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VVK Podcast With Craig Fahle
The Detroit based VVK PR+Creative team takes a deep dive into the important and interesting issues. Hosted by longtime radio and podcast host Craig Fahle, each episode will feature conversations with thought leaders from Detroit, the State of Michigan, and beyond.
VVK Podcast With Craig Fahle
PR Firms Unite: Inside VVK's Strategic Acquisition
When a three-year-old Detroit PR agency acquires a 40-year-old New Jersey firm's PR division, something remarkable is happening in the communications landscape. This candid conversation with VVK's leadership team reveals the strategic thinking behind their recent acquisition of Stern Strategy Group's PR division and explores why executive visibility has become essential for organizations seeking to stand out.
CEO Peter Van Dyke shares how client requests for national visibility prompted the search for expanded capabilities, leading to this perfect-fit acquisition that brings five seasoned PR professionals to the team. Newly appointed Senior VP of National PR Ned Ward, who brings nearly two decades of executive visibility experience, explains how putting executives forward gives brands personality and builds crucial trust in crowded markets.
The discussion dives deep into changing PR trends, with both leaders noting how executive visibility and thought leadership have emerged as key growth areas. They share practical insights about overcoming executive reluctance to step into the spotlight, leveraging social media platforms strategically, and adapting to rapid industry evolution.
What's particularly fascinating is VVK's tremendous growth journey—expanding from 10 to 30 team members in just three years while maintaining a remarkable company culture. Van Dyke's pride in building not just a bigger agency, but a better one with minimal toxicity and genuine camaraderie, offers a refreshing perspective on scaling a communications business.
For communications professionals at any career stage, their advice is invaluable: say yes to opportunities until you need to say no, become comfortable with discomfort, and never underestimate the power of picking up the phone in our increasingly digital world. Whether you're leading an organization seeking greater visibility or building your communications career, this episode delivers insights that will reshape your approach.
Ready to explore how executive visibility could transform your organization's presence? Visit vbkagency.com to learn how their expanded team can elevate your brand on both regional and national stages.
Welcome to the VVK podcast. I'm Craig Fahle. Now normally I would be hosting this program, but today I'm going to be turning things over to my friend, jamie K Walters, our Chief Marketing Officer at VVK and, of course, one of the founding partners of this company, because we have a special conversation on tap for the program today. Now for those unfamiliar, vvk is a three-year-old communications agency based in Detroit that's been making waves in the PR landscape. Now, recently, we reached an exciting milestone We've acquired the New Jersey-based Stern Strategy Group PR division. Now, not only does this bring a wealth of experience to VVK, but we're also thrilled to welcome five amazing new team members to expanding the capabilities of our team. So we're really excited to tell you more about it. Jamie K Walters is going to have that interview coming up next here on the VVK podcast.
Jamie Kaye Walters:All right, All right. So, as Craig noted, we are going to be recording this right in the middle of our all-staff meeting with everyone from VVK, so if you hear people talking or cheering, that's our team right there. Joining me is Ned Ward, our new Senior Vice President of National PR, who brings two decades of industry experience to this conversation. Also with us is one of my partners and our CEO, Peter Van Dyke, who has been instrumental in driving VVK's vision forward. Together we'll be discussing the acquisition, the changing landscape of PR and why executive visibility and personal branding for C-suite leaders is more important than ever. All right, Peter and Ned. Thank you and welcome to the pod, as people say.
Peter Van Dyke :Thank you, jamie, thank you.
Jamie Kaye Walters:All right, Peter, let's start with you. What led VVK's decision to acquire Stern Strategy Group's PR division?
Peter Van Dyke :Sure, it's a couple of things. I think the PR team specifically was being faced with some demand from our clients around national visibility. We do a great job in Michigan with many clients, particularly in the philanthropy and nonprofit community, around elevating their executives as thought leaders across the state. And some of those thought leaders said, okay, we're pretty well known in Michigan, how do we build more of a national presence? And while we've done that for several clients, I would say we didn't have specific expertise in that area. So it was something I was tracking, but I thought you know, let's figure that out as we continue to grow.
Peter Van Dyke :And then a broker brought the opportunity with Stern Strategy Group to our agency and when I looked at it I almost deleted the email because I thought I'm not going to acquire anything. And then I said I'll take a look. It looks kind of interesting. I think the subject line said national executive visibility firms. So I started looking at the details. I thought, wow, this is really completely aligned with where VVK is today from an industry and expertise standpoint, but also is a huge growth opportunity for us to not only serve our current clients but build into new clients. And so it was kind of like a real direct match and then the conversations that proceeded after that. The cultural fit and the expertise fit became even more clear.
