April 13, 2025 • 26 mins
Hosts: Jamie Kaye Walters, VVK CMO & Craig Fahle, Media Relations Director
Guests: Peter Van Dyke, VVK CEO & Ned Ward, SVP National PR
What happens when a growing three-year-old Detroit PR agency acquires the PR division of a 40-year-old New Jersey firm? This VVK podcast episode uncovers the strategy behind VVK's acquisition of Stern Strategy Group's PR division and examines why executive visibility is essential for brands that want to stand out.
CEO Peter Van Dyke discusses how client demands for national visibility drove VVK to expand its capabilities, culminating in the acquisition. This move brought five seasoned pros to the team, including SVP of National PR Ned Ward, who highlights how amplifying executives creates trust and gives brands a personality in competitive markets.
The podcast tackles key PR trends like executive thought leadership and navigating executives’ reluctance to step into the spotlight. Both leaders share tips on leveraging social platforms strategically and adapting to a fast-changing industry.
Tips for career growth and organizational visibility include saying yes to opportunities, leaning into discomfort, and making personal connections in a digital-first world.
Discover how executive visibility can take your organization to the next level. Visit vvkagency.com to learn more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Craig Fahle (00:11):
Welcome to the VVK podcast.
I'm Craig Fahle.
Now normally I would be hostingthis program, but today I'm
going to be turning things overto my friend, jamie K Walters,
our Chief Marketing Officer atVVK and, of course, one of the
founding partners of thiscompany, because we have a
special conversation on tap forthe program today.
Now for those unfamiliar, vvkis a three-year-old
(00:31):
communications agency based inDetroit that's been making waves
in the PR landscape.
Now, recently, we reached anexciting milestone We've
acquired the New Jersey-basedStern Strategy Group PR division
.
Now, not only does this bring awealth of experience to VVK,
but we're also thrilled towelcome five amazing new team
members to expanding thecapabilities of our team.
So we're really excited to tellyou more about it.
(00:53):
Jamie K Walters is going tohave that interview coming up
next here on the VVK podcast.
Jamie Kaye Walters (01:02):
All right, All right.
So, as Craig noted, we aregoing to be recording this right
in the middle of our all-staffmeeting with everyone from VVK,
so if you hear people talking orcheering, that's our team right
there.
Joining me is Ned Ward, our newSenior Vice President of
(01:25):
National PR, who brings twodecades of industry experience
to this conversation.
Also with us is one of mypartners and our CEO, Peter Van
Dyke, who has been instrumentalin driving VVK's vision forward.
Together we'll be discussingthe acquisition, the changing
landscape of PR and whyexecutive visibility and
personal branding for C-suiteleaders is more important than
ever.
All right, Peter and Ned.
Thank you and welcome to thepod, as people say.
Peter Van Dyke (01:47):
Thank you, jamie, thank you.
Jamie Kaye Walters (01:49):
All right, Peter, let's start with you.
What led VVK's decision toacquire Stern Strategy Group's
PR division?
Peter Van Dyke (01:57):
Sure, it's a couple of things.
I think the PR teamspecifically was being faced
with some demand from ourclients around national
visibility.
We do a great job in Michiganwith many clients, particularly
in the philanthropy andnonprofit community, around
elevating their executives asthought leaders across the state
(02:17):
.
And some of those thoughtleaders said, okay, we're pretty
well known in Michigan, how dowe build more of a national
presence?
And while we've done that forseveral clients, I would say we
didn't have specific expertisein that area.
So it was something I wastracking, but I thought you know
, let's figure that out as wecontinue to grow.
And then a broker brought theopportunity with Stern Strategy
(02:39):
Group to our agency and when Ilooked at it I almost deleted
the email because I thought I'mnot going to acquire anything.
And then I said I'll take alook.
It looks kind of interesting.
I think the subject line saidnational executive visibility
firms.
So I started looking at thedetails.
I thought, wow, this is reallycompletely aligned with where
VVK is today from an industryand expertise standpoint, but
(03:01):
also is a huge growthopportunity for us to not only
serve our current clients butbuild into new clients.
And so it was kind of like areal direct match and then the
conversations that proceededafter that.
The cultural fit and theexpertise fit became even more
clear.
Jamie Kaye Walters (03:20):
Well, I remember when you sent it to
myself and to Peter, I was likethis seems like it totally
aligns.
But I was like what's thechance?
The first one that we'd look atseems like such a great fit.
Ned, you worked with SternStrategy Group PR for 20 years.
Ned Ward (03:37):
Almost 20 years.
Jamie Kaye Walters (03:38):
From your perspective, what unique
attributes does that team bringto VVK?
Ned Ward (03:43):
Well, a few things.
Essentially, the people on theteam.
Some of us worked together foralmost 20 years, so we know each
other's tendencies.
We basically know what we canrely on each other for and lean
on each other for in terms ofyou know our shared expertise.
You know some of the people onthe team are excellent writers
and messaging strategists.
(04:03):
Others are great at conferencework or media relations or what
have you, or social media andjust being able to really have a
reliable group of people you'reworking with to help your
clients.
Jamie Kaye Walters (04:16):
So what have you noticed in the first month
of working with the VVK team?
Ned Ward (04:20):
Well, it was exactly what I expected, I should say,
because when we were talking toother agencies it's funny that
you said you know VVK this wasthe first one you looked at as
an acquisition partner.
We talked to severalpossibilities and one of the
first things I gathered frommeeting with Peter is that he's
very involved in the agency andI had some conversations where I
(04:42):
thought to myself well, I maynever see this person again if
this acquisition goes through.
So it was very personal, youknow, and I think in the time
that we've been working with VVKjust in this first, you know,
five weeks or whatever it's beenevery day just seems to
reinforce having made a gooddecision.
You know people are verywelcoming, you know.
Essentially, you know, itreally just made us feel at ease
(05:05):
.
Jamie Kaye Walters (05:06):
Peter, what kind of response did you get
from people once theannouncement was made?
Peter Van Dyke (05:14):
We have the great benefit of having a pretty
close-knit family around theBBK team, whether it is friends
of the company, clients, currentteam members, family, and so
our network really championsthis company.
