Fewer cases. Built deeper.
Apex publishes one detailed case for every position the firm builds.
Currently one live working example.
Building a category position from scratch.
Apex's first mandate. A UEFA Elite Referee with 100+ international matches, EURO 2024 credentials, and not a single existing brand conflict. The brief: build a set of category-exclusive partnerships that hold and grow over several years, signed one at a time, none of them rushed. Started Q1 2026.
Five phases, each with a date attached.
Mandate signed.
Representation mandate signed with Serdar Gözübüyük. Apex exclusivity on commercial brand partnerships and speaking engagements for the contracted term.
Category mapping
& conflict review.
Eight categories selected for category-exclusive partnerships. Active brands researched within each sector, then filtered against potential conflicts with the talent's refereeing role. Think UEFA matches where two clubs share one owner and fall on his schedule.
Approach &
first conversations.
Direct outreach to CMO and Brand Director level at qualified brands. Danny writes each approach himself; no agency in between, no mail-merge. The first conversation is one hour, confidential, with the founder.
First partnership
structured.
Where the fit holds, Apex drafts the terms with the brand: category exclusivity, what gets activated and when, the fee, and how many years it runs. Negotiation runs directly between Apex and the brand's commercial leadership. No standard contract comes out of a drawer; each deal is written for the specific brand.
Activation,
renewal, compounding.
Once signed, Apex runs the activation between brand and talent and reviews it against the goals set at the start. Each renewal is where the partnership widens: more of what works, another year on the term.
For years, brands saw the role.
Danny was the first to read the person behind it.
He never opened with my reach.
He opened with the work.
Serdar Gözübüyük
UEFA Elite Referee · Represented by Apex
Apex builds category positions, the kind a brand holds for years. The case above is one. The next will be another: a different category, a different brand, the same way of working.
Danny Schuurman
Founder · Amsterdam
Three conditions for a working partnership.
Apex represents one brand per category. Live availability sits on the category status page.
Representation is the agreement Apex holds. Activation is the campaign, the content, the events that put it in front of people. A partnership with nothing funded behind it is a logo placement waiting to expire.
If you sponsor a club he officiates, or sit inside a parent group that does, the neutrality that makes him valuable to you is gone before it starts.