Founded in 2010 by Kim Vanderlinden and Helena Van der Plaetsen, WAFEL SPORTS MANAGEMENT is an independent, full service sports consultancy agency specializing in elite athlete management, image building, media relations and athlete branding. Together, Kim and Helena form a team of well-connected communications professionals, ensuring our clients are more than a list of ‘major performances’ but also a story of success that needs to be told.
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Kim has an inherent talent for all things creative and style, which she uses wisely when it comes to making those crucial decisions in image building and athlete branding. Her ever growing versatility is built on excellent contacts and solid relationships. With her in-depth understanding of all things PR our capabilities within the realm of sports consultancy stretch far beyond classic sports management. She is an IAAF authorized and licensed Athlete Representative.
Helena’s practical and down to earth demeanor ensures we consistently knock the ball out of the park for our clients. She uses her expertise, industry knowledge and international network in order to guarantee our clients receive maximum assistance. Bringing an array of experience to the team, she allows our athletes to focus solely on performing while we take care of all the extra’s. She is an IAAF authorized and licensed Athlete Representative.
It’s a challenging task being an ambitious athlete nowadays. Apart from being 200% focussed on training and competing, there’s also an array of other practical things that athletes face on a daily basis. That’s why we consider it vital to offer professionalism and insight, and meet the needs of our clients in order to sustain career longevity. Comprehensive services have been developed focusing on, but not limited to, the following key areas:
We have many years of experience getting our athletes into global premium level competitions such as Diamond League meetings as well as having them build experience and confidence at local B-level competitions in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Germany.
There is no such thing as a ‘standard’ contract. Thanks to our established relationships and personal approach, we make sure our clients are signing a tailor-made contract. Athlete partnerships have been created with all major running sportswear-manufacturing companies and other top organizations such as Nike, Adidas, Asics, Puma, Audi, Red Bull, Vivaldis Interim, Diamanti Per Tutti, Euro Disney, MAC Cosmetics, Jet Import, Stad Deinze, UNICEF.
Forget 360, think 365. An athlete represents himself and his support staff not only when competing. Branding yourself therefore requires good thinking and strategy. We are out-of-the-box thinkers coming up with unique and creative content at the right time in traditional and digital media in order to provide customized branding. We stimulate our athletes in being ‘game-changers’ by creating own platforms and guiding them in building their own audiences. Sports fans are demanding a much more engaging, immersive experience than ever before where unpolished authenticity is golden. We assist our athletes to meet those needs on a daily basis.
WAFEL has arranged features for its clients in national and international television, print and radio such as De Laatste Show, Quiz van het Jaar, Van Gils en Gasten, Café Corsari, Touché, ELLE Magazine, Feeling, Gael, The Guardian, L’Equipe, De Tijd, L’Echo, Q Music, Studio Brussel, Radio 2, Sporza, So Soir Magazine, Het Nieuwsblad Magazine, NINA, Humo, Sportvoetbal Magazine, Knack Weekend, Trends.
World class athletes need to train and perform on a world class level. Our international network allows us to open doors resulting in opportunities that benefit best our client’s needs.
It is our aim to cover all paperwork our clients get to deal with. Additionally we are well-connected to optimize administration and solicit input from contacts across our network. We can count on trusted law firms and attorneys to help us find the right solution to all of our clients’ business challenges.
Not only athletes benefit from our worldwide partnerships. Also companies have enjoyed our passion for sports and our desire to bring results. While many companies have shown interest in sports marketing, it is often difficult to navigate the somewhat special world of elite sports. Our experience and network has served many companies well, whether it concerned a (inter)national campaign or a local event. It is our goal to come up with new, innovative ways and creative solutions for brands/companies who want to embrace and leverage the influence of professional athletes.
“Partnerships with sports personalities offer huge opportunities for marketing to be genuinely engaging and creative, deepening customer relationships far more than a logo badging exercise ever did in the past.” – Campaign Live
Supporting an athlete is a long term, two-way relationship where not only the athlete, but also a company, work together in reaching mutual goals. With the right communication, the vision and values of an athlete automatically rub off on a company’s image. On top of that, an Olympic athlete is naturally associated with Olympic values such as respect, integrity, excellence, courage, determination and inspiration.
“Sports sponsorship gives you the entry ticket to access engaging content in an agile way. gives you souped-up content and a way to engage with people that are passionate and are going to react to what you say with a high level of engagement.” – Campaign Live
We have been lucky enough to team up with organizations such as Nike, Adidas, Asics, Audi, Vivaldis Interim, UNICEF, Red Bull, Stad Deinze, VLAM, Puma, DnF Sportpraktijk, Golazo, Jet Import, Diamanti Per Tutti, 4254, …
For more information on partnership options you can contact us.