It's since we started thecompany three years ago, just
(05:35):
the constant congratulatorynotes we get, the constant
encouragement.
Of course, just in the growthof our business has really
relied on word of mouth fromcurrent clients and even some
past clients.
So we got just that.
When we announced theacquisition, I think people were
so in some ways shocked to seethat we were in a position, as a
three-year-old company, to growat this scale and also just
(06:00):
super excited for the company.
Super excited for the company.
Again, many of the people thatare surrounding this agency are
personal friends of yours ormine and have known the history
of the company, and so it wasdefinitely overwhelming.
Especially I joke around weheld the acquisition
announcement for a day becauseCranes had to hold it for a day
(06:22):
and so I'd cleared my calendaron Monday for this.
I hadn't cleared my calendar onTuesday.
So it was a little overwhelmingbecause I was trying to be
gracious and answer texts andemails and Facebook messages and
LinkedIn messages while keepingthe day going.
But it was really.
It was wonderful.
It was really nice to see somany people rally around us and
support us.
Jamie Kaye Walters (06:41):
What about from your side?
Ned Ward (06:43):
I mean I heard from people I hadn't heard from for
many years, which was prettyamazing.
In fact, my LinkedIn postsabout the acquisition got more
engagement than anything I'veever posted.
So people, obviously we didthat right and people were
excited about it.
But you know just some of thecomments I got from, you know,
current clients.
You know it was reallyencouraging because you know, as
part of the acquisition,obviously the clients we've
worked with were part of it andwe had that sort of window of
(07:06):
time where, you never know, Someof them could say, well, this
isn't really for me, you knowit's been a good run or whatever
.
But you know, happy to say wewent whatever.
It is 10 for 10, 100% in termsof you know, the clients coming
over too.
So I've got to give them a lotof, you know, gratitude toward
them for that.
But a lot of the reactions Igot from people that I'd worked
with very closely for years, itwas extremely positive.
(07:31):
But at the same time we atStern the company was in
business for 40 years, so Ithink a lot of people in that
orbit were shocked that thiswould happen.
But it's a natural thing whenyour company's founded in 1985.
You know people at some pointin their lives are going to want
to simplify you know theirbusiness situations and whatnot
but definitely some interestingnotes and some friends there uh,
(07:55):
giving me a hard time about thevideo well I've never seen you
in this context before you knowspeaking of the video, there was
, like there was a soundbite Iwanted to put in there.
Jamie Kaye Walters (08:05):
That was about you saying that like, uh,
what did you say about 1985?
Ned Ward (08:11):
oh so yeah, the company I worked for before
stern was founded in 1985 and Ihappen to know that the biggest
hit that year was uh, take on meby.
Aha, which yeah, which um at.
I'm a Devils fan, being fromNew Jersey, and at every Devils
game the whole crowd sings thatchorus line, which most people
can't hit.
That note, let's hear it.
No way I'll speak it.
Jamie Kaye Walters (08:32):
He's like take on me.
Peter Van Dyke (08:34):
What was also cut is when I said we learned
about Ned that he loves DuranDuran and then I said because
Ned's hungry like a wolf and Isaid, if that makes it into the
final cut of that video, Furtherthe next video, but not the big
acquisition.
Jamie Kaye Walters (08:47):
I like fun.
Sometimes Peter cuts my fun.
Yes, let's talk about theindustry in general.
I feel like professionalservices industries are changing
.
Communication is changing, sowhat do you see as the biggest
trends that are emerging in ourindustry, and what do agencies
like us have to be prepared for?
Peter Van Dyke (09:09):
I don't mind jumping in, just coming off the
heels of the Public RelationsSociety of America's Counselors
Academy Conference in CharlestonAmerica's Counselors Academy
Conference in Charleston and RayDay, who is the board chair for
PRSA National and a colleagueand a friend of the firm, also
the vice chair of Stagwell, forcontext, for those who are
listening at home.
He did a talk about the futureof the industry and then we did
(09:31):
a fireside chat together and itwas really interesting to hear
where he sees growth areas.
One was in more consumer-basedcommunications and consumer
clients, but another one was incorporate and within the
corporate environment.
He saw a lot of work, notsurprisingly in crisis coming in
the future, but also in contentmarketing and thought
(09:55):
leadership, and I would say youknow VVK has grown quickly but
it's been pretty intentional.
I mean even the coming togetherof the portfolios of Velocity
Cow, the predecessor videocompany, my historic portfolio
of work and then Jamie'sexpertise in marketing.
That was very intentional,knowing that you know all of our
communications video has to becentral to everything we do.
(10:18):
So when I saw you, I saw aglobal expert in communications,
leading one of the largestcommunications firms in the
world, talking about contentmarketing and executive
visibility as the key growthareas.
It was very validating for VVKand for the work that we do and
for what we provide to ourclients, because we're pitching
that to our clients a lot.
(10:38):
Sometimes our clients are kindof focused on their in-market
media relations.
It's very traditional, to asense, and we are continuing to
bring content, marketingconcepts to them as well as
executive visibility.
So it was pretty validating forwhere we're going as an agency
and certainly validating for for, obviously, the most recent
(10:59):
acquisition.
Jamie Kaye Walters (11:01):
So talk a little bit.
So executive visibility talkabout what that is and your
guys' experience with it and whyit's such an important thing
right now in communications.
Ned Ward (11:12):
Yeah, I'll tell like that through an example.
Basically, traditionally, a lotof the kinds of clients we've
worked with over the years areprofessional services and
consulting firms, and even someclients we work with more
recently.
I mean, when we started workingwith them, they maybe had a few
competitors in their market,and the barrier to entry to
starting a consulting firm is solow that there's always new
(11:32):
entrants coming in, sodifferentiation gets very, very
hard.
I mean, one kind of metaphorwe'll draw when we're talking to
potential clients in that spaceis, if you took the largest
consulting companies in theworld global management
consulting firms like Bain orMcKinsey or BCG and you just
took their names off the website, you might have no idea which
one you're looking at.
And that exists all throughlots of different kinds of
(11:55):
markets.
I mean it doesn't necessarilyhave to be consulting.
So the idea of putting yourexecutives forward to give your
organization, your brand, apersonality, a voice to build
trust, I mean that is so crucial, I think.
At the same time, though, thereare a lot of situations where
and we were talking about one ofthese earlier in a case study
that executives don't want to beput forward.
They want everything to beabout the brand and they
(12:16):
recognize.
Well, I'm the CEO now, but Imay not be the CEO in five, 10
years, but this brand is goingto continue.
So there's that tension there.
But I think one thing I wouldsay to encourage more executives
to be willing to put themselvesforward is just look what your
peers are doing, even if you'rethe CFO.
I mean, we've done marketingwork and PR work for CFOs of
large companies, so think aboutthat.
(12:37):
If I work in PR, I work forCFOs of large companies.
So think about that.
If the CFO in your core cohortin your industry is out there
speaking getting mediainterviews and you're not, I
think in some ways not only isthat not supportive of the brand
potentially, but it's notreally supportive of your own
platform and your own career.
So that's one thing we'll do totry to reduce the barrier to
investing in executivevisibility.
(12:58):
Just look around at the otherpeople in your industry.
Are they out there?
And a lot of times the answeris yes or what have you.
Jamie Kaye Walters (13:04):
Yeah, I can imagine that there's probably
some CEOs who think aboutpersonal branding like social
media influencers and they don'tit just feels like an
uncomfortable space for them,but it seems like you're able to
convince them differently.
Ned Ward (13:19):
Yeah, and I think, I think that those barriers are
dropping as well.
I mean, I was telling a groupof colleagues here that I was
meeting with earlier that in2006, social media was obviously
pretty new when I was workingand we had a client, an author
client, who said to us, hired usto do some book publicity and
said what about social media?
What are you doing for socialmedia?
And one of my colleagues at thetime said it's not going to be
(13:40):
around a year.
And we actually ended up losingthat client as a result of that
kind of, like, you know, myopicthinking or whatever, but it
was just a little short-sighted.
But you know, you fast forwardto now and we sometimes will get
hired just to do LinkedIn for aC-suite, you know.
And an interesting anecdoteabout that is, uh, one of the
(14:01):
reasons why this one large umrecycling and I probably
shouldn't say who it is, butanyways, um, anyways, large,
large national company, they dorecycling and waste, um, you
know, reduction, whatever youwant to call it, anywho, they,
um, they recognize that, um,their company, their employees,
thousands of which just weren'teven opening the company's
emails anymore.
They were like, okay, this isnot only a way for us to
(14:24):
leverage the expertise in ourC-suite but actually also reach
our distributed workforce, and Ithought that was interesting
but we hadn't thought about that.
Jamie Kaye Walters (14:32):
It's really hard to, you know, have a
crystal ball.
We've talked about like, asdifferent social media platforms
come onto the scene, whether ornot it makes sense to sort of
invest in them.
I think about I come from atelevision background and it was
really interesting that Fox,o&os would always they invested
(14:53):
in social media right from theget-go, and all the other TV
stations were like, eh, this islike it's not going to be around
that same sort of thing.
And it's amazing because, eventhough followers don't mean the
same thing that they used to,you can see the difference of
having that investment early on,because none of the other
stations have ever been able tokeep up.
Peter, so we just our thirdyear anniversary is like right
(15:19):
about now.
So what do you think about?
Is the agency what you thoughtit was going to be at this time?
Peter Van Dyke (15:28):
Oh, not at all.
It's way bigger and way betterthan I think.
When we started and weanticipated Again, I think we
knew that bringing video and PRtogether would be a really
strong value proposition andI've never not grown a company,
so I knew we would grow.
I just don't think we would weever anticipated growing to this
(15:52):
size, this quickly.
So I don't think we alsothought we'd be in a position to
make an acquisition, a positionto start a marketing department
in the way that we have prettyquickly within the first quarter
of this year.
So it's far beyond myexpectations and I think what I
didn't say is beyond myexpectations or beyond what I
anticipated.
(16:12):
But I think what I'm most proudof is how we've been able to
grow from basically 10, give ortake on day one to 30, three
years later and maintain what Ibelieve is a remarkable culture
as a company.
You know there's very little, ifany, toxicity within the
company.
(16:33):
We are pretty collaborative andsupportive.
We all laugh a lot.
We seem to enjoy hanging outtogether.
I said in previous companies Itry to like get a happy hour
with the team and it was kind oflike a forced engagement and
people just kind of sat there.
Now it's like can you all pleasego home and can I pay for your
Uber, Because I don't thinkyou're in a position to drive,
(16:53):
and you know that's an anecdotalhappy hour type of story, but I
think what that shows is thatwe actually genuinely like each
other.
We enjoy spending time together,we laugh together, and that's
really hard to create in anycompany in many ways, but
certainly hard to create in acompany that grows from 10 to 30
and that quickly, and I thinkwe've also, because you know I'm
(17:14):
the fun governor If I take thefun out of it.
We've also shockingly been ableto create processes and
structures that can help us besuccessful within a fast-growing
agency.
I've heard people say I can'tbelieve you have all this
together, being so young as acompany, and there's companies
that are 40 years old that stilldon't have all this together.
It's a testament, I think,certainly to the vision of the
(17:38):
three partners and the hardwarewe've put into it, but it's way
more of a testament to our teamand their willingness to trust
us and also basically readaptevery three to six months to
something new, and this year iscertainly a really great example
.
Ned Ward (17:52):
Well, I can add to that too, because we were one of
those 40-year-old companiesthat didn't do video, for
example, and you know, when Iwas thinking about, you know,
exploring the acquisitionprocess, it was like how can we
grow if we don't have somethinglike that, you know, or one of
those types of services?
It would be just very, verydifficult.
Jamie Kaye Walters (18:17):
I'm speaking with Ned Ward, Senior Vice
President of VVK PR and Creative, and Peter Van Dyke, our CEO.
As we begin to wrap this up, doyou have any sort of advice
that you give to anyone cominginto the communications field?
Peter Van Dyke (18:30):
Oh, the field in general.
I do so.
I'm pretty involved at WayneState University, my alma mater,
and speak to students a lotthere.
