August 8, 2025 • 21 mins
The founder and CEO of Acceleration Community of Companies explains the vision behind the collection of marketing, communications, branding and live event firms that he has acquired since 2018. Nyman offers insights into how the media consumption habits of Gen Z and Gen Alpha will radically change the shape of entertainment in the coming years.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with
industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My
guest is Michael Nyman, founder and CEO of Acceleration Community
of Companies or ACC. It's a collection of firms that
work in marketing, communications, PR, and live events. Since twenty eighteen,
(00:32):
Nyman has been building up Acceleration through acquisitions of firms
with complementary specialties. Among his recent deals is PR, branding
and strategy firm DKC, headquartered in NYC. Niman is well
known to industry insiders after a long career in marketing
and communications. For years, he was the n in BNC
(00:53):
Bragman Nyman Cafarelli. Niman helped orchestrate the Alphabet Soup merger
of BNC PS and ultimately Rogers and Cowan. He was
chair of the entire entity when he bowed out in
twenty eighteen. As Nyman explains, he left with the goal
of building a bettermount strap, one that suited his life stage.
(01:14):
We also talk about industry trends, the behavioral habits of
gen Z and jen Alpha and how they will influence
the evolution of entertainment. Michael Nymann, founder and CEO of
Acceleration Community of Companies, thank you so much for having
me here.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, thank you for having me in.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Your century city, Diggs. I've got a nice, beautiful view
of a kind of a hazy la skyline out here.
Let's step back and sketch out for me what is
acceleration Community of Companies? What is the larger goal?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It was a lot of fun to contemplate that departure
of Okay, you're going to go from chairman and CEO
of PMKB and C to do what There's a lot
that runs through your mind. But it was clear to
me that, you know, life is a series of chapters.
I felt that I was at an agent stage where
(02:08):
I had more time on my hands. My kids were older,
and I felt that while I loved my company and
everything that we're doing with our company, our clients, the
global footprint that we had was great, a lot to
be proud of, but I just felt deep down that
I had more to do. What was striking to me
(02:30):
was in twenty eighteen, I had felt that it was
clear that we were in the midst of change, and
I felt that I wanted to stay in the world
of marketing, advertising, communications, media, and I wanted to be
in and around consumer and entertainment. But I felt that
(02:50):
where I was at this holding company model was it
wasn't a statement about the holding company that we were
residing in as much as what I felt was coming
to the business. I thought that the holding companies were
going to come to an end. I just believe in
this idea of ages and stages in life, and just
like humans, companies have the age and.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
You had been an architect of the companies.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I just felt that there was an opportunity here that
I felt the virtues of being in a community or
with a group of companies was a good thing, and
I felt that for certain clients there was some benefit
if you could find a grouping of companies that could
help you. But what I was trying to do is
look at a different spin on it. What I was
(03:38):
thinking was the future would be focused more on specialization,
and when you really think about it, that's where we
are in our society, and a lot of this is
enabled through technology and this idea of instant gratification or
getting exactly to what you want to get to, whether
it's finding you on a podcast, or whether it is
finding a creator, or whether it is binging a certain show.
(04:02):
So I had felt that the idea of specialization was
going to be critical. So I thought, if I could
go out and build a community and acquire assemble build
a series of complementary agencies, each that had a superpower.
One group focused on communications, one group focused on influencer data,
(04:22):
and analytics experiential. You know that when we put it together,
it could be something really special. And with the complementary powers,
these agencies would begin to really want to collaborate with
one another because they each did something different, and people
get along really well when you can be complimentary someone
versus competing with someone. And the holding companies were growing,
(04:44):
They had gotten so big that they really became an
aggregation of a bunch of generalized agencies that were in
it to win it at whatever costs and no matter
whether they specialized or not.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
At a time when thatdditional market, let's call it the
traditional linear market is unavoidably shrinking.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
And I road tested, and I talked to even you know,
it was very clear, and talking with clients and trying
to understand what was most important and what was most
important around twenty eighteen was this notion of speed, speed
to market, reacting quickly to change. Clients were starting to
get uptight about big behemoth holding companies that were bringing
the world when they didn't want the world, or forcing
(05:29):
a big generalized creative agency to do everything for them.
