Carsten Thode, Chief Strategy Officer at Synergy, is the feature interview on this week's SB Weekly.

Part of the Engine Group, Synergy positions itself as a brand-facing, creatively-driven and digitally-native sports agency that focuses on delivering business value for its array of clients, which include Standard Life Investments, Canterbury and Beko.

Carsten started out his career at management consultancy Marakon Associates - working with clients such as Diageo, Schweppes and Lloyds TSB. En route to Synergy he also had a short stint at Manchester United as Head of Strategic Relationships.

On the podcast, Carsten discusses:

- What's exciting for sports marketing in 2017
- How Synergy is rapidly improving its offering through the Engine Group's capabilities
- Work being done to optimise the delivery of branded content
- Why there's a large disconnect between rights-holder and brand thinking
- How the Formula One 'walled garden' is going to come down - to the benefit of agencies and brands
- Why the age of the influencer is over - brands now want micro-influencers
- What annoys him about the sports marketing sector in America specifically.