The number one piece of adviceI give is basically say yes to
everything until you're in aposition where you need to say
no.
I think it's really easy to shyaway from an opportunity one
(18:53):
because you don't feel likededicating the time, or you're
nervous, you don't want to walkinto a room of people you don't
know, or you feel like you can'tafford it, or you feel like
there's a number of differentbarriers to saying yes, and
especially when you're young inyour career in the
communications field, even whenyou're transitioning I think
even at that point from anotherfield to communications, just
say yes to everything.
Every breakfast, every lunch, aclient offers us tickets all
(19:14):
the time, whether it is a suiteat the DCFC or it's Pancakes and
Politics with MichiganChronicle and say yeah, so you
know.
When I was at the suite at DCFC,a couple of team members joined
.
The lieutenant governor came toour suite and we chatted for a
long time.
Our attorney was who invited usto the suite and we chatted
with him for a long time.
The president of the footballclub came to the suite.
(19:37):
We chatted with him for a longtime, and so you know, if you
said yeah, you could have hungout with the lieutenant governor
of the state of Michigan.
Possibly our future governor isrunning, who knows?
That's a pretty uniqueexperience that was opened up to
this entire agency, no matterwhat level you are in the
company, and so I think that's areally important part of when
you're getting into this fieldspecifically is to say yes to
(19:59):
all opportunities.
Jamie Kaye Walters (20:01):
Ned, do you have any great advice?
Words of wisdom.
Ned Ward (20:05):
I think a couple things come to mind.
You have to be uncomfortable.
We have to be comfortable withthe uncomfortable.
Basically, you're going to findyourself in difficult
situations where maybe aclient's just having client's
just having a bad day and theytell you your work isn't good
enough, but you put your heartand soul into that work product
and you know that's somethingmaybe you never heard before,
because perhaps you were reallysuccessful all through academics
(20:26):
, you know.
But the other thing too is it'sa communications-based business
and sometimes you just have topick up the phone and talk to
somebody.
You know you can't justinterface and interact through
mediums.
Jamie Kaye Walters (20:38):
basically, so the Stern team is now VVK
national team.
Can you talk about what thatmeans?
Ned Ward (20:47):
Well, I mean, that's basically what I saw in the
opportunity that the way Peterarticulated it was, we do a lot
of work in our region, in ourcity, in our state was we do a
lot of work in our region, inour city, in our state, and some
of our clients are asking usessentially to establish them
more nationally?
And that's the only kind of workwe were doing at Stern was
basically, our clients neverasked us hey, could you help get
(21:09):
us more coverage in this regionor could you help us get known
in this particular market?
It was always more like we wantto be known on a national level
.
So I think you know, being ableto bring something that's
additive but at the same time,the kind of work that VVK has
been doing is not what we weredoing at all in the past and you
know we were kind of ignoringour backyard.
(21:30):
And I'm looking for, you know,insight and opportunity to say,
okay, how can I become betterknown, you know, in our region
or whatever, because there's somuch business opportunity?
You know where I'm based in NewJersey.
It's unbelievable, and thiswhole pharmaceutical industry is
based there, for example.
Jamie Kaye Walters (21:44):
I like that.
Peter Van Dyke (21:46):
Am I supposed to answer the same question?
Sure, you turn to me.
I think you know that perfectlyarticulated what it means to be
the national team.
I think what the Stern team nowthe VVK national team has
brought is also a different wayof looking at processes that we
were already doing.
They've got an involvednational team on a couple of
(22:09):
messaging processes for someclients.
In many ways it's because thatmessaging we know has the future
potential to be part of thenational effort that we're going
to do for those clients and solet's start rooted in in the
messaging.
But we've done great messagingfor clients for for three years
at least, or beyond that withother companies, and the Stern
(22:32):
team brought just a differentprocess and I think it's been
really enlightening for our, forour team and certainly for our
clients.
Yeah, I would, just a differentprocess and I think it's been
really enlightening for our teamand certainly for our clients.
Ned Ward (22:38):
Yeah, I would just add to that.
I mean, the process thatPeter's talking about was born
out of the idea that a lot ofclients were saying to us you
know, our messaging is notworking anymore.
It's really difficult todifferentiate in this market.
So, you know, we just thoughtabout that problem, we worked
through some experiments andjust came up with a different
messaging strategy.
You know, strategy approach.
That is really interesting.
Jamie Kaye Walters (22:59):
What do you think clients will notice or
what do you think the benefit isto clients of this coming
together?
Peter Van Dyke (23:08):
I think they will notice, obviously, a more
comprehensive scale of work thatwe can do for them.
I think what they won't notice,which is fascinating,
especially in this first month,is any kind of fragmentation
between VVK Michigan and VVKNational.
Again, it's much due to thepatience and, I think, the
(23:33):
adaptability of the VVK Nationalteam kind of jumping in on some
clients from day one, butthey've done a great job of
learning the client reallyquickly, asking the right
questions before you get to theclient meeting.
And so again, there's two orthree clients that were
traditionally Michigan clientsthat the national team is
supporting with some work andit's gone from my perspective at
(23:55):
least so far completelyseamlessly.
And so it's almost what theywon't notice.
That's more important than whatthey will, because what they
will notice is it's on ourwebsite.
They'll notice there's anational team that does
executive visibility.
It's the things that I don'twant them to notice that I'm
actually more proud of, likewe're fragmented, we're not
using the same processes orsystems.
Ned Ward (24:14):
Yeah, I mean actually going back to even that early
question about somebody enteringthis profession is just be
adaptable.
I've never forgotten that,essentially, and either of the
people that came with me.
Jamie Kaye Walters (24:27):
Well to all the people that came with Ned.
As I said, we're recording thisat our all-staff meeting, so
it's the first time we've allbeen together in the same room
and it's been very exciting, sowelcome.
On top of that, VVK also hiredfour new people for the Michigan
(24:47):
team.
We hired a new associate vicepresident of PR, a digital media
manager, a senior graphicdesigner and a PR coordinator.
So it's a big time here at VVK.
But I want to thank Peter andNed.
Thank you so much for yourinsights and for being a guest
on the podcast of your company.
Ned Ward (25:08):
Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.
