Ryan Schinman
Appearances
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I think part of my secret sauce is I kind of stay within my lane. My team laughs. I call myself a one-hit wonder because I just do the same thing over and over and over again in different iterations. But if you capture the CEO, the CMO, the head of corporate communications ear, and do a great job for them and not try to do 50 things for them. Be a specialist. This is what I do.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I am not trying to replace this company, this company, this company, this company. This is what I do. And I am the best at this. And I think that's why corporations really like us is because we're not trying to be something we're not. We're not trying to capture every dollar and squeeze every dollar out of them. And we're saying, look, use me for what we're best in class at.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And by the way, you need a production company? I'm going to introduce you to one. You know, you want a great director? I'm going to introduce you to one. You want a great PR company? I work with 30 of them. Let me introduce you to the people who've done great by my brands. And I think... It's that circle that also us in this community all know each other, respect each other.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I know the best five to 10 PR agencies that if one of my clients says, I need a good, great entertainment PR agency, here you go. I don't ask for money. I don't ask for commission. What I ask the PR agencies for is, hey, if any of those people ever want talent, think of us. They want music. They want a booking. They want a DJ to perform. They want someone to give a speech. That's what we do.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And I think by staying in your lane, you're going to be really successful in trying to be everything to everybody.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I think without naming the video game companies we work with, because we work with all different ones, social games, hardcore games, this and that, I think what... musical talent especially, because we also put athletes and Hollywood stars and influencers in games. But I think when it really comes to music, it's explaining to them that this is a way to hit a different demo,
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Stayed a long time, started a lot of other businesses, digital marketing businesses, a nightlife business, an event marketing businesses, which have all been sold. And today I'm the CEO of Mayflower Entertainment, which is essentially Platinum Rye 4.0, where we buy hundreds of millions of dollars worth of talent, music, celebrity, and music licensing on behalf of brands.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
get out there in a big way, it's more effective than radio. I mean, look, I mean, the days, why do you think all these labels are getting rid of most of their A&R radio department that back in the day you'd go and bring the record to a DJ and be like, hey, play this for me. That's the way to get exposure. I think at the end of the day...
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
you put a record in a hip game, or you put an artist in a hip game, it can make them relevant to a totally different demo. There was a rapper, I wouldn't even call it a rapper, a very big hip hop rapper that we used last year, in a game, and we did a concert with them in the game, and we helped age down the people who listened. My 12-year-old had never heard of this person before.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
All of a sudden, they did a concert in the game, and my 12-year-old's like singing and knowing every record the guy ever did and following them. And you would kind of have that holy cow moment that that piece of content and that record playing
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And that visual to a 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 year old, 17, 18 year old to 21 year old who haven't heard of you or heard of you but aren't that familiar with your music, you're opening back up to a different audience. And then you see their Spotify playlists start to get more. You see their social start to get more. And I think with a lot of the companies we work with, they get pitched every day now.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I think there's not a major label or maybe independent label that doesn't have somebody that's looking into the video game market or gaming market to how do we get our artists played? And I think it becomes a very, very important part of the label or the record or the artist marketing plan is back in the day, if you could land that perfect commercial for exposure, now it's more about gaming.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
If you can land that game, because it also, a lot of it can live forever in that game. Back in the day, Guitar Hero, which we weren't involved in, that Activision had, it was the same thing.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
People wanted to be on Guitar Hero because that music was going to be played, you were interacting with the game, and it was pretty amazing that they were one of the first to really meld music and gaming together. Rock Band kind of was an iteration of that. But now I don't care what gaming company you are. Think about the youth when they're playing the games. Music is a very natural component.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Brands and snacks, yeah, you're eating them and you're doing them, but being locked in and listening and watching and experiencing with your friends and peers, playing while listening is a very emotional moment. And who you want to play as is just as important. What kind of outfits you want to wear, you know? What is your costume? Who do you want to be like? And it's pretty amazing. And also...
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I think a lot of the video game companies are very quick to react to trends, as we were talking a little bit about before, how maybe advertisers are a little slower. I think the ability to, here's a TikTok kind of sound or moment, whether it's a real song or not, how do we get that in game? And how do we get it in game quickly and capitalize on that moment? or a dance, or a saying.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And again, Dan, we represent the brands, the ad agencies, the corporations, not the talent.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And I think these gaming companies are very hip to the fact that, hey, we're not going to pay top dollar because no different than the radio stations back in the day didn't pay you you know, a lot of money to play their songs on the radio. We're now a voice to the next generation and the future generations. So you want to mess with us. We're going to figure this out together.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
What's important to you? What's important to us? Let's put a deal together.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Well, I think it's a great question. I think that some brands do it to check the box. We have to do it. It's something that kind of, if you look back, I think Tom's was one of the first to really be out there and have a one-for-one, buy a pair of shoes, or going to be giving a pair of shoes. And Tom was kind of...
