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Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with

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Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm

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Speaker 1: Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My

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Speaker 1: guest is Michael Nyman, founder and CEO of Acceleration Community

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Speaker 1: of Companies or ACC. It's a collection of firms that

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Speaker 1: work in marketing, communications, PR, and live events. Since twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 1: Nyman has been building up Acceleration through acquisitions of firms

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Speaker 1: with complementary specialties. Among his recent deals is PR, branding

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Speaker 1: and strategy firm DKC, headquartered in NYC. Niman is well

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Speaker 1: known to industry insiders after a long career in marketing

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Speaker 1: and communications. For years, he was the n in BNC

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Speaker 1: Bragman Nyman Cafarelli. Niman helped orchestrate the Alphabet Soup merger

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Speaker 1: of BNC PS and ultimately Rogers and Cowan. He was

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Speaker 1: chair of the entire entity when he bowed out in

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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. As Nyman explains, he left with the goal

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Speaker 1: of building a bettermount strap, one that suited his life stage.

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Speaker 1: We also talk about industry trends, the behavioral habits of

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Speaker 1: gen Z and jen Alpha and how they will influence

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Speaker 1: the evolution of entertainment. Michael Nymann, founder and CEO of

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Speaker 1: Acceleration Community of Companies, thank you so much for having

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Speaker 1: me here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for having me in.

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Speaker 1: Your century city, Diggs. I've got a nice, beautiful view

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Speaker 1: of a kind of a hazy la skyline out here.

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Speaker 1: Let's step back and sketch out for me what is

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Speaker 1: acceleration Community of Companies? What is the larger goal?

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Speaker 2: It was a lot of fun to contemplate that departure

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Speaker 2: of Okay, you're going to go from chairman and CEO

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Speaker 2: of PMKB and C to do what There's a lot

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Speaker 2: that runs through your mind. But it was clear to

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Speaker 2: me that, you know, life is a series of chapters.

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Speaker 2: I felt that I was at an agent stage where

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Speaker 2: I had more time on my hands. My kids were older,

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Speaker 2: and I felt that while I loved my company and

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Speaker 2: everything that we're doing with our company, our clients, the

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Speaker 2: global footprint that we had was great, a lot to

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Speaker 2: be proud of, but I just felt deep down that

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Speaker 2: I had more to do. What was striking to me

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Speaker 2: was in twenty eighteen, I had felt that it was

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Speaker 2: clear that we were in the midst of change, and

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Speaker 2: I felt that I wanted to stay in the world

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Speaker 2: of marketing, advertising, communications, media, and I wanted to be

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Speaker 2: in and around consumer and entertainment. But I felt that

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Speaker 2: where I was at this holding company model was it

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Speaker 2: wasn't a statement about the holding company that we were

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Speaker 2: residing in as much as what I felt was coming

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Speaker 2: to the business. I thought that the holding companies were

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Speaker 2: going to come to an end. I just believe in

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Speaker 2: this idea of ages and stages in life, and just

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Speaker 2: like humans, companies have the age and.

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Speaker 1: You had been an architect of the companies.

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Speaker 2: I just felt that there was an opportunity here that

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Speaker 2: I felt the virtues of being in a community or

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Speaker 2: with a group of companies was a good thing, and

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Speaker 2: I felt that for certain clients there was some benefit

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Speaker 2: if you could find a grouping of companies that could

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Speaker 2: help you. But what I was trying to do is

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Speaker 2: look at a different spin on it. What I was

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Speaker 2: thinking was the future would be focused more on specialization,

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Speaker 2: and when you really think about it, that's where we

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Speaker 2: are in our society, and a lot of this is

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Speaker 2: enabled through technology and this idea of instant gratification or

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Speaker 2: getting exactly to what you want to get to, whether

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Speaker 2: it's finding you on a podcast, or whether it is

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Speaker 2: finding a creator, or whether it is binging a certain show.

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Speaker 2: So I had felt that the idea of specialization was

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Speaker 2: going to be critical. So I thought, if I could

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Speaker 2: go out and build a community and acquire assemble build

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Speaker 2: a series of complementary agencies, each that had a superpower.

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Speaker 2: One group focused on communications, one group focused on influencer data,

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Speaker 2: and analytics experiential. You know that when we put it together,

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Speaker 2: it could be something really special. And with the complementary powers,

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Speaker 2: these agencies would begin to really want to collaborate with

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Speaker 2: one another because they each did something different, and people

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Speaker 2: get along really well when you can be complimentary someone

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Speaker 2: versus competing with someone. And the holding companies were growing,

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Speaker 2: They had gotten so big that they really became an

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Speaker 2: aggregation of a bunch of generalized agencies that were in

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Speaker 2: it to win it at whatever costs and no matter

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Speaker 2: whether they specialized or not.

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Speaker 1: At a time when thatdditional market, let's call it the

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Speaker 1: traditional linear market is unavoidably shrinking.

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Speaker 2: And I road tested, and I talked to even you know,

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Speaker 2: it was very clear, and talking with clients and trying

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Speaker 2: to understand what was most important and what was most

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Speaker 2: important around twenty eighteen was this notion of speed, speed

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Speaker 2: to market, reacting quickly to change. Clients were starting to

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Speaker 2: get uptight about big behemoth holding companies that were bringing

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Speaker 2: the world when they didn't want the world, or forcing

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Speaker 2: a big generalized creative agency to do everything for them.

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Speaker 2: Clients want to remain in charge and at the same

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Speaker 2: time they want to lean out and they want to

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Speaker 2: have a good counsel. It's not like they're trying. It's

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Speaker 2: not like outsourcing of marketing services disappearing. I don't believe

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Speaker 2: that will happen, even even with AI. But when you

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Speaker 2: tie in speed to market and reacting quickly to change,

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Speaker 2: when you tie in specialization, clients leaning into two individuals

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Speaker 2: that have been there and done that and by the way,

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Speaker 2: that came and really handy during COVID during the you know, oh,

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Speaker 2: you know what moment, clients want to turn around and

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Speaker 2: they want to look at someone that can tell them

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Speaker 2: what it was like when the market crashed or what

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Speaker 2: happened at nine to eleven. Those are hugely monumental moments

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Speaker 2: where things can go, you know, way off the rails.

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Speaker 2: So specialization seniority, the ability to collaborate, to not force

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Speaker 2: clients and do bad situations. It just felt like there

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Speaker 2: was a great opportunity there, and I thought I could

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Speaker 2: do it. And I thought I could create almost this

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Speaker 2: community of boutique to mid size companies that could scale

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Speaker 2: rather quickly, and we could compete. As long as we

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Speaker 2: weren't pitching global media assignments for Disney, we could compete.

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Speaker 2: And we have competed, and we're a good sized firm

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Speaker 2: that's doing great work with some of the best, most

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Speaker 2: recognizable clients in the world.

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Speaker 1: It's an interesting example of where the entertainment economy is

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Speaker 1: shaping up that it is. It's interesting like an of

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Speaker 1: strong complementary functions versus the kind of the older model,

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Speaker 1: as you said, of just sheer market share. You just

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Speaker 1: have the scale of clients, and you're seeing that in

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Speaker 1: the communications firm. You're also seeing that at talent agencies.

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Speaker 1: You're seeing a lot more specialization.

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Speaker 2: I have beliefs in certain areas of the business that

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Speaker 2: are going to be with us for a long time.

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Speaker 2: The notion of data and analytics are not going anywhere.

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Speaker 2: That's enhanced through AI prompting and the ability to research.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be very important for marketers to understand

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Speaker 2: where they've been and develop some level of predictability. You know,

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Speaker 2: a creator an influencer is not going anywhere, especially with

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Speaker 2: gen Z. We did a gen Z study, We're about

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Speaker 2: to complete a gen Alpha study. You have to look

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Speaker 2: at the segments of the population that tells you that

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Speaker 2: gives you a roadmap, and whether you're a big consumer

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Speaker 2: brand like Pepsi or whether you're a service firm, you

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Speaker 2: need to understand all of that. So we're going to

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Speaker 2: be in the area is that we believe have great

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Speaker 2: growth ahead of it.

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Speaker 1: Is it a situation where if you find the right

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Speaker 1: company and the right person that you want to bring

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Speaker 1: in under your umbrella.

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Speaker 2: I would say put it in LA standards. Instead of

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Speaker 2: buying a house, you buy a lot and then you

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Speaker 2: build a house. But you build a house with the

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Speaker 2: architecture already done, and you understood when you're ready and

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Speaker 2: you have the money to expand you know where you're

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Speaker 2: going to put a guest room, our guess house. That's

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Speaker 2: the idea is architecture first, model First, understand as much

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Speaker 2: as you can the future proofing of the business, and

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Speaker 2: then assemble as you go and create this massively collaborative

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Speaker 2: what I would call ecosystem or more intimately community.