Craig Fahle (25:15):
Thanks everyone for checking out the VVK podcast
this month.
We certainly do appreciate it.
Now to our listeners.
If today's discussion sparkedyour curiosity or you'd like to
learn more about how VVK canhelp your organization with
executive visibility andnational PR, be sure to visit us
at VVK, and we'd also love tokeep the conversation going, so
(25:35):
connect with us on LinkedIn,follow us on Twitter or just
drop us a line.
Thanks to Jamie K Walters forhandling the interview today.
She did a fantastic job.
Thanks for tuning in to today'sVVK podcast.
We'll be back again next month,thank you.
Welcome to the VVK podcast.
I'm Craig Fahle.
Now normally I would be hostingthis program, but today I'm
going to be turning things overto my friend, jamie K Walters,
our Chief Marketing Officer atVVK and, of course, one of the
founding partners of thiscompany, because we have a
special conversation on tap forthe program today.
Now for those unfamiliar, vvkis a three-year-old
(00:31):
communications agency based inDetroit that's been making waves
in the PR landscape.
Now, recently, we reached anexciting milestone We've
acquired the New Jersey-basedStern Strategy Group PR division
.
Now, not only does this bring awealth of experience to VVK,
but we're also thrilled towelcome five amazing new team
members to expanding thecapabilities of our team.
So we're really excited to tellyou more about it.
(00:53):
Jamie K Walters is going tohave that interview coming up
next here on the VVK podcast.
Jamie Kaye Walters (01:02):
All right, All right.
So, as Craig noted, we aregoing to be recording this right
in the middle of our all-staffmeeting with everyone from VVK,
so if you hear people talking orcheering, that's our team right
there.
Joining me is Ned Ward, our newSenior Vice President of
(01:25):
National PR, who brings twodecades of industry experience
to this conversation.
Also with us is one of mypartners and our CEO, Peter Van
Dyke, who has been instrumentalin driving VVK's vision forward.
Together we'll be discussingthe acquisition, the changing
landscape of PR and whyexecutive visibility and
personal branding for C-suiteleaders is more important than
ever.
All right, Peter and Ned.
Thank you and welcome to thepod, as people say.
Peter Van Dyke (01:47):
Thank you, jamie, thank you.
Jamie Kaye Walters (01:49):
All right, Peter, let's start with you.
What led VVK's decision toacquire Stern Strategy Group's
PR division?
Peter Van Dyke (01:57):
Sure, it's a couple of things.
I think the PR teamspecifically was being faced
with some demand from ourclients around national
visibility.
We do a great job in Michiganwith many clients, particularly
in the philanthropy andnonprofit community, around
elevating their executives asthought leaders across the state
(02:17):
.
And some of those thoughtleaders said, okay, we're pretty
well known in Michigan, how dowe build more of a national
presence?
And while we've done that forseveral clients, I would say we
didn't have specific expertisein that area.
So it was something I wastracking, but I thought you know
, let's figure that out as wecontinue to grow.
And then a broker brought theopportunity with Stern Strategy
(02:39):
Group to our agency and when Ilooked at it I almost deleted
the email because I thought I'mnot going to acquire anything.
And then I said I'll take alook.
It looks kind of interesting.
I think the subject line saidnational executive visibility
firms.
So I started looking at thedetails.
I thought, wow, this is reallycompletely aligned with where
VVK is today from an industryand expertise standpoint, but
(03:01):
also is a huge growthopportunity for us to not only
serve our current clients butbuild into new clients.
And so it was kind of like areal direct match and then the
conversations that proceededafter that.
The cultural fit and theexpertise fit became even more
clear.
Jamie Kaye Walters (03:20):
Well, I remember when you sent it to
myself and to Peter, I was likethis seems like it totally
aligns.
But I was like what's thechance?
The first one that we'd look atseems like such a great fit.
Ned, you worked with SternStrategy Group PR for 20 years.
Ned Ward (03:37):
Almost 20 years.
Jamie Kaye Walters (03:38):
From your perspective, what unique
attributes does that team bringto VVK?
Ned Ward (03:43):
Well, a few things.
Essentially, the people on theteam.
Some of us worked together foralmost 20 years, so we know each
other's tendencies.
We basically know what we canrely on each other for and lean
on each other for in terms ofyou know our shared expertise.
You know some of the people onthe team are excellent writers
and messaging strategists.
(04:03):
Others are great at conferencework or media relations or what
have you, or social media andjust being able to really have a
reliable group of people you'reworking with to help your
clients.
Jamie Kaye Walters (04:16):
So what have you noticed in the first month
of working with the VVK team?
Ned Ward (04:20):
Well, it was exactly what I expected, I should say,
because when we were talking toother agencies it's funny that
you said you know VVK this wasthe first one you looked at as
an acquisition partner.
We talked to severalpossibilities and one of the
first things I gathered frommeeting with Peter is that he's
very involved in the agency andI had some conversations where I
(04:42):
thought to myself well, I maynever see this person again if
this acquisition goes through.
So it was very personal, youknow, and I think in the time
that we've been working with VVKjust in this first, you know,
five weeks or whatever it's beenevery day just seems to
reinforce having made a gooddecision.
You know people are verywelcoming, you know.
Essentially, you know, itreally just made us feel at ease
(05:05):
.
Jamie Kaye Walters (05:06):
Peter, what kind of response did you get
from people once theannouncement was made?
Peter Van Dyke (05:14):
We have the great benefit of having a pretty
close-knit family around theBBK team, whether it is friends
of the company, clients, currentteam members, family, and so
our network really championsthis company.
It's since we started thecompany three years ago, just
(05:35):
the constant congratulatorynotes we get, the constant
encouragement.
Of course, just in the growthof our business has really
relied on word of mouth fromcurrent clients and even some
past clients.
So we got just that.
When we announced theacquisition, I think people were
so in some ways shocked to seethat we were in a position, as a
three-year-old company, to growat this scale and also just
(06:00):
super excited for the company.
Super excited for the company.
Again, many of the people thatare surrounding this agency are
personal friends of yours ormine and have known the history
of the company, and so it wasdefinitely overwhelming.