Clients want to remain in charge and at the same
time they want to lean out and they want to
have a good counsel. It's not like they're trying. It's
not like outsourcing of marketing services disappearing. I don't believe
that will happen, even even with AI. But when you
(05:49):
tie in speed to market and reacting quickly to change,
when you tie in specialization, clients leaning into two individuals
that have been there and done that and by the way,
that came and really handy during COVID during the you know, oh,
you know what moment, clients want to turn around and
they want to look at someone that can tell them
what it was like when the market crashed or what
(06:10):
happened at nine to eleven. Those are hugely monumental moments
where things can go, you know, way off the rails.
So specialization seniority, the ability to collaborate, to not force
clients and do bad situations. It just felt like there
was a great opportunity there, and I thought I could
do it. And I thought I could create almost this
(06:31):
community of boutique to mid size companies that could scale
rather quickly, and we could compete. As long as we
weren't pitching global media assignments for Disney, we could compete.
And we have competed, and we're a good sized firm
that's doing great work with some of the best, most
recognizable clients in the world.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It's an interesting example of where the entertainment economy is
shaping up that it is. It's interesting like an of
strong complementary functions versus the kind of the older model,
as you said, of just sheer market share. You just
have the scale of clients, and you're seeing that in
(07:13):
the communications firm. You're also seeing that at talent agencies.
You're seeing a lot more specialization.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I have beliefs in certain areas of the business that
are going to be with us for a long time.
The notion of data and analytics are not going anywhere.
That's enhanced through AI prompting and the ability to research.
It's going to be very important for marketers to understand
where they've been and develop some level of predictability. You know,
a creator an influencer is not going anywhere, especially with
(07:42):
gen Z. We did a gen Z study, We're about
to complete a gen Alpha study. You have to look
at the segments of the population that tells you that
gives you a roadmap, and whether you're a big consumer
brand like Pepsi or whether you're a service firm, you
need to understand all of that. So we're going to
be in the area is that we believe have great
growth ahead of it.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Is it a situation where if you find the right
company and the right person that you want to bring
in under your umbrella.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I would say put it in LA standards. Instead of
buying a house, you buy a lot and then you
build a house. But you build a house with the
architecture already done, and you understood when you're ready and
you have the money to expand you know where you're
going to put a guest room, our guess house. That's
the idea is architecture first, model First, understand as much
(08:31):
as you can the future proofing of the business, and
then assemble as you go and create this massively collaborative
what I would call ecosystem or more intimately community.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Let me take you back to twenty eighteen. Where did
you start? Was there one opportunity that catalyzed the idea?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
My son is going off to college. Both of my
kids went our home, and I felt like, this is
the time to pounce. Like everything I've done has brought
me to this moment. What are you going to do next?
Michael and I had some I started to have some
intellectual conversations with people, and then I met with private equity,
(09:16):
I met with investment bankers. I said, here's my thesis,
here's my idea. Some of it was even back of
the envelope stuff on a napkin drawing, and everyone was like,
this is great. How much money do you want? Or
you know this isn't intriguing, or I like where you're
going with this? And I felt, okay, you know what,
I just got to go for it. And I know
I look back on it and people are like, what
(09:36):
are you thinking You're going to do that at this
age or stage. You know. I was very fortunate and
very humbled, and people took my calls and it was
sort of business as usual, although I was starting a
new business, but I went out quickly. I stuck to
my plan. I had backing, and I got busy, and
by the end of twenty eighteen, very short order, I
(09:58):
was able to secure a handful of consultants working for me.
We were able to secure Pepsi as our first corporate client,
and by twenty nineteen was really was year one and
we went out and by the end of twenty nineteen
we had acquired two companies. Now we didn't know COVID
was around the corner four months later, but we were
(10:19):
certainly off and running. Right now, we have nine different
agencies branded agencies, so nine different groups that have clients.