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
the leader in that now people had done it before and given a foundations and cereals or soda or cars, but he was the first to really bring to the forefront, um, doing great projects by doing good and having a great product and, and, and, and doing good is really important. Um, but I think, Today's culture and today's consumer knows if it's a check the box or if it's something that makes sense.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
What I would also say is when a brand says to me, I'd like so-and-so to perform. and it's a cancer awareness charity, why won't they do it for free? Or I know they make a million dollars, but for a hundred grand, that's a lot of money for our charity. I don't understand. What do they think? They're too good for us?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I mean, it wasn't fun, especially because I wasn't managing Tom Brady or Rihanna. So at the end of the day, when you have third, fourth, and fifth round draft choices or a second round basketball player that you're begging to get a local car deal with or doing just a trading car deal at the time, much better being on the branding side. But look, a lot of babysitting too, Dan.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And what I would say, but take a step back, that that person might not have a connection to cancer awareness. That person might have something to do with Amphar or that person may have something to do with Alzheimer's or what's important to them or music cares.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
So sometimes a brand aligning with a charity that wants to align with talent, you have to take a step back and say, what's important to that talent? What are the talent's causes? And why don't we support the talent's causes that are important to them? And they might support your cause. But again, the days of...
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I'm a million dollars, you should do this for me for a hundred grand because I'm a good cause, are out the window because there are hundreds of charities which are needed in this country. I'm a big believer in it. But I think you also have to listen and understand who makes sense and who has a personal connection to that charity or to that foundation.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
that wholly wants to be a part of it and feels it. Because again, you know, a lot of people who speak more than I do, authenticity, authenticity, authenticity. So you got to have that connection. You got to be able to tell that story and why that talent is going to be there. And you want the talent to want to lean in and not just even take a small pay cut from a million to 500 grand.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Find the connection.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
To my children or children in general?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
To my children. Oh, very, very, very good question. I thought the children. The children of the world? I believe the children of the people. I think it's something I've thought about, right? I'm 53 years old. I'm not a 23 year old or 40, 33 or 43 year old entrepreneur. So I've, I've had a lot of time to think about it. And I think my answer changes here and there.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And if we're gonna talk on a percentage basis, they're gonna get a lot of it, but they're not gonna get it all at once. They're not gonna get it on their 18th or 21st birthday. But I want for my kids to wake up every day and be as passionate about what they are doing as I am for what I do.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
So if my 12 year old son decides to be a high school lacrosse coach, and that's what he's passionate about, I don't want him to ever worry about a mortgage, a car, maybe sending his kids to private school or camp. I don't want him to worry, but he's got to work. He's got to work hard and he's got to be passionate. Same thing with my two daughters. I have a 14 year old and an eight year old.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And what's nice is my 14 year old listens to my conversations. It's almost like in the movie, Sabrina, the chauffeur getting tips from, you know, from the heroes of it, from Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear. But at the end of the day, or back in the day, Humphrey Bogart, But for me, my 14-year-old listens. Her and... Her friend, Violet, want to form Gravy Entertainment.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
CMOs, CEOs, heads of corporate communications can even be sometimes more challenging than the talent themselves. Right.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Her name is Grace, and it's Violet. And they're already talking about their company at 14 years old. Wow, I love it. And she asks questions. She listens. She learns. She gives me advice on who's cool and who's not. Because, as you know, Dan, and I don't want to admit to many people that don't know me, but I'm not on social media on any form. I've never been on Facebook or MySpace or Hot or Not. No.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
All the big ones. Never been on a dating app either. But at the end of the day, the reality of it is I want my kids to work, to be driven, but to do what they love without the worry of their next paycheck is going to X, Y, and Z. So it's not an exact number, but it's a number to be comfortable but still want to work hard. And That's what's important to me.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I think, you know, now more than ever with what's going on in the world, you focus on, you know, to me, three or four things, health, family, friends, experiences. And again, I know it sounds cliche, but, you know, again, I started, I'm 19, I'm 53 now. I feel like I've never worked a day in my life. Our motto, this is not easy to do.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
If companies and agencies could get talent or music for the price that they want, for the usage that they want, with the deliverables that they want, I wouldn't have a job, right? So nothing's easy. But we solve problems with enthusiasm. That's always been my motto. Let's solve these problems with enthusiasm. Let's find a way. Let's always kind of be straightforward. Let's not go like this.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And let's do the right thing. And it's, I think probably if you said, but you didn't ask, but I'll answer anyway. What am I most proud about of Mayflower Entertainment, my current company that's in its ninth year right now, and probably most of my other companies and my partners that I've had. We have very, very, very little turnover.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
In nine years of having, almost nine years, our ninth year of having Mayflower, we fired one person. We had one person that didn't want to be in business affairs anymore and they wanted to be an account lead. We don't have account leads, so they went somewhere else. And we had one person go to a client who was servicing that client. The client loved them so much, they brought them in house.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
That's it. Nobody really leaves because...
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
again from a cliche thing you know a lot of people talk about their family as we're all it's my family it's my work family my family i think you put me aside put me in the back room and interviewed all our employees they would all say yeah we're really a family we love what we do ryan doesn't micromanage he lets us do our thing we're empowered we feel heard we feel respected and
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
It's a great question. I think here's the real reality. I think today with technology, with information, anybody can call and get in touch and figure out somebody's agent, someone's manager, someone PR agent, someone's lawyer. It's not that hard to get to the talent. The secret sauce is A, knowing the right talent and what they'll do and what they won't do for the budget.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Look, we just brought on someone new, started Tuesday. What day is today? Thursday, two days. One of his employees has been there two days. And in the interview process, they don't come to me first. I let them go for four or five other people. They interview them both ways. The potential employee interviews, my employees, they interview and it's more of kind of an interaction.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Are you the right fit to become part of this family? