In a media landscape where sports keep winning upfronts and brands and broadcasters are only looking for more sports properties, entertainment agency Known is building its game plan and roster around the knowable.
This week, Known launches a campaign for clients CBS and Paramount+ built around reliability: playing variables like the accuracy of grocery store guacamole expiration dates and a party’s tolerance of Buffalo Bills Zubaz against the relative stability of NFL Sunday football broadcasts. Since forming when marketing and data strategy firm Schireson Associates acquired brand strategy firm Blackbird and longtime Hollywood marketers Stun Creative in February 2020, Known has steadily built its expanding presence within sports’ increasingly reliable corner of the otherwise volatile media and entertainment spectrum.
Known’s principals point out that the agency has helped launch nine of the last 12 major streaming services—”If you put a + after ADWEEK, we’ll launch a streaming service for you, my friend,” said Known president and former Blackbird CEO Ross Martin—giving the agency a unique vantage point for changing media demands. From the depths of the pandemic to the present, Known has maintained longstanding relationships with leagues including the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL, as its media AOR); retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods; and gaming companies including Penn Gaming.
“With entertainment being in our DNA and part of what we’ve done for the last two decades before Known was Known, we’ve worked with every league and every media company that covers those leagues,” said Mark Feldstein, president and partner at Known and founder of Stun Creative. “It comes from that place of being a storyteller, so we grew up in that space, and that’s what we’re one of the best at.”
This year, however, Known has gone on offense as more interest swirls around the sports space. It was just named strategy and creative AOR for UCLA athletics ahead of the upcoming football and fall sports seasons. With the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan looming, Known became the official strategy, creative, and media partner of the Stifel-sponsored U.S. Ski Team and the research and strategy house of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Known’s sports marketing strategy looks beyond short-term point scoring. Using the agency’s in-house suite of Skeptic AI apps to estimate viewership, capitalize on tune-in opportunity, and boost creative testing, it’s both tracking the evolution of sports-based campaigns and, through its production and design teams, turning advanced athlete scouting into original content like its upcoming Amazon Prime Video documentary “Meal Ticket” about the McDonald’s All-American youth basketball games.
With a blend of veteran experience and new media knowledge, Known is attempting to build dynastic stability through its expanded sports strategy.