We have more than a dozen offices, primarily on the coast.
We've got Atlanta, and we've got a lot of San Francisco,
La New York, a little bit in the middle of
(10:39):
the country, a little bit overseas.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Have you hit break even?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Oh yeah, we're making money. Oh yeah, oh, we are
making money.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Seven years, eight years in. That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Well, we were making to be honest, obviously we had
an investment, but year one we were cash flow positive.
When we started our business, I would say with COVID,
I'm two years where I wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Can you give me an example of something that you
achieved for a client or something that shows how you
thread together a couple of different businesses to create something
really cool for a client.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Fun part is when a lot of pieces of the
puzzle kind of come together, or a lot of agencies
are able to join arms and work together. We had
two of our agencies work together and help Atlantic Records
come up with a great way to launch Ed Sharon's
most recent album, and that was a fun hop up
(11:33):
that we did. We built a pop up speakeasy overnight
and if Switch Massachusetts. He was a few hundred fans
showed up because they got certain clues on social and
the next thing you know, there's this performance by Ed
Sharon and video is being captured, content is being made
and it became this pop up moment and is eventizing
(11:55):
his release of album and certain songs. And then it
went so well we got to do a repeat with
his team and show up at Coachella. That was really cool.
It was a cultural moment. And that's the most satisfying
is where we can work with the clients and create
these cultural moments, not just amplify a moment, but even
(12:16):
really go into the creation of it.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I can just tell from the look on your face
that like this is the kind of the essence of
what you wanted to be able to achieve.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You realize that even though we are obsessed now with
AI and our answer machines as I like to call them,
in real life's not going anywhere. And I would argue that,
and you can tell I'm bullish on it that, especially
when you look at gen Z. It's these communal moments.
Whether it's going to a festival or a special event,
(12:47):
or a big dinner or a bar, or getting on
an airplane and going to Tokyo for the weekend. People
want to be very much in real life. They may
want to tell their stories with their phones and then
push it out to people and say to me, but
in real life is important, and I believe that it'll
be even more important as time goes on.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Gen Z and Alpha, Yes they spend so much time
on screens. Yes they do not like to talk on
the phone with their mouths, But I think because of
that those irl experiences are even more valued because when
they do venture out, they really want something exciting.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You know, you hit on something, you just zeroed in.
When you look at these moments of these gatherings, it's
a large scale and it is and then you have
that moment and maybe if it's a Coachella or stagecoach,
it might be eighty thousand, one hundred thousand people. And
then you think about the amplification that comes out of it. Right,
there's industry going in. There's the tickets and the merch
(13:46):
and getting there and enjoying and everything you're going to
do while you're down at Coachella. But then there's also
buying fast fashion on social media on Instagram, what's my
outfit that I'm going to be. But you have all
this going on, it's industry happening, and then you have
the amification of content coming out. So it may be
two weekends or four days, but it is a lot
(14:06):
going in and a lot of industries coming together, a
lot of money being made. It's an economy around Coachella.
But the fascinating thing is this is narrow casting. You're
going to see more and more of these, we'll call
it narrow casting of events experiences that are going to
attract tons of people that are going to be able
to amplify out but you're really zeroing in on an audience.
(14:29):
It's really as a marketers, it's a dream, right, you
can be focused. You don't have to market to everyone.
So I think that's something that is going to be
hugely opportunistic for entertainment companies and.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Brands and like and sounds like an area where you'll
be looking for expertise that you can bring in.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Oh yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Long on that. From your initial round with investors and
now ongoing obviously as you've grown, what kind of things
are they focused on that have helped you guide the
building of ACC If.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You're with the board and you're whether you're starting out
or whether you're already on a board or a public board,
you're focused incessantly on creating enterprise value. How do we
bring more value to the business. And you can do
it through means of driving revenue and high profitability, but
there's also things that you can do that can make
(15:23):
you differentiate in the market or make you more resilient.
