Industry veterans Bryce Blum, Lauren Gaba Flanagan, and Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles have debuted a new creative agency and consulting group dedicated to helping clients navigate the landscape of esports and gaming. Theorycraft seeks to aid brands, professional teams, and investors to develop creative strategies to reach the elusive esports and gaming audiences.
Bryce Blum, founding partner of ESG Law a.k.a. Esports Law, has nearly a decade of experience in the industry as an attorney, contract lawyer, and consultant. Gaba Flanagan previously worked at CAA in various creative roles. For the past year, she has worked on consulting and creative projects as a freelancer, including the Overwatch League for which MonteCristo is a color caster and analyst.
As esports continues to explode in popularity, opportunities for non-endemic brands to get their feet wet in esports have never been more abundant. However, the nuance and sheer depth of the esports inudstry makes it a confusing space that has traditionally lacked any type of consulting infrastructure that is present in other entertainment industries.
The founding members provide a unique blend of skills: lawyer, business consultant, agency creative director, broadcaster, and former team owner, among others. Nathen McVittie also joins from the world of traditional sports to serve as Theorycraft’s Creative Director. In founding Theorycraft, the founding trio of esports veterans are offering a scarce commodity: esports experience with the ability to convert that experience into business insights.
MonteCristo has been casting Blizzard's Overwatch League for the past three years, but possess a wealth of esports experience before his most recent gig. Throughout over a decade in esports, MonteCristo has worked as a journalist, content creator, League of Legends Coach for Counter Logic Gaming, founded and formerly owned esports organization Renegades, casted both play-by-play and color in addition to providing analysis for the LCK, the premiere Korean LoL Esports league.
The vast, eclectic resume that Monte boasts, as well as his holding of multiple positions with different responsibilites and skillsets lends itself to a more objective viewpoint of how esports is growing, and what development it needs to continue to grow.
MonteCristo shed some light on the experiences throughout his esports career that led him to the founding of Theorycraft with his two partners, and how the agency plans to assist individual brands and the industry as a whole as esports continues to develop across the globe:
"With 15 years of experience in esports, I often consider how I can fulfill the needs of the industry even as the landscape continuously shifts and evolves. As hype around competitive gaming has reached a fever pitch, I've seen an explosion of interest from brands looking to reach the coveted esports demographic, yet brands sometimes lack the knowledge to activate effectively in the esports space.
In order to address this increasing need, I decided to team up with esports and traditional sports veterans Bryce Blum, Lauren Gaba Flanagan, and Nathen McVittie to form a new creative and strategic advisory firm called Theorycraft. We aim to offer brands a full portfolio of services including advising on product launches, connecting them to appropriate partners, content creation for deliverables, and full-blown marketing campaigns.
Theorycraft also looks to take on professional teams as clients to help hone their branding and align their content with a cohesive vision. We're excited to work with brands new to esports as well as those endemic companies looking for a refreshed image."
The team behind Theorycraft has already drafted successful applications for Riot Games’ League of Legends franchising, built team brands from the ground up, advised on the launch strategy of Activision-Blizzard’s Overwatch League, and designed a Premier League title-winning brand with Leicester City Football Club.
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