Especially I joke around weheld the acquisition
announcement for a day becauseCranes had to hold it for a day
(06:22):
and so I'd cleared my calendaron Monday for this.
I hadn't cleared my calendar onTuesday.
So it was a little overwhelmingbecause I was trying to be
gracious and answer texts andemails and Facebook messages and
LinkedIn messages while keepingthe day going.
But it was really.
It was wonderful.
It was really nice to see somany people rally around us and
support us.
Jamie Kaye Walters (06:41):
What about from your side?
Ned Ward (06:43):
I mean I heard from people I hadn't heard from for
many years, which was prettyamazing.
In fact, my LinkedIn postsabout the acquisition got more
engagement than anything I'veever posted.
So people, obviously we didthat right and people were
excited about it.
But you know just some of thecomments I got from, you know,
current clients.
You know it was reallyencouraging because you know, as
part of the acquisition,obviously the clients we've
worked with were part of it andwe had that sort of window of
(07:06):
time where, you never know, Someof them could say, well, this
isn't really for me, you knowit's been a good run or whatever
.
But you know, happy to say wewent whatever.
It is 10 for 10, 100% in termsof you know, the clients coming
over too.
So I've got to give them a lotof, you know, gratitude toward
them for that.
But a lot of the reactions Igot from people that I'd worked
with very closely for years, itwas extremely positive.
(07:31):
But at the same time we atStern the company was in
business for 40 years, so Ithink a lot of people in that
orbit were shocked that thiswould happen.
But it's a natural thing whenyour company's founded in 1985.
You know people at some pointin their lives are going to want
to simplify you know theirbusiness situations and whatnot
but definitely some interestingnotes and some friends there uh,
(07:55):
giving me a hard time about thevideo well I've never seen you
in this context before you knowspeaking of the video, there was
, like there was a soundbite Iwanted to put in there.
Jamie Kaye Walters (08:05):
That was about you saying that like, uh,
what did you say about 1985?
Ned Ward (08:11):
oh so yeah, the company I worked for before
stern was founded in 1985 and Ihappen to know that the biggest
hit that year was uh, take on meby.
Aha, which yeah, which um at.
I'm a Devils fan, being fromNew Jersey, and at every Devils
game the whole crowd sings thatchorus line, which most people
can't hit.
That note, let's hear it.
No way I'll speak it.
Jamie Kaye Walters (08:32):
He's like take on me.
Peter Van Dyke (08:34):
What was also cut is when I said we learned
about Ned that he loves DuranDuran and then I said because
Ned's hungry like a wolf and Isaid, if that makes it into the
final cut of that video, Furtherthe next video, but not the big
acquisition.
Jamie Kaye Walters (08:47):
I like fun.
Sometimes Peter cuts my fun.
Yes, let's talk about theindustry in general.
I feel like professionalservices industries are changing
.
Communication is changing, sowhat do you see as the biggest
trends that are emerging in ourindustry, and what do agencies
like us have to be prepared for?
Peter Van Dyke (09:09):
I don't mind jumping in, just coming off the
heels of the Public RelationsSociety of America's Counselors
Academy Conference in CharlestonAmerica's Counselors Academy
Conference in Charleston and RayDay, who is the board chair for
PRSA National and a colleagueand a friend of the firm, also
the vice chair of Stagwell, forcontext, for those who are
listening at home.
He did a talk about the futureof the industry and then we did
(09:31):
a fireside chat together and itwas really interesting to hear
where he sees growth areas.
One was in more consumer-basedcommunications and consumer
clients, but another one was incorporate and within the
corporate environment.
He saw a lot of work, notsurprisingly in crisis coming in
the future, but also in contentmarketing and thought
(09:55):
leadership, and I would say youknow VVK has grown quickly but
it's been pretty intentional.
I mean even the coming togetherof the portfolios of Velocity
Cow, the predecessor videocompany, my historic portfolio
of work and then Jamie'sexpertise in marketing.
That was very intentional,knowing that you know all of our
communications video has to becentral to everything we do.
(10:18):
So when I saw you, I saw aglobal expert in communications,
leading one of the largestcommunications firms in the
world, talking about contentmarketing and executive
visibility as the key growthareas.
It was very validating for VVKand for the work that we do and
for what we provide to ourclients, because we're pitching
that to our clients a lot.
(10:38):
Sometimes our clients are kindof focused on their in-market
media relations.
It's very traditional, to asense, and we are continuing to
bring content, marketingconcepts to them as well as
executive visibility.
So it was pretty validating forwhere we're going as an agency
and certainly validating for for, obviously, the most recent
(10:59):
acquisition.
Jamie Kaye Walters (11:01):
So talk a little bit.
So executive visibility talkabout what that is and your
guys' experience with it and whyit's such an important thing
right now in communications.
Ned Ward (11:12):
Yeah, I'll tell like that through an example.
Basically, traditionally, a lotof the kinds of clients we've
worked with over the years areprofessional services and
consulting firms, and even someclients we work with more
recently.
I mean, when we started workingwith them, they maybe had a few
competitors in their market,and the barrier to entry to
starting a consulting firm is solow that there's always new
(11:32):
entrants coming in, sodifferentiation gets very, very
hard.
I mean, one kind of metaphorwe'll draw when we're talking to
potential clients in that spaceis, if you took the largest
consulting companies in theworld global management
consulting firms like Bain orMcKinsey or BCG and you just
took their names off the website, you might have no idea which
one you're looking at.
And that exists all throughlots of different kinds of
(11:55):
markets.
I mean it doesn't necessarilyhave to be consulting.
So the idea of putting yourexecutives forward to give your
organization, your brand, apersonality, a voice to build
trust, I mean that is so crucial, I think.
At the same time, though, thereare a lot of situations where
and we were talking about one ofthese earlier in a case study
that executives don't want to beput forward.
They want everything to beabout the brand and they
(12:16):
recognize.
Well, I'm the CEO now, but Imay not be the CEO in five, 10
years, but this brand is goingto continue.
So there's that tension there.
But I think one thing I wouldsay to encourage more executives
to be willing to put themselvesforward is just look what your
peers are doing, even if you'rethe CFO.