For us, obviously, we've got to be focused on you
for me, great work with great clients, right, that starts
right there. We're in the service business. If we don't
do great work, we're not going to retain or we're
not going to attract great client. That's the work product.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
One unhappy client bad mouthing. You can do more damage
in an afternoon.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
An unhappy client is not good because work can spread,
so happy or great work, great clients. Building a great
company with I would say in our group, as we
build this community, and we always say we're doing company,
not a holding company. We need to have values. That
doesn't be the same values of each agency we bring in,
(16:12):
but it needs there need to be shared values. There
needs to be linkage, like we need to be able
to connect on our mission, on our purpose, on the values.
We can't all be the same, it's going to defeat
the purpose. We're a community. We need to be diversified
in our thinking, in our workflow, and the type of
people we are. But we need some linkage. So we've
(16:34):
got to make a healthy environment with our culture.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Are there things that have come on the radar that
you didn't even contemplate needing in twenty eighteen in terms
of assets or skill sets that you need to bring on.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I do think that the qualifications of the leaders and
the workforce is definitely different today than when I envisioned
in twenty nineteen. I am looking at the resiliency of
the skill. In other words, is the skill today going
to be something that's going to be needed tomorrow or
is the skill today adaptable and will have meaning and
(17:10):
value down the road. And I've thought even more so now.
Before COVID, I thought that that was something important to contemplate,
but that it's really important. I was purposely staying away
from PR when I launched, so that was the one
thing I did not want to do first, and it
was really fun to get to that place where it
was like, oh wow, I can be in business with DKC.
These guys have been competitors a little different than us,
(17:34):
but outstanding thought leaders, great practice areas a deep bench
and really well known and respected, especially out in New York.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
You mentioned you've done some studies of jen Alpha. Give
us some takeaways in terms of reaching this audience that
I think many in entertainment are very concerned are moving
away from anything like long form long form being a
twenty one minute comedy or a forty four minute drama.
What is making this generation tick and how are they
(18:06):
interacting differently with entertainment than even their older gen Z
sisters and brothers and cousins.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's interesting gen Z has a self awareness about maybe
putting the phone down. There's just like a self awareness,
you know, a gen Z. I've been in classrooms and
spoken to students and they would say, we think we're
we're a special generation, and they'll say it, and then
(18:33):
they'll also at the same time kind of laugh at it,
but they'll say it and believe it. Jen Alpha, it's
a little It is a little scary out there, Jen Alpha.
Is a little challenging because you're talking about a society
now where at this young age and stage, these kids
are getting in their hands and then their brains are
getting answers to everything. Everything is unlocked and they don't
(18:57):
have to go far with it because they're holding it
in their palm of their head. And the mix of
entertainment in ten fifteen years is going to be different.
I think film will survive. I think as streaming as
we know it survives, but I think we're going to
see a lot of new iterations or versions of these things.
Maybe the theatrical experience will be there, but who is
(19:20):
starring and creating in the length of time. I think
it's really going to be very different.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Michael. Before you go, I want to ask you what
led you into entertainment, What led you onto the path
to where you are now?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
As a young kid. Once I got over the feeling
as a twelve year old that I wasn't going to
be playing professional baseball, I moved my attention towards media
and broadcasts, and I thought, Okay, maybe there was an
opportunity to be a broadcaster. And I was really excited
about if I couldn't be on the playing field, that
maybe I could be calling the action from the sides,
and evolved into me going to college and focusing in
(20:03):
on storytelling and the art and the work of a
public relations firm or communications firm, and seeing that advertising
was a huge deal. They did a lot of different things.
