“We don’t spend millions on a fancy beach in Cannes, we don’t issue press releases for fake initiatives that don’t exist, and we don’t manage athletes,” Martin said. “Sports at Known is something we’ve intentionally been keeping a little bit quiet because it’s such a loud, noisy category that we just went about building this business brick by brick, and we’ve done it from all sides of the ball… or the puck.”
Building the team
Known consists of just under 300 employees working across its various departments. Feldstein still serves as the head of its creative team, while its media planning and buying are headed by chief media officer and former Universal McCann exec Kasha Cacy. All of them serve alongside a sizable research and data science team driving the agency’s analytics and overseen by Known CEO Kern Schireson.
On the whole, 85% of the agency’s revenue still comes from within the United States, and some of its biggest partners include Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and numerous entertainment and streaming companies. Within that mix, however, are brands, broadcasters, cable networks, and streamers with media and strategy relationships with Known that predate its formation.
As Feldstein points out, at the agencies that became Known and at Known itself, his teams have worked on Olympic campaigns, campaigns for the MLB Shop and NFL, campaigns for Hulu + Live TV with Jimmy Butler, and brand campaigns for Beyond Meat and Audible featuring athletes like Kyrie Irving and Russell Wilson.
“These are relationships that have been in place for, in some cases, decades,” Martin said. “Everyone’s rushing into sports right now, because it seems to be one of the only things that’s working—sports won the upfront when nobody won the upfront—but this is not new to Known, so we’ve been riding that wave as it crests.”
Playing like you’ve been there before can earn you fans in sports marketing. Known became the creative AOR for the Stifel-sponsored U.S. Ski Team with a recommendation from a former client, who just happened to be the CMO of the U.S. Ski and Snowboarding Team.