Brand building, communications and analytics agency, Boldspace has appointed Karim Virani, former Betfair, EE and West Ham marketeer as senior adviser.

Virani, who will work for Boldspace as a consultant on both the agency’s development and on client projects, brings experience from large, ambitious and high-growth businesses.

He started his career at Sky in customer marketing before moving to senior positions at Betfair, EE and Seatwave in leadership roles spanning digital, CRM, performance marketing, product, social, and partnerships. Most recently, he was chief commercial officer at West Ham United FC, overseeing the commercial and digital teams, where he delivered record-breaking revenue growth over the course of five years. It was during this time at the club where Virani saw the potential impact of the agency’s data and analytics platform, BoldLens, on the club’s communications and management reporting, becoming one of its first clients.

Virani, who left West Ham last year, is also a non executive director of Mental Health First Aid England and UK commercial director at Socios.com, a new app for sports and esports fans.

Mike Robb, co-founder and managing director at Boldspace, says, "I am particularly delighted to welcome Karim to the team given it was a conversation that started on the back of him buying into the Boldspace model by appointing us to work with West Ham on data and analytics. He brings unparalleled experience across a range of both high-growth and established businesses in a number of different sectors, and his data-first mindset is a great fit for everything we are doing with clients across our business.”

The appointment builds on a strong first year for the agency, which has now worked on more than 20 clients across a range of sectors since launch including the technology, healthcare, fintech, financial services, sport, ecommerce, and energy industries.