And then I got a couple breaks and I found
myself the younge executive of Rogers Cowen at twenty two
(20:26):
years old, and being at Rogers and Kowen and being
exposed to Hollywood, and then I started to look at
business models and behaviors and I felt like there was
an opportunity to really try and capture the power of
entertainment with brands both needing each other.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Well, Michael, thank you so much, thanks for listening. Be
sure to leave us a review at Apple Podcasts or
Amazon Music. We love to hear from listeners. Please go
to Variety dot com and sign up for the free
week Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune in
next week for another episode of Strictly Business
Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with
industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My
guest is Michael Nyman, founder and CEO of Acceleration Community
of Companies or ACC. It's a collection of firms that
work in marketing, communications, PR, and live events. Since twenty eighteen,
(00:32):
Nyman has been building up Acceleration through acquisitions of firms
with complementary specialties. Among his recent deals is PR, branding
and strategy firm DKC, headquartered in NYC. Niman is well
known to industry insiders after a long career in marketing
and communications. For years, he was the n in BNC
(00:53):
Bragman Nyman Cafarelli. Niman helped orchestrate the Alphabet Soup merger
of BNC PS and ultimately Rogers and Cowan. He was
chair of the entire entity when he bowed out in
twenty eighteen. As Nyman explains, he left with the goal
of building a bettermount strap, one that suited his life stage.
(01:14):
We also talk about industry trends, the behavioral habits of
gen Z and jen Alpha and how they will influence
the evolution of entertainment. Michael Nymann, founder and CEO of
Acceleration Community of Companies, thank you so much for having
me here.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, thank you for having me in.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Your century city, Diggs. I've got a nice, beautiful view
of a kind of a hazy la skyline out here.
Let's step back and sketch out for me what is
acceleration Community of Companies? What is the larger goal?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It was a lot of fun to contemplate that departure
of Okay, you're going to go from chairman and CEO
of PMKB and C to do what There's a lot
that runs through your mind. But it was clear to
me that, you know, life is a series of chapters.
I felt that I was at an agent stage where
(02:08):
I had more time on my hands. My kids were older,
and I felt that while I loved my company and
everything that we're doing with our company, our clients, the
global footprint that we had was great, a lot to
be proud of, but I just felt deep down that
I had more to do. What was striking to me
(02:30):
was in twenty eighteen, I had felt that it was
clear that we were in the midst of change, and
I felt that I wanted to stay in the world
of marketing, advertising, communications, media, and I wanted to be
in and around consumer and entertainment. But I felt that
(02:50):
where I was at this holding company model was it
wasn't a statement about the holding company that we were
residing in as much as what I felt was coming
to the business. I thought that the holding companies were
going to come to an end. I just believe in
this idea of ages and stages in life, and just
like humans, companies have the age and.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
You had been an architect of the companies.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I just felt that there was an opportunity here that
I felt the virtues of being in a community or
with a group of companies was a good thing, and
I felt that for certain clients there was some benefit
if you could find a grouping of companies that could
help you. But what I was trying to do is
look at a different spin on it. What I was
(03:38):
thinking was the future would be focused more on specialization,
and when you really think about it, that's where we
are in our society, and a lot of this is
enabled through technology and this idea of instant gratification or
getting exactly to what you want to get to, whether
it's finding you on a podcast, or whether it is
finding a creator, or whether it is binging a certain show.
(04:02):
So I had felt that the idea of specialization was
going to be critical. So I thought, if I could
go out and build a community and acquire assemble build
a series of complementary agencies, each that had a superpower.
One group focused on communications, one group focused on influencer data,
(04:22):
and analytics experiential. You know that when we put it together,
it could be something really special. And with the complementary powers,
these agencies would begin to really want to collaborate with
one another because they each did something different, and people
get along really well when you can be complimentary someone
versus competing with someone. And the holding companies were growing,
(04:44):
They had gotten so big that they really became an
aggregation of a bunch of generalized agencies that were in
it to win it at whatever costs and no matter
whether they specialized or not.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
At a time when thatdditional market, let's call it the
traditional linear market is unavoidably shrinking.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
And I road tested, and I talked to even you know,
it was very clear, and talking with clients and trying
to understand what was most important and what was most
important around twenty eighteen was this notion of speed, speed
to market, reacting quickly to change. Clients were starting to
get uptight about big behemoth holding companies that were bringing
the world when they didn't want the world, or forcing
(05:29):
a big generalized creative agency to do everything for them.