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Speaker 1: Let me take you back to twenty eighteen. Where did

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Speaker 1: you start? Was there one opportunity that catalyzed the idea?

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Speaker 2: My son is going off to college. Both of my

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Speaker 2: kids went our home, and I felt like, this is

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Speaker 2: the time to pounce. Like everything I've done has brought

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Speaker 2: me to this moment. What are you going to do next?

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Speaker 2: Michael and I had some I started to have some

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Speaker 2: intellectual conversations with people, and then I met with private equity,

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Speaker 2: I met with investment bankers. I said, here's my thesis,

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Speaker 2: here's my idea. Some of it was even back of

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Speaker 2: the envelope stuff on a napkin drawing, and everyone was like,

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Speaker 2: this is great. How much money do you want? Or

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Speaker 2: you know this isn't intriguing, or I like where you're

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Speaker 2: going with this? And I felt, okay, you know what,

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Speaker 2: I just got to go for it. And I know

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Speaker 2: I look back on it and people are like, what

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Speaker 2: are you thinking You're going to do that at this

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Speaker 2: age or stage. You know. I was very fortunate and

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Speaker 2: very humbled, and people took my calls and it was

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Speaker 2: sort of business as usual, although I was starting a

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Speaker 2: new business, but I went out quickly. I stuck to

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Speaker 2: my plan. I had backing, and I got busy, and

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Speaker 2: by the end of twenty eighteen, very short order, I

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Speaker 2: was able to secure a handful of consultants working for me.

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Speaker 2: We were able to secure Pepsi as our first corporate client,

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Speaker 2: and by twenty nineteen was really was year one and

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Speaker 2: we went out and by the end of twenty nineteen

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Speaker 2: we had acquired two companies. Now we didn't know COVID

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Speaker 2: was around the corner four months later, but we were

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Speaker 2: certainly off and running. Right now, we have nine different

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Speaker 2: agencies branded agencies, so nine different groups that have clients.

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Speaker 2: We have more than a dozen offices, primarily on the coast.

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Speaker 2: We've got Atlanta, and we've got a lot of San Francisco,

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Speaker 2: La New York, a little bit in the middle of

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Speaker 2: the country, a little bit overseas.

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Speaker 1: Have you hit break even?

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we're making money. Oh yeah, oh, we are

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Speaker 2: making money.

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Speaker 1: Seven years, eight years in. That's a good one.

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Speaker 2: Well, we were making to be honest, obviously we had

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Speaker 2: an investment, but year one we were cash flow positive.

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Speaker 2: When we started our business, I would say with COVID,

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Speaker 2: I'm two years where I wanted to be.

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Speaker 1: Can you give me an example of something that you

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Speaker 1: achieved for a client or something that shows how you

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Speaker 1: thread together a couple of different businesses to create something

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Speaker 1: really cool for a client.

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Speaker 2: Fun part is when a lot of pieces of the

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Speaker 2: puzzle kind of come together, or a lot of agencies

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Speaker 2: are able to join arms and work together. We had

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Speaker 2: two of our agencies work together and help Atlantic Records

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Speaker 2: come up with a great way to launch Ed Sharon's

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Speaker 2: most recent album, and that was a fun hop up

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Speaker 2: that we did. We built a pop up speakeasy overnight

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Speaker 2: and if Switch Massachusetts. He was a few hundred fans

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Speaker 2: showed up because they got certain clues on social and

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Speaker 2: the next thing you know, there's this performance by Ed

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Speaker 2: Sharon and video is being captured, content is being made

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Speaker 2: and it became this pop up moment and is eventizing

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Speaker 2: his release of album and certain songs. And then it

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Speaker 2: went so well we got to do a repeat with

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Speaker 2: his team and show up at Coachella. That was really cool.

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Speaker 2: It was a cultural moment. And that's the most satisfying

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Speaker 2: is where we can work with the clients and create

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Speaker 2: these cultural moments, not just amplify a moment, but even

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Speaker 2: really go into the creation of it.

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Speaker 1: I can just tell from the look on your face

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Speaker 1: that like this is the kind of the essence of

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Speaker 1: what you wanted to be able to achieve.

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Speaker 2: You realize that even though we are obsessed now with

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Speaker 2: AI and our answer machines as I like to call them,

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Speaker 2: in real life's not going anywhere. And I would argue that,

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Speaker 2: and you can tell I'm bullish on it that, especially

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Speaker 2: when you look at gen Z. It's these communal moments.

