Former Esl Executive Launches Esports Agency Road House

Former ESL Global Partnerships Director, Charlie Allen, has launched a new commercial esports and gaming agency, Road House.

According to Allen, the new venture will help clients navigate the esports and gaming landscape and understand the sector’s potential for brand partnerships. Officially founded in late 2020, Road House consults with brands, agencies, rights holders, publishers, and tournament organisers in sport, as well as with brands across the FMCG, tech, automotive, fast food, finance, luxury, and logistics sectors.

Allen, the Founder of Road House who will serve as Managing Director, brings a range of global sponsorship, media, and business development experience from a career that includes working at major agency networks, as well as FOX Sports, and most recently ESL. 

“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,” said Allen. 

“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 notes that the appetite to reach new millennial audiences that brands have never managed to reach before is on the rise.