Navigating the New Age of Marketing with Ryan Bitzer

Justin Levinson (00:10)

Hey everybody, welcome to the Agency Side podcast. I'm your host, Justin Levinson. And today I'm joined by Ryan Bitzer, CEO of Digital Media Management. Ryan has spent 20 years, nearly 20 years, helping brands across entertainment, sports, gaming, and tech break through the noise and connect with audiences in meaningful ways. Ryan, it is so great to have you here today.

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Ryan Bitzer (00:31)

Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm excited to chat.

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Justin Levinson (00:33)

Yeah, so the first thing I always like to get into is the origin story. How did you get into this world?

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Ryan Bitzer (00:40)

No, it was kind of an accident. always like to, the fun fact about me is I majored in Russian, which did not come into play at all for this. But while I was in college, I actually was working at a winery that was in the area. And this was 2008. I started helping them on social, which was basically just Facebook at that point.

just because I had been familiar with it already, started running really small local little ads, just playing around with things that gave me the tiniest little budget. And from there, I ended up getting an internship after college while I was kind of looking for the real path. And it was in social doing, and I think social in like 2010 was doing message board strikes. It was doing a little bit of really Facebook and I think Twitter at that point.

But other than that, it was doing it for some CPG brands and some other, what I would call like, like products like Nivea and Aqua4 and stuff like that. So it was all over talking to mommy bloggers and really got to sort of dip my toe in the space, which was fun. And I ended up really loving it. So it really started there. And then I'd always been like super sort of, I'd call like digital native at that point. And then from there, it was an opportunity that came from the agency to work at ⁓ NBC.

And so that brought me out to the West coast and working in that space, ⁓ the studio a lot. So I got to really see how entertainment worked and, but from the inside out, it was kind of this unique agency experience because it was sitting on site working with the marketing team directly. So I think that's always such an invaluable perspective to get as an agency is to see the other side. get such a, you get a little bit of empathy for what they're dealing with, but also some context to help you make recommendations that feel really smart and.

⁓ know what's going to sort of speak to the marketing team there and have impact. So from there, really snowballed, I did a little bit of in-house work at stars and then came back to DMM where I've been for a little over nine years now and has been a really exciting, great place to work. It was actually full circle because the MBC work that I had been doing with the old agency ended up moving to DMM and that's how that all started. So the connection was there and ended up at DMM and started with the MBC.

work and we're still working with them today, which is really great. They're amazing partners.

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Justin Levinson (02:57)

That's great. Cool story. And maybe for folks who just aren't familiar with DMM, you can just kind of describe what you guys do in the marketplace. And I'd be interested to know any unique differentiators that you may have.

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Ryan Bitzer (03:10)

Yeah, EMM or digital media management are a, we like to say full service social agency. So we try to be as 360 as possible, meaning we think about it as an ecosystem, owned channels. The social media management as in the traditional sense of running a brand channel or a show channel or a film channel is sort of the start, but then it's how do we.

sort of work with or activate the other parts of the ecosystem, which is influencers and creators, and fandom accounts. The agency actually got its start back in 2010, really being one of the first, if not the first ⁓ agency to help ⁓ talent, mainly actors navigate the digital space back then. And that was again, before Instagram, but when they were sort of saying you have an agent, a publicist and a manager, but you don't really have

someone helping you navigate the digital space and, should you have an online presence? And that's a scary thing for a lot of people. So it was really about being their partner and sort of finding their way through that. And so talent's really been the foundation of the agency as a whole. We continue to actually work with a roster of talent clients, as well as the brand partnership side. So I think that's always been, I think a big differentiator for us is.

How do we activate talent in a really authentic way, a way that feels impactful for not only the campaign, the film, the brand, the show, but also for them so that everyone's getting value. It's kind of helping elevate everyone. It's an investment from the studio and the network in the talent and vice versa. So we see a huge impact. They also have huge, amazing audiences that are sort of unique from the shows, but overlap. So it's how do you create content with them in a way that complements what's going on on the other channels?