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Speaker 2: Whether it's going to a festival or a special event,

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Speaker 2: or a big dinner or a bar, or getting on

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Speaker 2: an airplane and going to Tokyo for the weekend. People

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Speaker 2: want to be very much in real life. They may

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Speaker 2: want to tell their stories with their phones and then

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Speaker 2: push it out to people and say to me, but

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Speaker 2: in real life is important, and I believe that it'll

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Speaker 2: be even more important as time goes on.

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Speaker 1: Gen Z and Alpha, Yes they spend so much time

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Speaker 1: on screens. Yes they do not like to talk on

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Speaker 1: the phone with their mouths, But I think because of

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Speaker 1: that those irl experiences are even more valued because when

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Speaker 1: they do venture out, they really want something exciting.

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Speaker 2: You know, you hit on something, you just zeroed in.

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Speaker 2: When you look at these moments of these gatherings, it's

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Speaker 2: a large scale and it is and then you have

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Speaker 2: that moment and maybe if it's a Coachella or stagecoach,

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Speaker 2: it might be eighty thousand, one hundred thousand people. And

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Speaker 2: then you think about the amplification that comes out of it. Right,

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Speaker 2: there's industry going in. There's the tickets and the merch

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Speaker 2: and getting there and enjoying and everything you're going to

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Speaker 2: do while you're down at Coachella. But then there's also

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Speaker 2: buying fast fashion on social media on Instagram, what's my

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Speaker 2: outfit that I'm going to be. But you have all

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Speaker 2: this going on, it's industry happening, and then you have

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Speaker 2: the amification of content coming out. So it may be

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Speaker 2: two weekends or four days, but it is a lot

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Speaker 2: going in and a lot of industries coming together, a

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Speaker 2: lot of money being made. It's an economy around Coachella.

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Speaker 2: But the fascinating thing is this is narrow casting. You're

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Speaker 2: going to see more and more of these, we'll call

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Speaker 2: it narrow casting of events experiences that are going to

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Speaker 2: attract tons of people that are going to be able

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Speaker 2: to amplify out but you're really zeroing in on an audience.

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Speaker 2: It's really as a marketers, it's a dream, right, you

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Speaker 2: can be focused. You don't have to market to everyone.

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Speaker 2: So I think that's something that is going to be

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Speaker 2: hugely opportunistic for entertainment companies and.

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Speaker 1: Brands and like and sounds like an area where you'll

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Speaker 1: be looking for expertise that you can bring in.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's interesting.

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Speaker 1: Long on that. From your initial round with investors and

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Speaker 1: now ongoing obviously as you've grown, what kind of things

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Speaker 1: are they focused on that have helped you guide the

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Speaker 1: building of ACC If.

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Speaker 2: You're with the board and you're whether you're starting out

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Speaker 2: or whether you're already on a board or a public board,

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Speaker 2: you're focused incessantly on creating enterprise value. How do we

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Speaker 2: bring more value to the business. And you can do

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Speaker 2: it through means of driving revenue and high profitability, but

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Speaker 2: there's also things that you can do that can make

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Speaker 2: you differentiate in the market or make you more resilient.

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Speaker 2: For us, obviously, we've got to be focused on you

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Speaker 2: for me, great work with great clients, right, that starts

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Speaker 2: right there. We're in the service business. If we don't

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Speaker 2: do great work, we're not going to retain or we're

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Speaker 2: not going to attract great client. That's the work product.

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Speaker 1: One unhappy client bad mouthing. You can do more damage

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Speaker 1: in an afternoon.

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Speaker 2: An unhappy client is not good because work can spread,

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Speaker 2: so happy or great work, great clients. Building a great

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Speaker 2: company with I would say in our group, as we

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Speaker 2: build this community, and we always say we're doing company,

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Speaker 2: not a holding company. We need to have values. That

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Speaker 2: doesn't be the same values of each agency we bring in,

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Speaker 2: but it needs there need to be shared values. There

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Speaker 2: needs to be linkage, like we need to be able

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Speaker 2: to connect on our mission, on our purpose, on the values.

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Speaker 2: We can't all be the same, it's going to defeat

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Speaker 2: the purpose. We're a community. We need to be diversified

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Speaker 2: in our thinking, in our workflow, and the type of

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Speaker 2: people we are. But we need some linkage. So we've

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Speaker 2: got to make a healthy environment with our culture.

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Speaker 1: Are there things that have come on the radar that

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Speaker 1: you didn't even contemplate needing in twenty eighteen in terms

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Speaker 1: of assets or skill sets that you need to bring on.

