Rich Hewes

For Saffron Inkster, global master brand director at Dirt Is Good, successful sports partnerships are built on more than reach and visibility. "The most important thing is shared values and a shared sense of mission of where we want to go and what we want to achieve," she says in a recent episode of The Partnership Game. That philosophy has underpinned Dirt Is Good's partnership with Arsenal.

Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube In this episode, Lynsey talks through Carlsberg's relationship with Liverpool – now over thirty years old and, by her account, the longest-running in the Premier League – and how that long-term trust gave the brand room to build Signs of Unity, a campaign that taught sign language to thousands of fans at Anfield so deaf and hard-of-hearing supporters could be part of You'll Never Walk Alone for the first time.

Kenny Annan-Jonathan was the first – and remains the only – creative director in the Premier League. He is also the founder of a talent management and creative agency and serves as sports director at Cannes Lions. Despite those credentials, Kenny would not describe himself as a sports marketer. “I work in sports, but if I’m honest, sports is a vehicle that I use to tell stories through. I’m a creative first,” he says.