About the Podcast

The Stevens Group has been presenting the PR Masters Series Podcast for almost two years now.  This series is part of the ongoing partnership between The Stevens Group and CommPRO to bring to PR, digital/interactive and marketing communications agencies the wisdom of those who have reached the top of the PR profession.  Today’s special guest is Michael Nyman, Founder & CEO, Acceleration Community of Companies. 

About Our Guest

Michael Nyman has made a career by being on the leading edge of marketing trends. With this latest venture, Acceleration Community of Companies (ACC), he has created another new go to market strategy.  After establishing a new marketing approach in the early 90s to merge the world of brands and entertainment, Nyman, the former longtime PMK*BNC Co-Chairman & CEO, pivoted his firm in 2010 to focus on harnessing expertise with popular culture and entertainment as a way for their brand clients to differentiate themselves and better connect with their consumers. 

With ACC, Nyman is developing a new go-to market business approach with a series of strategic and complementary acquisitions, including MKG, a leading creative agency specializing in brand experiences, Pink Sparrow, a design and fabrication shop specializing in experiential environments and Stripe Theory, a data and analytics agency.  Additionally, ACC has a Brand Advisory unit, a consultancy aimed at providing clients a central point for integration and customization. 

Acceleration is creating a unique community of specialized firms helping clients move quickly and efficiently with their branding, marketing and media decisions and action.  ACC is built for clients looking for an alternative marketing solution partner not interested in or reliant on the old legacy marketing models.  Current ACC clients include a range of Fortune 500 as well as DTC brands, from Amazon, Facebook, ABinBev, Canopy Growth, Fashion Nova and Google to Target, Pepsi, and T-Mobile.

As Chairman and CEO of PMK●BNC, Nyman was the architect behind one of the world’s most influential communications and marketing firms and led the historic merger of his previous firm, Bragman Nyman Cafarelli (BNC), with the renowned entertainment publicity powerhouse PMK, in the fall of 2009.   

Nyman, a 30-year veteran, started his own firm, Bragman Nyman Cafarelli (along with founder Howard Bragman and co-founder Brad Cafarelli) in 1991, before selling it to Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG:NYSE) in the fall of 2000, and leading the firm through its transition to a public company and subsequent expansion. Along the way Nyman founded a Licensing company for IPG, as well as served as Vice-Chairman of IPG Sports & Entertainment (IPSEG).

In the fall of 2009, Nyman was asked to lead the merger combining the talent powerhouse of PMK with BNC’s established leadership in not only communications, but also marketing services and expertise in merging brands with entertainment.  Within five years PMK*BNC had doubled its revenue and built up to 300 employees representing nearly 1,000 entertainment and Fortune 500 clients and projects across their Los Angeles, New York and London offices.  

Michael Nyman is a leading authority with keen cultural insights in bridging the worlds of entertainment and consumer brand marketing and has achieved numerous accolades.  Nyman was named to The Holmes Report’s inaugural Innovator 25 list in 2013 for strategically positioning PMK●BNC as the experts on pop culture.

Under his leadership, PMK*BNC was named both PR and Marketing Agency of the Year by the 2016 American Business Awards, ranked #1 on Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2016 PR firms List, ranked #17 on Advertising Age’s 2016 Largest PR firms in the U.S., and ranked #29 on PRWeek’s 2016 Global Agency Report, among many other prestigious recognitions, rankings and awards.   From 21013-2018 PMK*BNC garnered nearly 100 awards, including the Cannes Lions, The Clios, Holmes Report, PRSA, Digiday, The Effies, Ad Weed, MarCom, PR News and 4A’s, among others.

Nyman is a recognized leader and speaker in marketing, communications and entertainment, having been profiled in multiple media trades and spoken at a number of conferences and summits, ranging from Ad Week and Ad Age, to PR Week, The Holmes Report, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and NATPE, among others. 

For more than two decades of work with BNC and PMK*BNC, Nyman architected and contributed to numerous award-winning campaigns and/or counseled clients, including Samsung, Pepsi, American Express, Avon and BeatsbyDre to Product(Red), Jordan Brand (Nike), The Television Academy (Emmys), Shonda Rhimes, JC Penny, The Academy of Country Music (ACM’s), Warner Bros, Digital Networks Group and Condé Nast.

Nyman has served on multiple boards over the past two decades. Currently he serves on the Board of Councilors for USC’s Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism, the Board of Governors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and most recently served as Chairman of the California Film Commission.  Nyman received the 2019 Alumni Merit Award from the University of Southern California Alumni Association and has been a member of YPO for 22 years. Nyman is an alumni of Harvard Business School, having earned earned a degree in 2020 from the HBS Executive Education Presidents’ Program in Leadership (PPL).

Nyman, a graduate of USC (B.A.) and his wife Liz, reside in Los Angeles with two grown children; Kaitlyn, a graduate of Tulane University and Matthew, a senior at USC.