Who We are

The company was founded by David Brenner in 1995 under the name HALO Sports and Entertainment. In 2001, we became Paragon Marketing Group.

Paragon uncovered and delivered a unique, highly-visible signage position across Major League ballparks for HALO Industries. Dugout signage, which at the time was untouched real-estate for signage and branding, is now a staple in all ballparks and provides authentic, television visible branding for sponsors all across Major League Baseball.

Initiated our agency relationship with Gatorade by creating a program to provide sports fuel product at the point of sweat, education from a credible source, and a service that provides value to athletes and influencers.

Paragon identified and executed groundbreaking branding positions for Sharpie as part of its entitlement of the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Sharpie’s distinctive branding on the apron of the track, which is now common in most races, represented the first time any branding had been displayed in that area of a race venue.

Paragon secured the rights to put a superstar high school basketball player from Cleveland on local television. Instead, we took Lebron James to ESPN networks and televised his game against Oak Hill Academy on ESPN2. The game delivered the highest rating ever for ESPN2 and in the process created a new televised sports category – live, nationally televised high school games.

Paragon worked with the PGA Tour to create an inside the ropes branding and marketing position for Nature Valley Granola Bars through the Nature Valley Caddie Hat program. Through the incentive based program, PGA TOUR caddies earned points for wearing Nature Valley branded hats on TOUR and receiving bonus points tied to their player’s performance at each tournament. Point totals were recorded weekly throughout the season and the caddies with the most points at the end of the year were compensated by Nature Valley and the PGA TOUR.

Paragon created and led the development of the Continental OnePass Online Auction, a “Points/Miles” redemption program for the airline’s OnePass members. The first-of-its-kind program, which is still utilized today by United Airlines, provided OnePass members with an opportunity to bid on exclusive experiential packages, derived from the airlines’ sponsorship contracts, with OnePass points/miles as currency.

Paragon secured the first national sports multi-vitamin partnership with Major League Baseball. We consulted and developed marketing platforms for Bayer HealthCare brands including the following: One-A-Day Vitamin, Alka-Seltzer Plus, Bayer Aspirin, Coppertone Sunscreen, and Dr. Scholl’s.

Our agency initiated the relationship with Totino’s Pizza Rolls with a focus on reaching tweens and teens through a fully integrated action sports program featuring partnerships with the Winter X Games, the Winter Dew Tour, and Burton Snowboards, as well as snowboarders Danny Kass, Danny Davis, and Mason Aguirre.

Paragon conceived and brought to market a revolutionary event in competitive sports with the creation of High School Bowl Games. The Bowl Games, which feature matchups between newly crowned state championship teams from across the United States, are televised annually across the ESPN family of networks.

Paragon pioneered the development of globally televised STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) academic competitions. Through distribution partnerships with ESPN, ESPN International, and the CBS Broadcast Network, the prestigious VEX Robotics World Championships was televised nationally in the U.S. and in more than a dozen countries worldwide.

Paragon created and led the execution of UCHealth’s first annual owned event in 2016 called MANtenance. The campaign allows UCHealth to drive awareness around the importance of men’s health in Colorado, while leveraging existing partnerships in an effort to paint the town blue (the official color of men’s health awareness) for two weeks in November. The campaign includes blue uplighting of local stadiums and landmarks, fitness and lifestyle activities, digital content and printed collateral specific to men’s health awareness.

Managed the naming rights negotiations on behalf of our client PPG with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the current PPG Paints Arena. Additionally lead the negotiation with the NHL for PPG to be the Official Paint of the NHL.

Paragon and ESPN partnered to launch the first ever national telecasts of high school lacrosse with the inaugural GEICO High School Lacrosse Nationals. 8 teams are invited to Washington, D.C. over Memorial Day Weekend to compete in this single elimination tournament. The winner-take-all format culminates with the semifinal and championship games televised live on ESPNU.

Who’s Next (@whosnexths) showcases the next generation of athletes through engaging content such as exclusive live highlights and custom features. Who’s Next serves as an extension of ESPN’s linear high school programming, featuring in-depth access to the nation’s top high school teams and recruits while promoting tune-in for their ESPN debuts. Follow us @whosnexths on Twitter and Instagram.

Paragon helped Chipotle secure a partnership with international soccer superstar and diehard Chipotle fan Christian Pulisic as part of the brands “Real Food for Real Athletes” program that features sports partnerships with USA Hockey, US Youth Soccer and U.S. Soccer.

As NBA All-Star Weekend came to Chicago, Paragon strategically set up distribution points throughout the city where over 42,000 complimentary samples of Bolt24 were provided. Bolt24 is a new product from the makers of Gatorade, that serves as an advanced 24/7 all-day hydration solution aimed at supporting an athlete’s needs off the field. Fans, athletes, and celebrities from all over the country were able to try this new product throughout multiple NBA sponsored events, including the NBA Skills Competition and Dunk Contest at the United Center, The Female Quotient – Equality Lounge Discussions at the Gwen Hotel and NBA Crossover Fan Experience at Navy Pier.

After eight years of sponsoring the PGA-sanctioned family golf event, Paragon helped PNC with re-branding the PNC Father/Son Challenge to the PNC Championship to be more reflective of the playing field, which has expanded well beyond father-son duos. While Tiger Woods and his son, Charlie, were the headliners of the field, the 2020 field also featured Annika Sorenstam playing with her father, Justin Thomas playing with his father, and Bubba Watson playing with his father-in-law.