Clients want to remain in charge and at the same
time they want to lean out and they want to
have a good counsel. It's not like they're trying. It's
not like outsourcing of marketing services disappearing. I don't believe
that will happen, even even with AI. But when you
(05:49):
tie in speed to market and reacting quickly to change,
when you tie in specialization, clients leaning into two individuals
that have been there and done that and by the way,
that came and really handy during COVID during the you know, oh,
you know what moment, clients want to turn around and
they want to look at someone that can tell them
what it was like when the market crashed or what
(06:10):
happened at nine to eleven. Those are hugely monumental moments
where things can go, you know, way off the rails.
So specialization seniority, the ability to collaborate, to not force
clients and do bad situations. It just felt like there
was a great opportunity there, and I thought I could
do it. And I thought I could create almost this
(06:31):
community of boutique to mid size companies that could scale
rather quickly, and we could compete. As long as we
weren't pitching global media assignments for Disney, we could compete.
And we have competed, and we're a good sized firm
that's doing great work with some of the best, most
recognizable clients in the world.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It's an interesting example of where the entertainment economy is
shaping up that it is. It's interesting like an of
strong complementary functions versus the kind of the older model,
as you said, of just sheer market share. You just
have the scale of clients, and you're seeing that in
(07:13):
the communications firm. You're also seeing that at talent agencies.
You're seeing a lot more specialization.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I have beliefs in certain areas of the business that
are going to be with us for a long time.
The notion of data and analytics are not going anywhere.
That's enhanced through AI prompting and the ability to research.
It's going to be very important for marketers to understand
where they've been and develop some level of predictability. You know,
a creator an influencer is not going anywhere, especially with
(07:42):
gen Z. We did a gen Z study, We're about
to complete a gen Alpha study. You have to look
at the segments of the population that tells you that
gives you a roadmap, and whether you're a big consumer
brand like Pepsi or whether you're a service firm, you
need to understand all of that. So we're going to
be in the area is that we believe have great
growth ahead of it.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Is it a situation where if you find the right
company and the right person that you want to bring
in under your umbrella.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I would say put it in LA standards. Instead of
buying a house, you buy a lot and then you
build a house. But you build a house with the
architecture already done, and you understood when you're ready and
you have the money to expand you know where you're
going to put a guest room, our guess house. That's
the idea is architecture first, model First, understand as much
(08:31):
as you can the future proofing of the business, and
then assemble as you go and create this massively collaborative
what I would call ecosystem or more intimately community.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Let me take you back to twenty eighteen. Where did
you start? Was there one opportunity that catalyzed the idea?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
My son is going off to college. Both of my
kids went our home, and I felt like, this is
the time to pounce. Like everything I've done has brought
me to this moment. What are you going to do next?
Michael and I had some I started to have some
intellectual conversations with people, and then I met with private equity,
(09:16):
I met with investment bankers. I said, here's my thesis,
here's my idea. Some of it was even back of
the envelope stuff on a napkin drawing, and everyone was like,
this is great. How much money do you want? Or
you know this isn't intriguing, or I like where you're
going with this? And I felt, okay, you know what,
I just got to go for it. And I know
I look back on it and people are like, what
(09:36):
are you thinking You're going to do that at this
age or stage. You know. I was very fortunate and
very humbled, and people took my calls and it was
sort of business as usual, although I was starting a
new business, but I went out quickly. I stuck to
my plan. I had backing, and I got busy, and
by the end of twenty eighteen, very short order, I
(09:58):
was able to secure a handful of consultants working for me.
We were able to secure Pepsi as our first corporate client,
and by twenty nineteen was really was year one and
we went out and by the end of twenty nineteen
we had acquired two companies. Now we didn't know COVID
was around the corner four months later, but we were
(10:19):
certainly off and running. Right now, we have nine different
agencies branded agencies, so nine different groups that have clients.
We have more than a dozen offices, primarily on the coast.
We've got Atlanta, and we've got a lot of San Francisco,
La New York, a little bit in the middle of
(10:39):
the country, a little bit overseas.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Have you hit break even?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Oh yeah, we're making money. Oh yeah, oh, we are
making money.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Seven years, eight years in. That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Well, we were making to be honest, obviously we had
an investment, but year one we were cash flow positive.
When we started our business, I would say with COVID,
I'm two years where I wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Can you give me an example of something that you
achieved for a client or something that shows how you
thread together a couple of different businesses to create something
really cool for a client.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Fun part is when a lot of pieces of the
puzzle kind of come together, or a lot of agencies
are able to join arms and work together. We had
two of our agencies work together and help Atlantic Records
come up with a great way to launch Ed Sharon's
most recent album, and that was a fun hop up
(11:33):
that we did. We built a pop up speakeasy overnight
and if Switch Massachusetts. He was a few hundred fans
showed up because they got certain clues on social and
the next thing you know, there's this performance by Ed
Sharon and video is being captured, content is being made
and it became this pop up moment and is eventizing
(11:55):
his release of album and certain songs. And then it
went so well we got to do a repeat with
his team and show up at Coachella. That was really cool.
It was a cultural moment. And that's the most satisfying
is where we can work with the clients and create
these cultural moments, not just amplify a moment, but even
(12:16):
really go into the creation of it.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I can just tell from the look on your face
that like this is the kind of the essence of
what you wanted to be able to achieve.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You realize that even though we are obsessed now with
AI and our answer machines as I like to call them,
in real life's not going anywhere. And I would argue that,
and you can tell I'm bullish on it that, especially
when you look at gen Z. It's these communal moments.
Whether it's going to a festival or a special event,
(12:47):
or a big dinner or a bar, or getting on
an airplane and going to Tokyo for the weekend. People
want to be very much in real life. They may
want to tell their stories with their phones and then
push it out to people and say to me, but
in real life is important, and I believe that it'll
be even more important as time goes on.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Gen Z and Alpha, Yes they spend so much time
on screens. Yes they do not like to talk on
the phone with their mouths, But I think because of
that those irl experiences are even more valued because when
they do venture out, they really want something exciting.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You know, you hit on something, you just zeroed in.
When you look at these moments of these gatherings, it's
a large scale and it is and then you have
that moment and maybe if it's a Coachella or stagecoach,
it might be eighty thousand, one hundred thousand people. And
then you think about the amplification that comes out of it. Right,
there's industry going in. There's the tickets and the merch
(13:46):
and getting there and enjoying and everything you're going to
do while you're down at Coachella. But then there's also
buying fast fashion on social media on Instagram, what's my
outfit that I'm going to be. But you have all
this going on, it's industry happening, and then you have
the amification of content coming out. So it may be
two weekends or four days, but it is a lot
(14:06):
going in and a lot of industries coming together, a
lot of money being made. It's an economy around Coachella.
But the fascinating thing is this is narrow casting. You're
going to see more and more of these, we'll call
it narrow casting of events experiences that are going to
attract tons of people that are going to be able
to amplify out but you're really zeroing in on an audience.
(14:29):
It's really as a marketers, it's a dream, right, you
can be focused. You don't have to market to everyone.
So I think that's something that is going to be
hugely opportunistic for entertainment companies and.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Brands and like and sounds like an area where you'll
be looking for expertise that you can bring in.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Oh yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Long on that. From your initial round with investors and
now ongoing obviously as you've grown, what kind of things
are they focused on that have helped you guide the
building of ACC If.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You're with the board and you're whether you're starting out
or whether you're already on a board or a public board,
you're focused incessantly on creating enterprise value. How do we
bring more value to the business. And you can do
it through means of driving revenue and high profitability, but
there's also things that you can do that can make
(15:23):
you differentiate in the market or make you more resilient.