Jamie Kaye Walters:Well, I remember when you sent it to myself and to Peter, I was like this seems like it totally aligns. But I was like what's the chance? The first one that we'd look at seems like such a great fit. Ned, you worked with Stern Strategy Group PR for 20 years.
Ned Ward:Almost 20 years.
Jamie Kaye Walters:From your perspective, what unique attributes does that team bring to VVK?
Ned Ward:Well, a few things. Essentially, the people on the team. Some of us worked together for almost 20 years, so we know each other's tendencies. We basically know what we can rely on each other for and lean on each other for in terms of you know our shared expertise. You know some of the people on the team are excellent writers and messaging strategists. Others are great at conference work or media relations or what have you, or social media and just being able to really have a reliable group of people you're working with to help your clients.
Jamie Kaye Walters:So what have you noticed in the first month of working with the VVK team?
Ned Ward:Well, it was exactly what I expected, I should say, because when we were talking to other agencies it's funny that you said you know VVK this was the first one you looked at as an acquisition partner. We talked to several possibilities and one of the first things I gathered from meeting with Peter is that he's very involved in the agency and I had some conversations where I thought to myself well, I may never see this person again if this acquisition goes through. So it was very personal, you know, and I think in the time that we've been working with VVK just in this first, you know, five weeks or whatever it's been every day just seems to reinforce having made a good decision. You know people are very welcoming, you know. Essentially, you know, it really just made us feel at ease.
Jamie Kaye Walters:Peter, what kind of response did you get from people once the announcement was made?
Peter Van Dyke :We have the great benefit of having a pretty close-knit family around the BBK team, whether it is friends of the company, clients, current team members, family, and so our network really champions this company. It's since we started the company three years ago, just the constant congratulatory notes we get, the constant encouragement. Of course, just in the growth of our business has really relied on word of mouth from current clients and even some past clients. So we got just that. When we announced the acquisition, I think people were so in some ways shocked to see that we were in a position, as a three-year-old company, to grow at this scale and also just super excited for the company. Super excited for the company.
Peter Van Dyke :Again, many of the people that are surrounding this agency are personal friends of yours or mine and have known the history of the company, and so it was definitely overwhelming. Especially I joke around we held the acquisition announcement for a day because Cranes had to hold it for a day and so I'd cleared my calendar on Monday for this. I hadn't cleared my calendar on Tuesday. So it was a little overwhelming because I was trying to be gracious and answer texts and emails and Facebook messages and LinkedIn messages while keeping the day going. But it was really. It was wonderful. It was really nice to see so many people rally around us and support us.
Jamie Kaye Walters:What about from your side?
Ned Ward:I mean I heard from people I hadn't heard from for many years, which was pretty amazing. In fact, my LinkedIn posts about the acquisition got more engagement than anything I've ever posted. So people, obviously we did that right and people were excited about it. But you know just some of the comments I got from, you know, current clients. You know it was really encouraging because you know, as part of the acquisition, obviously the clients we've worked with were part of it and we had that sort of window of time where, you never know, Some of them could say, well, this isn't really for me, you know it's been a good run or whatever.
Ned Ward:But you know, happy to say we went whatever. It is 10 for 10, 100% in terms of you know, the clients coming over too. So I've got to give them a lot of, you know, gratitude toward them for that. But a lot of the reactions I got from people that I'd worked with very closely for years, it was extremely positive. But at the same time we at Stern the company was in business for 40 years, so I think a lot of people in that orbit were shocked that this would happen. But it's a natural thing when your company's founded in 1985. You know people at some point in their lives are going to want to simplify you know their business situations and whatnot but definitely some interesting notes and some friends there uh, giving me a hard time about the video well I've never seen you in this context before you know speaking of the video, there was, like there was a soundbite I wanted to put in there.
Jamie Kaye Walters:That was about you saying that like, uh, what did you say about 1985?
Ned Ward:oh so yeah, the company I worked for before stern was founded in 1985 and I happen to know that the biggest hit that year was uh, take on me by. Aha, which yeah, which um at. I'm a Devils fan, being from New Jersey, and at every Devils game the whole crowd sings that chorus line, which most people can't hit. That note, let's hear it. No way I'll speak it.
Jamie Kaye Walters:He's like take on me.