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Justin Levinson (04:58)

Yeah, that's really cool. I'd be interested learn a little bit about what your, kind of your journey in climbing, sort of climbing up the ranks at DMM. Obviously you're kind of like running strategy to now running a whole agency. Interested to hear how that journey went and if there are some big differences in your role now than there was previously.

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Ryan Bitzer (05:18)

Yeah, it's, ⁓ it's been a cool journey and not one I really expected when we started. ⁓ again, I like started just to go and oversee and build a team that work with the NBC group, which felt so familiar and, and fun for me. And I think over time, I ended up at DMM at kind of a, I'd say a growth point for them and inflection point, so to speak of growth where the success with those.

initial clients in film and TV ended up growing into and expanding with the sort of expansion of streaming and all of these other sort of forms of entertainment at that point. So I was just really excited to also be a part of those. And with that came growth and new client opportunities and new experiences. And I think one of the things I've always really loved about the company and I hope I still carry through it today is kind of an entrepreneurial spirit. It's a company that has always rewarded people that

have an idea and want to go forward with it. There's not a lot of red tape to go and launch something new. I always talk about actually a former team member who was really into podcasting. This was eight years ago and came forward with, want to start a division that's for podcasting, not only to run, but start recording podcasts. And then he came with a plan and the leadership at the time was like, let's do it.

And it wasn't this big rigmarole. It wasn't a lot of like, let's litigate all the consequences. It was, let's go see how it goes. And he built that team and we started recording podcasts for clients and all of that. And I've always felt like that's the example of, think if you want to, you can take it there. So I think I got to have that opportunity to with like, well, the client wants to launch this activation. We don't really do that. Well, let's figure it out. Let's go do something like that. And we'll.

We have a lot of experts here and really talented people. so it's kind of like, how do we recalibrate the alchemy of those people and make something different from this time around? Which is sort of what happened with me. So as it grew, I grew with it. And then eventually the company got to a point where I think the founders were sort of moving in, I think their own direction. were acquired a couple of years ago and they sort of helped.

I guess like appoint me into the position and it's been really rewarding. It's cool to be able to sort of get the other side of the whole thing and, feel accountable for leading the team forward. Now I will say in credit to them for really, I think we've set up a really great agency and it's we've had so many experiences to get us to the point now that like, felt like I got to take on something that I already feel like fully realized and kind of carry it forward, but it came with the like all the experience that led up to it. So I also felt like.

I really understand this group already. wasn't sort of like coming in from outside and going, okay, let me see how this works and let me find the holes. I'm like, okay, no, have make it this way. And so now it's like, okay, how do we keep improving it now that I have some of that authority in it?

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Justin Levinson (08:07)

Yeah. Do you think there's some, I mean, obviously you've had a lot of success moving up the ranks in your career. Do you think there's anything in particular about your work ethic or your character or anything that you can point to that has sort of helped your success?

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Ryan Bitzer (08:23)

⁓ I jokingly say I'm toxically optimistic. I always am trying to find the like, there's an opportunity here and we'll figure it out. Maybe it's naive sometimes, but I think going in with that attitude or saying like, this is a new way we can tackle this and it'll work out at the end. ⁓ has worked out, I guess, so to speak.

I guess it makes me sort of excited for those opportunities. think it's also with social in general, you have to be that way. changes every time you think you've like landed on that. this is the way it works. They change the algorithm or there's a new platform or something. So you're kind of like aligned with having to be used to going and evolving all the time. And I think anyone that works at an agency also likes evolution. I think it's the ability or opportunity to work on new projects constantly that keeps those people stimulated versus maybe working on a single brand for a really long time.

Yeah.

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Justin Levinson (09:15)

⁓ What's your favorite part of the game? Do you have a certain part of your day to day that you enjoy the most? Thanks for tuning in folks. This episode is brought to you by Coming Up Creative, a relationship first.

Boutique Creative Recruitment Agency. We disrupt the creative ecosystem by running sophisticated multi-channel campaigns with custom video and voice outreach that actually gets responses. We actively market the agencies and brands we represent to help them stand out to today's industry's top talent, all backed by real human connection and AI-powered targeting. If you're ready for a modern recruitment approach, visit www.comingupllc.com and get started today.