For us, obviously, we've got to be focused on you
for me, great work with great clients, right, that starts
right there. We're in the service business. If we don't
do great work, we're not going to retain or we're
not going to attract great client. That's the work product.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
One unhappy client bad mouthing. You can do more damage
in an afternoon.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
An unhappy client is not good because work can spread,
so happy or great work, great clients. Building a great
company with I would say in our group, as we
build this community, and we always say we're doing company,
not a holding company. We need to have values. That
doesn't be the same values of each agency we bring in,
(16:12):
but it needs there need to be shared values. There
needs to be linkage, like we need to be able
to connect on our mission, on our purpose, on the values.
We can't all be the same, it's going to defeat
the purpose. We're a community. We need to be diversified
in our thinking, in our workflow, and the type of
people we are. But we need some linkage. So we've
(16:34):
got to make a healthy environment with our culture.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Are there things that have come on the radar that
you didn't even contemplate needing in twenty eighteen in terms
of assets or skill sets that you need to bring on.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I do think that the qualifications of the leaders and
the workforce is definitely different today than when I envisioned
in twenty nineteen. I am looking at the resiliency of
the skill. In other words, is the skill today going
to be something that's going to be needed tomorrow or
is the skill today adaptable and will have meaning and
(17:10):
value down the road. And I've thought even more so now.
Before COVID, I thought that that was something important to contemplate,
but that it's really important. I was purposely staying away
from PR when I launched, so that was the one
thing I did not want to do first, and it
was really fun to get to that place where it
was like, oh wow, I can be in business with DKC.
These guys have been competitors a little different than us,
(17:34):
but outstanding thought leaders, great practice areas a deep bench
and really well known and respected, especially out in New York.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
You mentioned you've done some studies of jen Alpha. Give
us some takeaways in terms of reaching this audience that
I think many in entertainment are very concerned are moving
away from anything like long form long form being a
twenty one minute comedy or a forty four minute drama.
What is making this generation tick and how are they
(18:06):
interacting differently with entertainment than even their older gen Z
sisters and brothers and cousins.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It's interesting gen Z has a self awareness about maybe
putting the phone down. There's just like a self awareness,
you know, a gen Z. I've been in classrooms and
spoken to students and they would say, we think we're
we're a special generation, and they'll say it, and then
(18:33):
they'll also at the same time kind of laugh at it,
but they'll say it and believe it. Jen Alpha, it's
a little It is a little scary out there, Jen Alpha.
Is a little challenging because you're talking about a society
now where at this young age and stage, these kids
are getting in their hands and then their brains are
getting answers to everything. Everything is unlocked and they don't
(18:57):
have to go far with it because they're holding it
in their palm of their head. And the mix of
entertainment in ten fifteen years is going to be different.
I think film will survive. I think as streaming as
we know it survives, but I think we're going to
see a lot of new iterations or versions of these things.
Maybe the theatrical experience will be there, but who is
(19:20):
starring and creating in the length of time. I think
it's really going to be very different.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Michael. Before you go, I want to ask you what
led you into entertainment, What led you onto the path
to where you are now?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
As a young kid. Once I got over the feeling
as a twelve year old that I wasn't going to
be playing professional baseball, I moved my attention towards media
and broadcasts, and I thought, Okay, maybe there was an
opportunity to be a broadcaster. And I was really excited
about if I couldn't be on the playing field, that
maybe I could be calling the action from the sides,
and evolved into me going to college and focusing in
(20:03):
on storytelling and the art and the work of a
public relations firm or communications firm, and seeing that advertising
was a huge deal. They did a lot of different things.
And then I got a couple breaks and I found
myself the younge executive of Rogers Cowen at twenty two
(20:26):
years old, and being at Rogers and Kowen and being
exposed to Hollywood, and then I started to look at
business models and behaviors and I felt like there was
an opportunity to really try and capture the power of
entertainment with brands both needing each other.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Well, Michael, thank you so much, thanks for listening. Be
sure to leave us a review at Apple Podcasts or
Amazon Music. We love to hear from listeners. Please go
to Variety dot com and sign up for the free
week Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune in
next week for another episode of Strictly Business
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