Peter Van Dyke :What was also cut is when I said we learned about Ned that he loves Duran Duran and then I said because Ned's hungry like a wolf and I said, if that makes it into the final cut of that video, Further the next video, but not the big acquisition.
Jamie Kaye Walters:I like fun. Sometimes Peter cuts my fun. Yes, let's talk about the industry in general. I feel like professional services industries are changing. Communication is changing, so what do you see as the biggest trends that are emerging in our industry, and what do agencies like us have to be prepared for?
Peter Van Dyke :I don't mind jumping in, just coming off the heels of the Public Relations Society of America's Counselors Academy Conference in Charleston America's Counselors Academy Conference in Charleston and Ray Day, who is the board chair for PRSA National and a colleague and a friend of the firm, also the vice chair of Stagwell, for context, for those who are listening at home. He did a talk about the future of the industry and then we did a fireside chat together and it was really interesting to hear where he sees growth areas. One was in more consumer-based communications and consumer clients, but another one was in corporate and within the corporate environment. He saw a lot of work, not surprisingly in crisis coming in the future, but also in content marketing and thought leadership, and I would say you know VVK has grown quickly but it's been pretty intentional. I mean even the coming together of the portfolios of Velocity Cow, the predecessor video company, my historic portfolio of work and then Jamie's expertise in marketing. That was very intentional, knowing that you know all of our communications video has to be central to everything we do.
Peter Van Dyke :So when I saw you, I saw a global expert in communications, leading one of the largest communications firms in the world, talking about content marketing and executive visibility as the key growth areas. It was very validating for VVK and for the work that we do and for what we provide to our clients, because we're pitching that to our clients a lot. Sometimes our clients are kind of focused on their in-market media relations. It's very traditional, to a sense, and we are continuing to bring content, marketing concepts to them as well as executive visibility. So it was pretty validating for where we're going as an agency and certainly validating for for, obviously, the most recent acquisition.
Jamie Kaye Walters:So talk a little bit. So executive visibility talk about what that is and your guys' experience with it and why it's such an important thing right now in communications.
Ned Ward:Yeah, I'll tell like that through an example. Basically, traditionally, a lot of the kinds of clients we've worked with over the years are professional services and consulting firms, and even some clients we work with more recently. I mean, when we started working with them, they maybe had a few competitors in their market, and the barrier to entry to starting a consulting firm is so low that there's always new entrants coming in, so differentiation gets very, very hard. I mean, one kind of metaphor we'll draw when we're talking to potential clients in that space is, if you took the largest consulting companies in the world global management consulting firms like Bain or McKinsey 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 through lots of different kinds of markets. I mean it doesn't necessarily have to be consulting.
Ned Ward:So the idea of putting your executives forward to give your organization, your brand, a personality, a voice to build trust, I mean that is so crucial, I think. At the same time, though, there are a lot of situations where and we were talking about one of these earlier in a case study that executives don't want to be put forward. They want everything to be about the brand and they recognize. Well, I'm the CEO now, but I may not be the CEO in five, 10 years, but this brand is going to continue. So there's that tension there.
Ned Ward:But I think one thing I would say to encourage more executives to be willing to put themselves forward is just look what your peers are doing, even if you're the CFO. I mean, we've done marketing work and PR work for CFOs of large companies, so think about that. If I work in PR, I work for CFOs of large companies. So think about that. If the CFO in your core cohort in your industry is out there speaking getting media interviews and you're not, I think in some ways not only is that not supportive of the brand potentially, but it's not really supportive of your own platform and your own career. So that's one thing we'll do to try to reduce the barrier to investing in executive visibility. Just look around at the other people in your industry. Are they out there? And a lot of times the answer is yes or what have you.
Jamie Kaye Walters:Yeah, I can imagine that there's probably some CEOs who think about personal branding like social media influencers and they don't it just feels like an uncomfortable space for them, but it seems like you're able to convince them differently.
Ned Ward:Yeah, and I think, I think that those barriers are dropping as well. I mean, I was telling a group of colleagues here that I was meeting with earlier that in 2006, social media was obviously pretty new when I was working and we had a client, an author client, who said to us, hired us to do some book publicity and said what about social media? What are you doing for social media? And one of my colleagues at the time said it's not going to be around a year. And we actually ended up losing that client as a result of that kind of, like, you know, myopic thinking or whatever, but it was just a little short-sighted. But you know, you fast forward to now and we sometimes will get hired just to do LinkedIn for a C-suite, you know.