I mean, we've done marketingwork and PR work for CFOs of
large companies, so think aboutthat.
(12:37):
If I work in PR, I work forCFOs of large companies.
So think about that.
If the CFO in your core cohortin your industry is out there
speaking getting mediainterviews and you're not, I
think in some ways not only isthat not supportive of the brand
potentially, but it's notreally supportive of your own
platform and your own career.
So that's one thing we'll do totry to reduce the barrier to
investing in executivevisibility.
(12:58):
Just look around at the otherpeople in your industry.
Are they out there?
And a lot of times the answeris yes or what have you.
Jamie Kaye Walters (13:04):
Yeah, I can imagine that there's probably
some CEOs who think aboutpersonal branding like social
media influencers and they don'tit just feels like an
uncomfortable space for them,but it seems like you're able to
convince them differently.
Ned Ward (13:19):
Yeah, and I think, I think that those barriers are
dropping as well.
I mean, I was telling a groupof colleagues here that I was
meeting with earlier that in2006, social media was obviously
pretty new when I was workingand we had a client, an author
client, who said to us, hired usto do some book publicity and
said what about social media?
What are you doing for socialmedia?
And one of my colleagues at thetime said it's not going to be
(13:40):
around a year.
And we actually ended up losingthat client as a result of that
kind of, like, you know, myopicthinking or whatever, but it
was just a little short-sighted.
But you know, you fast forwardto now and we sometimes will get
hired just to do LinkedIn for aC-suite, you know.
And an interesting anecdoteabout that is, uh, one of the
(14:01):
reasons why this one large umrecycling and I probably
shouldn't say who it is, butanyways, um, anyways, large,
large national company, they dorecycling and waste, um, you
know, reduction, whatever youwant to call it, anywho, they,
um, they recognize that, um,their company, their employees,
thousands of which just weren'teven opening the company's
emails anymore.
They were like, okay, this isnot only a way for us to
(14:24):
leverage the expertise in ourC-suite but actually also reach
our distributed workforce, and Ithought that was interesting
but we hadn't thought about that.
Jamie Kaye Walters (14:32):
It's really hard to, you know, have a
crystal ball.
We've talked about like, asdifferent social media platforms
come onto the scene, whether ornot it makes sense to sort of
invest in them.
I think about I come from atelevision background and it was
really interesting that Fox,o&os would always they invested
(14:53):
in social media right from theget-go, and all the other TV
stations were like, eh, this islike it's not going to be around
that same sort of thing.
And it's amazing because, eventhough followers don't mean the
same thing that they used to,you can see the difference of
having that investment early on,because none of the other
stations have ever been able tokeep up.
Peter, so we just our thirdyear anniversary is like right
(15:19):
about now.
So what do you think about?
Is the agency what you thoughtit was going to be at this time?
Peter Van Dyke (15:28):
Oh, not at all.
It's way bigger and way betterthan I think.
When we started and weanticipated Again, I think we
knew that bringing video and PRtogether would be a really
strong value proposition andI've never not grown a company,
so I knew we would grow.
I just don't think we would weever anticipated growing to this
(15:52):
size, this quickly.
So I don't think we alsothought we'd be in a position to
make an acquisition, a positionto start a marketing department
in the way that we have prettyquickly within the first quarter
of this year.
So it's far beyond myexpectations and I think what I
didn't say is beyond myexpectations or beyond what I
anticipated.
(16:12):
But I think what I'm most proudof is how we've been able to
grow from basically 10, give ortake on day one to 30, three
years later and maintain what Ibelieve is a remarkable culture
as a company.
You know there's very little, ifany, toxicity within the
company.
(16:33):
We are pretty collaborative andsupportive.
We all laugh a lot.
We seem to enjoy hanging outtogether.
I said in previous companies Itry to like get a happy hour
with the team and it was kind oflike a forced engagement and
people just kind of sat there.
Now it's like can you all pleasego home and can I pay for your
Uber, Because I don't thinkyou're in a position to drive,
(16:53):
and you know that's an anecdotalhappy hour type of story, but I
think what that shows is thatwe actually genuinely like each
other.
We enjoy spending time together,we laugh together, and that's
really hard to create in anycompany in many ways, but
certainly hard to create in acompany that grows from 10 to 30
and that quickly, and I thinkwe've also, because you know I'm
(17:14):
the fun governor If I take thefun out of it.
We've also shockingly been ableto create processes and
structures that can help us besuccessful within a fast-growing
agency.
I've heard people say I can'tbelieve you have all this
together, being so young as acompany, and there's companies
that are 40 years old that stilldon't have all this together.
It's a testament, I think,certainly to the vision of the
(17:38):
three partners and the hardwarewe've put into it, but it's way
more of a testament to our teamand their willingness to trust
us and also basically readaptevery three to six months to
something new, and this year iscertainly a really great example
.
Ned Ward (17:52):
Well, I can add to that too, because we were one of
those 40-year-old companiesthat didn't do video, for
example, and you know, when Iwas thinking about, you know,
exploring the acquisitionprocess, it was like how can we
grow if we don't have somethinglike that, you know, or one of
those types of services?
It would be just very, verydifficult.
Jamie Kaye Walters (18:17):
I'm speaking with Ned Ward, Senior Vice
President of VVK PR and Creative, and Peter Van Dyke, our CEO.
As we begin to wrap this up, doyou have any sort of advice
that you give to anyone cominginto the communications field?
Peter Van Dyke (18:30):
Oh, the field in general.
I do so.
I'm pretty involved at WayneState University, my alma mater,
and speak to students a lotthere.
The number one piece of adviceI give is basically say yes to
everything until you're in aposition where you need to say
no.
I think it's really easy to shyaway from an opportunity one
(18:53):
because you don't feel likededicating the time, or you're
nervous, you don't want to walkinto a room of people you don't
know, or you feel like you can'tafford it, or you feel like
there's a number of differentbarriers to saying yes, and
especially when you're young inyour career in the
communications field, even whenyou're transitioning I think
even at that point from anotherfield to communications, just
say yes to everything.
Every breakfast, every lunch, aclient offers us tickets all
(19:14):
the time, whether it is a suiteat the DCFC or it's Pancakes and
Politics with MichiganChronicle and say yeah, so you
know.
