Ally Financial Head of Brand and Sports Marketing Stephanie Marciano is leaving the financial services company to join agency consortium Underdog & Co. as chief strategy officer.
Over Marciano’s 4.5 years with Ally, the brand has been a leader in funding women’s sports, including a “50/50 pledge” to spend equally in media for men’s and women’s sports. Ally backed that with a Disney/ESPN deal and sponsorships with women’s properties, including the NWSL, PWHL and the WNBA.
Marciano, a 2024 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree, will join Underdog on May 1 and will report to founder Dan Mannix. No surprise here, as we recall him putting women in leadership roles decades ago — and long before others — at antecedent agency Lead Dog Marketing.
“She’s been the biggest game-changer in women’s sports, which is where all the recent growth has been. We want to be the leader among agencies helping brands and properties looking to enter and navigate that space,” Mannix said. “We see even more opportunity coming there, both in college and with the Women’s World Cup [next year in Brazil].”
Marciano worked for Mannix from 2018 to 2021 at CSM Sport & Entertainment, where she rose to SVP Consulting.
Meanwhile, Mannix said the Underdog enterprise is progressing nicely, totaling 160 employees after last year’s acquisition of experiential/event agency BeCore. He expects a few more agency acquisitions later this year.