Ned Ward:And an interesting anecdote about that is, uh, one of the reasons why this one large um recycling and I probably shouldn't say who it is, but anyways, um, anyways, large, large national company, they do recycling and waste, um, you know, reduction, whatever you want to call it, anywho, they, um, they recognize that, um, their company, their employees, thousands of which just weren't even opening the company's emails anymore. They were like, okay, this is not only a way for us to leverage the expertise in our C-suite but actually also reach our distributed workforce, and I thought that was interesting but we hadn't thought about that.
Jamie Kaye Walters:It's really hard to, you know, have a crystal ball. We've talked about like, as different social media platforms come onto the scene, whether or not it makes sense to sort of invest in them. I think about I come from a television background and it was really interesting that Fox, o&os would always they invested in social media right from the get-go, and all the other TV stations were like, eh, this is like it's not going to be around that same sort of thing. And it's amazing because, even though 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 to keep up. Peter, so we just our third year anniversary is like right about now. So what do you think about? Is the agency what you thought it was going to be at this time?
Peter Van Dyke :Oh, not at all. It's way bigger and way better than I think. When we started and we anticipated Again, I think we knew that bringing video and PR together would be a really strong value proposition and I've never not grown a company, so I knew we would grow. I just don't think we would we ever anticipated growing to this size, this quickly. So I don't think we also thought we'd be in a position to make an acquisition, a position to start a marketing department in the way that we have pretty quickly within the first quarter of this year. So it's far beyond my expectations and I think what I didn't say is beyond my expectations or beyond what I anticipated. But I think what I'm most proud of is how we've been able to grow from basically 10, give or take on day one to 30, three years later and maintain what I believe is a remarkable culture as a company.
Peter Van Dyke :You know there's very little, if any, toxicity within the company. We are pretty collaborative and supportive. We all laugh a lot. We seem to enjoy hanging out together.
Peter Van Dyke :I said in previous companies I try to like get a happy hour with the team and it was kind of like a forced engagement and people just kind of sat there.
Peter Van Dyke :Now it's like can you all please go home and can I pay for your Uber, Because I don't think you're in a position to drive, and you know that's an anecdotal happy hour type of story, but I think what that shows is that we actually genuinely like each other.
Peter Van Dyke :We enjoy spending time together, we laugh together, and that's really hard to create in any company in many ways, but certainly hard to create in a company that grows from 10 to 30 and that quickly, and I think we've also, because you know I'm the fun governor If I take the fun out of it. We've also shockingly been able to create processes and structures that can help us be successful within a fast-growing agency. I've heard people say I can't believe you have all this together, being so young as a company, and there's companies that are 40 years old that still don't have all this together. It's a testament, I think, certainly to the vision of the three partners and the hardware we've put into it, but it's way more of a testament to our team and their willingness to trust us and also basically readapt every three to six months to something new, and this year is certainly a really great example.
Ned Ward:Well, I can add to that too, because we were one of those 40-year-old companies that didn't do video, for example, and you know, when I was thinking about, you know, exploring the acquisition process, it was like how can we grow if we don't have something like that, you know, or one of those types of services? It would be just very, very difficult.
Jamie Kaye Walters: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, do you have any sort of advice that you give to anyone coming into the communications field?
Peter Van Dyke :Oh, the field in general. I do so. I'm pretty involved at Wayne State University, my alma mater, and speak to students a lot there. The number one piece of advice I give is basically say yes to everything until you're in a position where you need to say no. I think it's really easy to shy away from an opportunity one because you don't feel like dedicating the time, or you're nervous, you don't want to walk into a room of people you don't know, or you feel like you can't afford it, or you feel like there's a number of different barriers to saying yes, and especially when you're young in your career in the communications field, even when you're transitioning I think even at that point from another field to communications, just say yes to everything. Every breakfast, every lunch, a client offers us tickets all the time, whether it is a suite at the DCFC or it's Pancakes and Politics with Michigan Chronicle and say yeah, so you know.
Peter Van Dyke :When I was at the suite at DCFC, a couple of team members joined. The lieutenant governor came to our suite and we chatted for a long time. Our attorney was who invited us to the suite and we chatted with him for a long time. The president of the football club came to the suite. We chatted with him for a long time, and so you know, if you said yeah, you could have hung out with the lieutenant governor of the state of Michigan. Possibly our future governor is running, who knows? That's a pretty unique experience that was opened up to this entire agency, no matter what level you are in the company, and so I think that's a really important part of when you're getting into this field specifically is to say yes to all opportunities.
Jamie Kaye Walters:Ned, do you have any great advice? Words of wisdom.
