Bully Pulpit International, a public relations agency launched by Washington, DC, strategists, hired Mark Jones to manage its emerging sports vertical.
Bully Pulpit announced on Tuesday that she had acquired Agado Communications, the Operation One-Man de Boutique that Jones launched in 2020. Jones will be director of sports, from immediately.
This decision arrives in the middle increased overlap Between sports, government and public policies. Jones began his career as a foreign policy advisor to the Minnesota senator, Mark Dayton, and his sports career has often rided the two worlds. This includes 10 years at the American Olympic Committee, advising work for the International Olympic Committee and consulting the successful inclusion of the International Cricket Council at the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games.
“Sports do not exist in the void – they are seated at the center of culture, politics, identity and values,” said Jones in an email. “Conversations that start in the field or in the arena often shape the way we see the world beyond. This is why this moment matters. Our job is to help sports leaders not only react to culture but to direct it. ”
He refused to comment on the financial details of the transaction.
Bully Pulpit was founded in 2009 by Andrew Bleeker, who was the main strategist for digital marketing on both Barack ObamaPresidential campaigns. The president of the group, Ben Labolt, was the secretary of the national press in the re -election campaign of Obama, and was then director of communications of the White House under Joe Biden. Bully Pulpit has existing sports customers – the NflPGA Tour and NcaaAmong others – but no one had specifically directed efforts.
Jones spent a decade at USOPC from 2010 to 2020, working with the American team in five Olympic and Paralympic Games. After his stay at the USOPC, he launched Agado, which means “action” or “narration” in Esperanto – a name which, according to him, was chosen via a brainstoral session with a WhatsApp group called the Council, which consists of a handful of sports communications leaders across the country. In addition to Cio and ICC, the current and previous customers of Agado include the NWSL, the points of point, the butt of major leagues and Fifa. He also worked with a number of national Olympic sport guiding organists, including USA Karate, USA Cricket and USA Hallowing.
Bully Pulpit announced at the end of last year that he was launching a sports serviceDone with the help of Mark Patricof of Patricof Co. and Terrence Burns of Tburns Sports Group, who was advisers outside the main advisers. The overall work of the company brought in about $ 91 million in revenues last year, according to Public Relations Weekannual agency report.