Agencies | What The??

ESPN Partner Laundry Service Is the ‘No. 1 Ad Firm’ in America, According to ESPN Writer

By Patrick Coffee 

Brooklyn’s Laundry Service scored a big No. 7 on AdAge’s A-List, moving up two spots from last year. But they’re No. 1 in the mind of ESPN journalist Darren Rovell.

You may have heard yesterday that the agency’s client Papa John’s and the NFL mutually decided to end their relationship, because Rovell broke the news.

The relationship was supposed to go through 2020, though we suppose one could see the end coming. And the move could be positioned as part of Papa John’s CMO Brandon Rohten’s plans to put fewer eggs in the football-shaped basket.

But that’s not why we’re posting. Immediately afterward, Rovell shared a very interesting and seemingly unrelated opinion.

Hmmm, we wonder why he might say that … especially since the news is four months old.

Maybe it’s because Laundry Service’s content division, Cycle, signed a deal with ESPN back in October to produce social media and influencer work for “blue-chip accounts.” No, it can’t be that. (Laundry Service and its CEO Jason Stein retweeted that one unironically, we’re told.)

This morning, Rovell clarified: It’s all about the good creative.

Or else he works for Ford now. We asked him how he arrived at this very strongly held opinion on the ad industry, but he was too busy writing about Pizza Hut to respond.

On the plus side, it seems the whole sponsorship story will not affect consumers’ relationships with Papa John’s.

[Pic via ESPN]

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