Ned Ward:I think a couple things come to mind. You have to be uncomfortable. We have to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Basically, you're going to find yourself in difficult situations where maybe a client's just having client's just having a bad day and they tell you your work isn't good enough, but you put your heart and soul into that work product and you know that's something maybe you never heard before, because perhaps you were really successful all through academics, you know. But the other thing too is it's a communications-based business and sometimes you just have to pick up the phone and talk to somebody.
Ned Ward:You know you can't just interface and interact through mediums.
Jamie Kaye Walters:basically, so the Stern team is now VVK national team. Can you talk about what that means?
Ned Ward:Well, I mean, that's basically what I saw in the opportunity that the way Peter articulated it was, we do a lot of work in our region, in our city, in our state was we do a lot of work in our region, in our city, in our state, and some of our clients are asking us essentially to establish them more nationally?
Ned Ward:And that's the only kind of work we were doing at Stern was basically, our clients never asked us hey, could you help get us more coverage in this region or could you help us get known in this particular market? It was always more like we want to be known on a national level. So I think you know, being able to bring something that's additive but at the same time, the kind of work that VVK has been doing is not what we were doing at all in the past and you know we were kind of ignoring our backyard. And I'm looking for, you know, insight and opportunity to say, okay, how can I become better known, you know, in our region or whatever, because there's so much business opportunity? You know where I'm based in New Jersey. It's unbelievable, and this whole pharmaceutical industry is based there, for example.
Jamie Kaye Walters:I like that.
Peter Van Dyke :Am I supposed to answer the same question? Sure, you turn to me. I think you know that perfectly articulated what it means to be the national team. I think what the Stern team now the VVK national team has brought is also a different way of looking at processes that we were already doing. They've got an involved national team on a couple of messaging processes for some clients. In many ways it's because that messaging we know has the future potential to be part of the national effort that we're going to do for those clients and so let's start rooted in in the messaging. But we've done great messaging for clients for for three years at least, or beyond that with other companies, and the Stern team brought just a different process and I think it's been really enlightening for our, for our team and certainly for our clients. Yeah, I would, just a different process and I think it's been really enlightening for our team and certainly for our clients.
Ned Ward:Yeah, I would just add to that. I mean, the process that Peter's talking about was born out of the idea that a lot of clients were saying to us you know, our messaging is not working anymore. It's really difficult to differentiate in this market. So, you know, we just thought about that problem, we worked through some experiments and just came up with a different messaging strategy. You know, strategy approach. That is really interesting.
Jamie Kaye Walters:What do you think clients will notice or what do you think the benefit is to clients of this coming together?
Peter Van Dyke :I think they will notice, obviously, a more comprehensive scale of work that we 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 VVK National. Again, it's much due to the patience and, I think, the adaptability of the VVK National team kind of jumping in on some clients from day one, but they've done a great job of learning the client really quickly, asking the right questions before you get to the client meeting. And so again, there's two or three clients that were traditionally Michigan clients that the national team is supporting with some work and it's gone from my perspective at least so far completely seamlessly. And so it's almost what they won't notice. That's more important than what they will, because what they will notice is it's on our website. They'll notice there's a national team that does executive visibility. It's the things that I don't want them to notice that I'm actually more proud of, like we're fragmented, we're not using the same processes or systems.
Ned Ward:Yeah, I mean actually going back to even that early question about somebody entering this profession is just be adaptable. I've never forgotten that, essentially, and either of the people that came with me.
Jamie Kaye Walters:Well to all the people that came with Ned. As I said, we're recording this at our all-staff meeting, so it's the first time we've all been together in the same room and it's been very exciting, so welcome. On top of that, VVK also hired four new people for the Michigan team. We hired a new associate vice president of PR, a digital media manager, a senior graphic designer and a PR coordinator. So it's a big time here at VVK. But I want to thank Peter and Ned. Thank you so much for your insights and for being a guest on the podcast of your company.
Ned Ward:Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.
Craig Fahle:Thanks everyone for checking out the VVK podcast this month. We certainly do appreciate it. Now to our listeners. If today's discussion sparked your curiosity or you'd like to learn more about how VVK can help your organization with executive visibility and national PR, be sure to visit us at VVK, and we'd also love to keep the conversation going, so connect with us on LinkedIn, follow us on Twitter or just drop us a line. Thanks to Jamie K Walters for handling the interview today. She did a fantastic job. Thanks for tuning in to today's VVK podcast. We'll be back again next month, thank you.