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Ryan Bitzer (09:56)

Oh, I think I went going from like what I would call like the social management social strategy side to this has been cool in that I don't know why I got blurry. Why I, I think now I get to work more in depth with the other teams that I was sort of collaborating with, but didn't really have any insight into. our influencer team, our creative team.

I was always working alongside of the talent team too. And now I get to really be a part of them and kind of go, how does this work? And I think learning all that has been really fun and seeing the sort of context for which we make decisions. And then also feeling like I can work with those department leaders to go, okay, well, what does today mean for how you use an influencer today? Or we call it creator now different from five years ago or 10 years ago when we started this department.

that entrepreneurial spirit sort of comes back in that sense where we're kind of like, okay, we need to evolve again or let's build a new service within this service so that there's an extra solution to offer. I think an example was on the influencer side, it was always like paid campaigns and you work with a, you work with a set of influencers and they go post about you. And now it's like, how do we pay them to make content for the brands we work with? How do we work with fans that aren't necessarily

have huge followings, at scale we can activate a lot of them through incentives or offering them access or information or even connection to the brand that like activates them. That's a whole, that layer of fandom is so hard to wrangle and that challenge has been fun to sort of figure out how to apply.

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Justin Levinson (11:30)

Yeah. And how do you collaborate as a team typically when you're dealing with all these different teams? it remote or in person or what do you find success with?

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Ryan Bitzer (11:39)

Yeah, I mean, we moved to fully remote in 2020 and never really turned back, which has been amazing. And also talent brings challenges. We're, we're almost 175 people. to bring everyone together in a digital form is hard, especially when you're collaborating. But I think at the same time, we've been able to find amazing talent in places that I think we normally wouldn't in, if you were just hiring in LA.

I mean, we've been able to go more international in that sense. So I think it's broadened our perspectives. It's gotten, we've gotten some really cool new ideas brought to the table because there are just new and fresh faces from outside LA. And we try, I think as much as possible to really like the leaders of those departments really are talking every day. We get to work with so on so many campaigns that are cross-functional that they, think everyone kind of has a shorthand now in terms of we know, and I think they all know how each other's work better than before because they're.

constantly incorporating like, the influencer team, if they're making content for a brand channel, they have to work with our creative team. needs to be creative direction built into that. And how does the strategy encompass that? But also think about how we're, how the talent are talking or the talent and the influencers collaborating. So yeah, that shorthand has sort of evolved over time, I'd say.

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Justin Levinson (12:55)

Yeah, I really, I, I like the, the fully remote model. think that's a, advantage in, the hiring world. ⁓ and as you said, you can, you have access to people all over the potential in the world, I guess. But yeah, I know post COVID, you know, lot of entertainment, agencies sort of like, you know, before, or when COVID happened, they were like, Hey, you can go anywhere and work. And then it was like, now you guys got to actually come back. And there are people who moved out to Austin, Texas or moved to whatever, you know, maybe have a cheaper, ⁓ you know, living.

And we're working remotely from LA and then they got that call back. And it was like, Hey, things are back. You're coming back in. Um, and that really shook up a lot of things. And so it's kind of nice that you guys have that remote environment and to make it work with 175 people. That's, that's pretty incredible.

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Ryan Bitzer (13:38)

Yeah, it's cool. I think it's as we've been, we have quite a big group of people now internationally that we're collaborating with every day and just knowing that they're sort of like, we're spaced out over all the time zones. So you get to kind of cover all that ground rather than everyone's like, we turn on and shut off at LA time. It's like, we're kind of always, someone's always going and cooking on something.

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Justin Levinson (14:00)

Yeah,

I was actually going to ask you, speaking of just international, you guys recently, you did the, think I saw a post, um, where you're working, uh, NBC sports on, on Olympic coverage. And, I put that as a point I would want to double click on. Maybe you can tell me what I'm kind of pivoting here a little bit in the conversation, but I was kind of curious, what, what is that kind of like behind the scenes? And I guess, how do you deal with strategy in a, in a global sense like that?

