MELT is a marketing agency based in Atlanta, focused on sports, entertainment and culinary platforms. Since 2000 we have worked with national and global brands on sponsorship strategy, event activation, content and retail programs.
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MELT was founded in Atlanta in 2000 and has grown into one of the largest independent sports, entertainment, culinary, music and experiential agencies in the country.
Our work spans the Super Bowl, SEC Championship, College World Series, FIFA, MLB, MLS, NASCAR, NBA, NFL, NHRA, PGA and the Olympics, alongside large music and fan festivals. We are independent, which means the recommendation you get is the one we believe rather than the one a holding company needs to sell.
Build and activate sponsorships around major sports properties — and prove what they returned.
Design and execute fan experiences at marquee events, at scale, with our own people on site.
Connect event platforms to retail so the spend shows up in sell-through, not just in impressions.
Keep the content working long after load-out, across every platform the fan actually uses.
20+ years — NCAA championships, College GameDay, collegiate platforms
SEC and HBCU football, Women’s Final Four, talent content
Sports and entertainment activation, retail mechanics
Employee and community events, content
National sampling tours and seasonal retail programs
Agency of record — sponsorship and premium sales
A relentless brand builder, entrepreneur and industry pioneer — and the reason a 2000-founded Atlanta shop is still independent and still winning marquee work.
Vince graduated from Auburn University in 1984, where he was a student assistant in Sports Information and sports editor of The Auburn Plainsman. That experience became MELT University, the intern program that has since worked with thousands of college students.
He co-founded SANIL and produced the first-ever NIL student-athlete summit in 2022, helped reimagine and reopen Auburn’s War Eagle Supper Club, and played a pivotal role in bringing Oak View Group and Live Nation to the City of Mobile’s $300M arena. He lectures at universities nationwide and sits on advisory boards at Samford University and the University of Georgia.
There are no great ideas without great execution. Vince Thompson
Stop thinking like a student. Start operating like the CEO of a startup whose only product is you.
Build Brand U, Too is the personal-brand coaching platform built on the MELT U curriculum. Two books, a fillable playbook and four coaching programs that run from a single 90-minute jumpstart to one-on-one CEO coaching.
Students, graduates, career changers and executives work the same discipline MELT uses for brands: find the narrative, understand the audience, then build the digital presence to match.
Recognition outside the agency: ADA Father of the Year, Wellspring Living HOPE Award, Showcase Group Rise Award, Atlanta 500.
Vince Thompson founds MELT in Atlanta.
The Coca-Cola Company relationship begins — it is still running.
MELT Culinary launches. War Eagle Supper Club closes its original doors.
SANIL co-founded; MELT produces the first-ever NIL student-athlete summit.
War Eagle Supper Club reopens at The Graduate Hotel. 25th year of the agency approaches.
Agency of record on Mobile’s new $300M arena, with Oak View Group and Live Nation programming it.
MELT has produced broadcast and streaming work across CBS, Turner, ESPN and VH1, launched The Jboy Show (acquired by The Daily Wire), and keeps a hand in the live music and festival business that taught us how to run a show in the first place.
Media & originals →