Charlie Allen, former director of global brand partnerships at ESL, has launched a new commercial esports and gaming agency, Road House.

The new company focuses on working with its clients to help them navigate the esports and gaming landscape and understand the mass potential of brand partnerships in a booming industry. Founded back in late 2020, Road House consults with brands, agencies, rights holders, publishers, and tournament organisers from all over the sports, media & entertainment world.

“Despite the challenges the industry has faced due to the pandemic, it is still a very promising time for esports right now. I’ve learned a great deal from working in this fascinating sector over the past few years and it felt like the right time to launch Road House,” Charlie Allen said.

“During my years at ESL, I spoke with many C-suite level executives from across many different sectors in the traditional marketing world, and what I discovered is that the broad, open ecosystem of esports can prove rather daunting to them. They really needed it explaining to them – like about how esports is consumed, who plays where, how many people are tuning in, and how can we positively engage with them?”

The commercial agency works with clients on RFPs from across both the endemic and non-endemic world, and the appetite to reach new millennial audiences that these brands have never managed to reach before is definitely on the rise.

Swedish esports organisation Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) has announced a complete rebranding.

The rebranding not only consists of a completely new visual design where the old logotype, the Shuriken (a weapon used by Ninjas) is modernised and the previous team colours (black/gold/white) are replaced, it also includes an upgraded brand strategy and an exciting narrative where NIP has taken inspiration from traditional ancient Japanese emblems and Katakana (a Japanese writing character).

“For us who work at and play for NIP, being a Ninja is something special, it’s more than just a brand and we kept that in mind while creating this new narrative to deliver an unforgettable experience for our fans and partners all over the world. Ninjas fight as one, we have discipline, we stay calm and we inspire. A ninja can be everyone and we feel it’s important to create a story that anyone can connect with,” Hicham Chahine, CEO of NIP, said.

Chahine reveals that Ninjas in Pyjamas has been working on this new rebrand for over a year, making sure that the brand experience is delivered to its utmost potential. The Swedish company has put a lot of effort into it, using several agencies for research and insights, e-commerce and to create a visual design and a storyline that will live on for years to come.

“We are very proud of our new brand platform and especially the new logotype as it is a huge step forward in terms of visual identity. Inside of the new Shuriken, is the old Japanese word Nin, which is the beginning of Ninja and means to apply ego and heart to the edge of the sword. We believe that intricate details like these are crucial to showcase and supply our fans with,” William Bui, Brand Manager at NIP, said.

· The final eight teams who will battle in the VALORANT invitational are locked as FrenzyGoKill secures a spot through open qualifiers, alongside special guest invited squad Monkey Business with a newly revealed roster.

· NiP will face Futbolist and G2 will take on FrenzyGoKill in day one match ups as the competition kicks off on January 28th on twitch.tv/redbull from 11:30am (GMT)

· The unique Home Ground by Red Bull format puts emphasis on map picks and bans, allowing for exciting upsets and unpredictable twists, whilst retaining the core VALORANT meta

Home Ground by Red Bull, in Partnership with AOC, a new VALORANT competition kicks off on Thursday, and will see Europe’s fiercest teams go head-to-head across four days, competing for £24,000, and to be crowned the inaugural Home Ground by Red Bull Champions. G2, Team Liquid, Guild Esports, SUMN FC, Futbolist, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FrenzyGoKill, and Monkey Business, will battle in a unique format where early map dominance is the key to success. Monkey Business and their newly revealed roster have been announced as the special guest invited team, and FrenzyGoKill secured the final spot in open qualifiers that took place last week.

Home Ground by Red Bull is the brand’s first pro VALORANT event, following the recent reveal of Red Bull Campus Clutch, a global VALORANT university competition which will see teams from more than 50 countries compete, marking the further evolution of the brand’s global work with Riot Games.

Ahead of Home Ground by Red Bull, special guest invited team Monkey Business has revealed their new VALORANT roster:

• Dylan “aKm” Bignet
• Benjamin “uNKOE” Chevasson
• Kevin “TviQ” Lindström
• Theo “OniBy” Tarlier
• Dragan “Elllement” Milanović
• Coach: Julien “daemoN” Ducros

Looking forward to the competition, the team said “Monkey Business got together quite a bit later than the other teams, we’ve been busy stacking bananas ahead of this important day. We’re looking forward to creating havoc among the top teams and producing great moments for the Valorant community. Please cheer for our monkeys during their first competitive appearance!.”

Schedule (beginning at 11:30 GMT/12:30 CET each day):

• January 28th – Quarterfinal 1

1. A) NiP vs Futbolist
2. B) G2 vs FrenzyGoKill

• January 29th: Quarterfinal 2

1. C) Team Liquid vs Guild Esports
2. D) SUMN FC vs Special Guest

• January 30th: Semifinal  

1. E) Winner of A vs Winner of B
2. F) Winner of C vs Winner of D

• January 31st: Final

1. G) Winner of E vs Winner of F

Format: 

• The eight Home Ground by Red Bull teams will battle across a best-of-five, single-elimination bracket. Adding an additional layer of strategic depth to map picks, teams will select their strongest map as their “home ground” ahead of each match.
• Home Grounds get played first. If one team wins on both Home Grounds, they instantly win the 2-0 victory, and progress to the next round, meaning reverse sweeps are off the table and early game pressure is high.
• If both teams dominate their home grounds, the entire best-of-five is played to determine the winner.
• An explainer video can be seen here.

Broadcast talent:

• Host: Frankie Ward
• Casters:

• 1. Lauren “Pansy” Scott
  2. Mike “hypoc” Robins
  3. Mitch “MitchMan” Mcbride
  4. James Banks

Streams: 

• Home Ground by Red Bull will be broadcast in a series of languages for fans around the world:

• English – tv/redbull
• French – tv/redbullfr
• Turkish – tv/redbulltr
• French – tv/1pvalorant
• German – tv/agentsrange
• Spanish – tv/Giants