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Ryan Bitzer (14:30)

Yeah, I mean, MBC sports is like such an incredible well-oiled machine. They really understand how to like connect with an audience. So we really try to layer in and be those extra hands and kind of the, I would call them boots on the ground. So we had, we didn't go internationally for that. We did have people though embedded at the studio in Connecticut with them and it was very around the clock. So we were working with our team in terms of.

watching and being like, this is popping right now. How do we jump in on this in real time? So much of it is about, yeah, connecting to what our audience, the audiences online are like, rallying around. I know there was the baby with the broom at one point for the Olympics that everyone was, and they saw that I think very early and were like, okay, what do we do with this? How do we take it further? So a lot of it's about being that sort of like ear to the ground in real time so that we can like, those real time moments end up being what really takes off for everyone.

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Justin Levinson (15:21)

Yeah, that was really cool. Curious, you you kind of discussed how you started this with Facebook and ads. Are you actually from Virginia? Did I notice? that where you are from? Cool. So you made the move to Los Angeles. That's cool. Obviously things have changed a lot and I know our listeners are always interested in how technology and AI have kind of moved in. And kind of just curious what you've seen as a...

You know, what the difference has been since those small paid media campaigns to now with technology and what some of the differences that you're seeing.

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Ryan Bitzer (15:58)

Yeah. I mean, a lot of what we do lives in the organic space. Something as AI has gotten layered into like the algorithms now, I think we've started to pivot to be a little bit more audience-based. think thinking like paid, even though we're not necessarily putting money behind a post. The way the algorithms go now, they're feeding to an audience that it makes sense to. It's not just to your followers. There's a consumption based.

setting to how that stuff's getting fed. we can, it's sort of expanded the opportunity to go, okay, well, a brand account can speak to a bunch of different audiences at the same time and make different content that reaches that group of people. So is it tying a creator to be in that video that appeals to an audience that might be unexpected? Is it creating sort of just a new content format that feels maybe not non-traditional, but sort of still carries a message that you want? I think turning our creative in that vein and thinking that way has been

It's been cool. think it used to be very limiting to be like, well, our followers only like us because of this show, so we need to talk more about it. And it's like, it's not really how it works anymore. So I think that it's, it's, it's given us more freedom, I'd say over time to really think broadly about how you can make a brand come to life online, which is a fun challenge, I think, and is more dynamic than it used to be.

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Justin Levinson (17:16)

Yeah. Are there any tools that you guys are finding that works well, even just for like collaboration or, mean, yeah. In any sort of form, like any sort of software or things that you guys like.

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Ryan Bitzer (17:26)

Hmm. I mean, the, the doll answer is we use Slack. Yeah. It's like, are we sharing? It's like channels that are just like, just set up for sharing memes. Yeah. And then once that are more like sort of for alerts. So for like, there's a news thing. The company's sort of been enabled to share across each other to be like, Hey, we're. We we're experiencing this because of the news. Is anyone else? Do we have a recommendation we want to build as a company? So that has been the biggest one I'd say. Yeah.

and getting in the room together digitally at least.

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Justin Levinson (17:57)

Yeah, there's no boring answer. mean, if you got to get information to each other quickly, sounds like Slack is doing a good service to you guys. Any big wins that you want to share? Any things, success stories that viewers might be interested in? that seems relevant?

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Ryan Bitzer (18:15)

Yeah

Yeah, I it was funny. The Olympics was part of a, I'd call like a huge month for the NBC universe in general. was the Superbowl, the Olympics, NBA was happening and a bunch of new shows and programming. So I said to the team and the company, cause we, we do a lot of, we try to do a lot of like celebrating these wins and stuff in Slack together and said like,

I don't know if any other agency right now has been as culturally impactful or as like in, into culture right now, as we are right in February with the amount of ways that we were impacting that. So that felt really cool in general. It's, the sort of like culmination of all the pieces that feel like bigger. you go, I think I like to remind the team, especially because we get to work out with so many cool brands and so like films and these, again, what gets bigger than the Superbowl. To say.

