Pokimane launches agency to fix ‘broken’ relationship between gamers and brands
RTS, a talent management and brand consulting agency led by popular gamer Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys, has been launched to address the “broken” relationship between gamers, esports fans and brands.
Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys, gamer, streamer and co-founder of RTS
RTS is setting its sights on the gaming space by bringing together talent management, brand consulting and gaming expertise to aid creators, brands, events and publishers to make long-term impact across the industry. Clients already on board are Facebook, Pokimane herself, Epic Games/Fortnite World Cup and the Sony Evolution Championship Series (Evo).
The company is led by co-founder Anys, who will serve as chief creative officer. With over 30 million followers across her social networks and as one of the highest-paid female influencers, Anys hopes to share her expertise with brands. She is one of the most recognizable faces in the gaming industry and best known for her Twitch streams in Fortnite, Valorant, League of Legends and Among Us. She is also a founding member of OfflineTV, an online social entertainment group of content creators.
Joining in this venture, the RTS team is made up of various experts from across the gaming and sports industries: chief executive officer Stuart Saw, formerly of Twitch and Endeavor; chief operations officer Kim Phan (formerly Blizzard and Endeavor); Sue Lee, previously of Twitch and now vice-president of talent management at RTS; and coming from Pax and Turner Sports, vice-president of sales and partnerships Jason Scorrano.
Anys has seen plenty of brilliant content creators and their streams, but feels as though they don’t have the proper support they need to grow their brand and business operations.
“They’re spinning their wheels on basic stuff and taking a lot of frustrating partnership deals that don’t work out for either party involved,” she explained.
Having gone through similar experiences over the years, Anys aims to take her knowledge of the industry and make it easier for creators to shift through.
“I’ve gone through the wringer with these experiences, and we’re building RTS to be able to provide the support, alleviate the workload and solve this for creators, developers and brands. My goal is to take my years of experience and make it accessible to newer creators, so they don’t need to go through the process I have endured.”
This comes at a time where many believe that the gaming industry is in need of a shake-up of how brands and creators work together, with many not understanding how to talk to gamers authentically.
Last month, Coca-Cola unveiled ‘Real Magic,’ a new global platform aimed to attract gen Z and gamers to the soft drink, but some within the gaming community felt the spot to be ‘inauthentic,’ ‘tone deaf’ or worse.