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Speaker 2: I do think that the qualifications of the leaders and

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Speaker 2: the workforce is definitely different today than when I envisioned

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Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen. I am looking at the resiliency of

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Speaker 2: the skill. In other words, is the skill today going

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Speaker 2: to be something that's going to be needed tomorrow or

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Speaker 2: is the skill today adaptable and will have meaning and

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Speaker 2: value down the road. And I've thought even more so now.

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Speaker 2: Before COVID, I thought that that was something important to contemplate,

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Speaker 2: but that it's really important. I was purposely staying away

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Speaker 2: from PR when I launched, so that was the one

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Speaker 2: thing I did not want to do first, and it

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Speaker 2: was really fun to get to that place where it

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Speaker 2: was like, oh wow, I can be in business with DKC.

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Speaker 2: These guys have been competitors a little different than us,

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Speaker 2: but outstanding thought leaders, great practice areas a deep bench

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Speaker 2: and really well known and respected, especially out in New York.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned you've done some studies of jen Alpha. Give

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Speaker 1: us some takeaways in terms of reaching this audience that

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Speaker 1: I think many in entertainment are very concerned are moving

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Speaker 1: away from anything like long form long form being a

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Speaker 1: twenty one minute comedy or a forty four minute drama.

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Speaker 1: What is making this generation tick and how are they

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Speaker 1: interacting differently with entertainment than even their older gen Z

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Speaker 1: sisters and brothers and cousins.

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Speaker 2: It's interesting gen Z has a self awareness about maybe

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Speaker 2: putting the phone down. There's just like a self awareness,

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Speaker 2: you know, a gen Z. I've been in classrooms and

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Speaker 2: spoken to students and they would say, we think we're

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Speaker 2: we're a special generation, and they'll say it, and then

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Speaker 2: they'll also at the same time kind of laugh at it,

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Speaker 2: but they'll say it and believe it. Jen Alpha, it's

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Speaker 2: a little It is a little scary out there, Jen Alpha.

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Speaker 2: Is a little challenging because you're talking about a society

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Speaker 2: now where at this young age and stage, these kids

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Speaker 2: are getting in their hands and then their brains are

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Speaker 2: getting answers to everything. Everything is unlocked and they don't

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Speaker 2: have to go far with it because they're holding it

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Speaker 2: in their palm of their head. And the mix of

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Speaker 2: entertainment in ten fifteen years is going to be different.

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Speaker 2: I think film will survive. I think as streaming as

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Speaker 2: we know it survives, but I think we're going to

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Speaker 2: see a lot of new iterations or versions of these things.

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Speaker 2: Maybe the theatrical experience will be there, but who is

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Speaker 2: starring and creating in the length of time. I think

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Speaker 2: it's really going to be very different.

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Speaker 1: Michael. Before you go, I want to ask you what

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Speaker 1: led you into entertainment, What led you onto the path

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Speaker 1: to where you are now?

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Speaker 2: As a young kid. Once I got over the feeling

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Speaker 2: as a twelve year old that I wasn't going to

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Speaker 2: be playing professional baseball, I moved my attention towards media

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Speaker 2: and broadcasts, and I thought, Okay, maybe there was an

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Speaker 2: opportunity to be a broadcaster. And I was really excited

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Speaker 2: about if I couldn't be on the playing field, that

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Speaker 2: maybe I could be calling the action from the sides,

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Speaker 2: and evolved into me going to college and focusing in

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Speaker 2: on storytelling and the art and the work of a

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Speaker 2: public relations firm or communications firm, and seeing that advertising

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Speaker 2: was a huge deal. They did a lot of different things.

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Speaker 2: And then I got a couple breaks and I found

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Speaker 2: myself the younge executive of Rogers Cowen at twenty two

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Speaker 2: years old, and being at Rogers and Kowen and being

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Speaker 2: exposed to Hollywood, and then I started to look at

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Speaker 2: business models and behaviors and I felt like there was

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Speaker 2: an opportunity to really try and capture the power of

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Speaker 2: entertainment with brands both needing each other.

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Speaker 1: Well, Michael, thank you so much, thanks for listening. Be

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Speaker 1: sure to leave us a review at Apple Podcasts or

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Speaker 1: Amazon Music. We love to hear from listeners. Please go

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Speaker 1: to Variety dot com and sign up for the free

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Speaker 1: week Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune in

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Speaker 1: next week for another episode of Strictly Business