Yeah, we're, you're having a huge impact on, I think what entertains people. And I think, especially if you think about the sort of like more negative things that are happening in the world, you get to be a part of the parts that are bringing people joy. And I think that's a really fun part of what makes social rewarding. If you're saying like, we're not, we're not doctors or we're not curing cancer, but we are bringing other people entertainment and joy in a way that I think is valuable.

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Justin Levinson (19:42)

We all need entertainment and joy. do. I do agree with that. So what you're doing is definitely adding value in terms of just, outside of the work world, but what do you enjoy doing just as a human being?

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Ryan Bitzer (19:54)

Yeah, ironically, I like to be very analog, I always say. I like buy magazines, like physical magazines. I have like a lot of subscriptions because I'm just like, I want to on the weekends, like sit outside and read a tangible magazine or not scroll or definitely a lot of like taking advantage of the parks, like Griffith Park and all of that around LA, get outside, touch grass, so to speak. That's what I do a lot of. And I think it's also.

a bit grounding in terms of when you think about social, it's very, um, uh, it can be very much an echo chamber as they say, and your, my algorithm is, is its own bubble and seeing a magazine that, and, and, or consuming something from a newspaper, like all of a sudden can be kind of inspiration that then goes, oh, I'm, there's another way to think about this. And so I always find it like,

It's that version of that to me, the shower thoughts, so to speak, where you're like, there's another way to get inspired here. And it feels like you kind of can unplug a little bit from it because. ⁓

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Justin Levinson (20:59)

Yeah,

that's very interesting that you, you know, you're, you're so tangible. That's a, that's cool. Have you ever been to, um, Cadman drive before there's a really nice hike for in the Griffith area. It's not like, it's just like a little bit less populated and you can, it's my favorite hiking spot. You go to Cadman drive and it just takes you right up that area, but it's like peaceful. And I mean, it's just one of my favorites. you have a, if I ever think of it.

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Ryan Bitzer (21:25)

it up I feel like I'm constantly on Strava trying to find a new path that I haven't been on and yeah I'm gonna look for that one.

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Justin Levinson (21:32)

Yeah,

go to Cadman and like it kind of like it's kind like a dead end and, um, and yeah, and there's just an access right, right there. I was just there a couple of weeks ago. I had a good time. got, I got chased by a couple of coyotes, but outside of that, it was, it was pretty fun. Yeah.

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Ryan Bitzer (21:47)

adventure.

Sometimes I kind of do take you take for granted. Like I went up and I was did a run to the observatory and you see it from afar a lot but you get there and you're like, I never I never come up here. And so I don't know being on foot like gives you a new appreciation for LA that I don't think a lot of people do because you're in your car all the time.

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Justin Levinson (22:03)

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I was, I was just up there recently and I took some of my kids to the, uh, at some beautiful museum and there's just so much to do there. It's just a really cool, you get to look at the Hollywood sign. It's, um, it never gets old, especially around sunset. I love doing it when the sun's going down and it's just like, yeah, it's just a really magical experience.

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Ryan Bitzer (22:25)

I saw they did the Hail Mary premiere at the observatory last night, I think. Really? Yeah, it feels like a no-brainer in retrospect, but you're like, oh cool. Yeah. I thought it an amazing experience.

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Justin Levinson (22:36)

Yeah, it's wonderful. Cool, man. Well, I'm so stoked that you were able to come on here and share your story and offer some value here to the community. Yeah, just appreciate your time today.

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Ryan Bitzer (22:47)

Yeah, thanks for having me. This was great. Anytime.

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Justin Levinson (22:50)

Awesome Ryan, yeah, we'll have to do a part two and catch up on what's next year. So thanks for doing this.

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Ryan Bitzer (22:56)

I love it. Yeah. All right. I'll talk to you later. Bye.

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Justin Levinson (22:58)

All right, man. Be well.