talent to clients. “We build on the relationships and expertise developed at You First, now backed by Gersh’s international reach and resources.“, commented Juan Aísa, CEO and Co-Founder of You First, in a statement. “This allows us to provide greater specialization to the needs of each client and take advantage of opportunities in different markets, whether we accompany the career of a professional or help a brand connect with its audiences.”.
The agency assures that, after the acquisition, the day-to-day operations of the teams and the business have remained the same, in the same way that the way of working, the experience and the values that You First has offered to the market during its more than 20 years of experience are maintained. Operating supported by a broader international structure has opened the doors to greater resources and new capabilities.
David Brabender, Brand & Entertainment Managing Director at Gersh International, took stock in conversation with reason.Why and has indicated that the process has not encountered friction in synergies, a common challenge in this type of operations. “Our fusion of businesses and geographies was very complementary from the first moment, and that has allowed us to create many opportunities together”he explained to us. “There have been no duplications, so we have been able to focus on building to grow”.
The manager assures that completing the integration process gives meaning to the group and strengthens the international presence after the operations carried out in recent years. At the same time, it reaffirms the company’s global ambition and the maintenance of a local spirit, as well as the extension of the initial hope put into You First. “When we started this adventure we were a group of people who saw the opportunity to build a Spanish company with international reach. This is a point and followed by that dream“Brabender maintains.”We have always believed that the important thing is the teams, and now we are stronger and stronger”.
In this regard, the focus is on developing a roadmap that involves strengthening Gersh’s growth in Europe, consolidating the business and exploring new opportunities; all this to achieve the goal of being in the top 5 of the main companies in the category, as those responsible for the company already indicated in 2024.