When I was at the suite at DCFC,a couple of team members joined
.
The lieutenant governor came toour suite and we chatted for a
long time.
Our attorney was who invited usto the suite and we chatted
with him for a long time.
The president of the footballclub came to the suite.
(19:37):
We chatted with him for a longtime, and so you know, if you
said yeah, you could have hungout with the lieutenant governor
of the state of Michigan.
Possibly our future governor isrunning, who knows?
That's a pretty uniqueexperience that was opened up to
this entire agency, no matterwhat level you are in the
company, and so I think that's areally important part of when
you're getting into this fieldspecifically is to say yes to
(19:59):
all opportunities.
Jamie Kaye Walters (20:01):
Ned, do you have any great advice?
Words of wisdom.
Ned Ward (20:05):
I think a couple things come to mind.
You have to be uncomfortable.
We have to be comfortable withthe uncomfortable.
Basically, you're going to findyourself in difficult
situations where maybe aclient's just having client's
just having a bad day and theytell you your work isn't good
enough, but you put your heartand soul into that work product
and you know that's somethingmaybe you never heard before,
because perhaps you were reallysuccessful all through academics
(20:26):
, you know.
But the other thing too is it'sa communications-based business
and sometimes you just have topick up the phone and talk to
somebody.
You know you can't justinterface and interact through
mediums.
Jamie Kaye Walters (20:38):
basically, so the Stern team is now VVK
national team.
Can you talk about what thatmeans?
Ned Ward (20:47):
Well, I mean, that's basically what I saw in the
opportunity that the way Peterarticulated it was, we do a lot
of work in our region, in ourcity, in our state was we do a
lot of work in our region, inour city, in our state, and some
of our clients are asking usessentially to establish them
more nationally?
And that's the only kind of workwe were doing at Stern was
basically, our clients neverasked us hey, could you help get
(21:09):
us more coverage in this regionor could you help us get known
in this particular market?
It was always more like we wantto be known on a national level
.
So I think you know, being ableto bring something that's
additive but at the same time,the kind of work that VVK has
been doing is not what we weredoing at all in the past and you
know we were kind of ignoringour backyard.
(21:30):
And I'm looking for, you know,insight and opportunity to say,
okay, how can I become betterknown, you know, in our region
or whatever, because there's somuch business opportunity?
You know where I'm based in NewJersey.
It's unbelievable, and thiswhole pharmaceutical industry is
based there, for example.
Jamie Kaye Walters (21:44):
I like that.
Peter Van Dyke (21:46):
Am I supposed to answer the same question?
Sure, you turn to me.
I think you know that perfectlyarticulated what it means to be
the national team.
I think what the Stern team nowthe VVK national team has
brought is also a different wayof looking at processes that we
were already doing.
They've got an involvednational team on a couple of
(22:09):
messaging processes for someclients.
In many ways it's because thatmessaging we know has the future
potential to be part of thenational effort that we're going
to do for those clients and solet's start rooted in in the
messaging.
But we've done great messagingfor clients for for three years
at least, or beyond that withother companies, and the Stern
(22:32):
team brought just a differentprocess and I think it's been
really enlightening for our, forour team and certainly for our
clients.
Yeah, I would, just a differentprocess and I think it's been
really enlightening for our teamand certainly for our clients.
Ned Ward (22:38):
Yeah, I would just add to that.
I mean, the process thatPeter's talking about was born
out of the idea that a lot ofclients were saying to us you
know, our messaging is notworking anymore.
It's really difficult todifferentiate in this market.
So, you know, we just thoughtabout that problem, we worked
through some experiments andjust came up with a different
messaging strategy.
You know, strategy approach.
That is really interesting.
Jamie Kaye Walters (22:59):
What do you think clients will notice or
what do you think the benefit isto clients of this coming
together?
Peter Van Dyke (23:08):
I think they will notice, obviously, a more
comprehensive scale of work thatwe can do for them.
I think what they won't notice,which is fascinating,
especially in this first month,is any kind of fragmentation
between VVK Michigan and VVKNational.
Again, it's much due to thepatience and, I think, the
(23:33):
adaptability of the VVK Nationalteam kind of jumping in on some
clients from day one, butthey've done a great job of
learning the client reallyquickly, asking the right
questions before you get to theclient meeting.
And so again, there's two orthree clients that were
traditionally Michigan clientsthat the national team is
supporting with some work andit's gone from my perspective at
(23:55):
least so far completelyseamlessly.
And so it's almost what theywon't notice.
That's more important than whatthey will, because what they
will notice is it's on ourwebsite.
They'll notice there's anational team that does
executive visibility.
It's the things that I don'twant them to notice that I'm
actually more proud of, likewe're fragmented, we're not
using the same processes orsystems.
Ned Ward (24:14):
Yeah, I mean actually going back to even that early
question about somebody enteringthis profession is just be
adaptable.
I've never forgotten that,essentially, and either of the
people that came with me.
Jamie Kaye Walters (24:27):
Well to all the people that came with Ned.
As I said, we're recording thisat our all-staff meeting, so
it's the first time we've allbeen together in the same room
and it's been very exciting, sowelcome.
On top of that, VVK also hiredfour new people for the Michigan
(24:47):
team.
We hired a new associate vicepresident of PR, a digital media
manager, a senior graphicdesigner and a PR coordinator.
So it's a big time here at VVK.
But I want to thank Peter andNed.
Thank you so much for yourinsights and for being a guest
on the podcast of your company.
Ned Ward (25:08):
Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.
Craig Fahle (25:15):
Thanks everyone for checking out the VVK podcast
this month.
We certainly do appreciate it.
Now to our listeners.
If today's discussion sparkedyour curiosity or you'd like to
learn more about how VVK canhelp your organization with
executive visibility andnational PR, be sure to visit us
at VVK, and we'd also love tokeep the conversation going, so
(25:35):
connect with us on LinkedIn,follow us on Twitter or just
drop us a line.
Thanks to Jamie K Walters forhandling the interview today.
She did a fantastic job.
Thanks for tuning in to today'sVVK podcast.
We'll be back again next month,thank you.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.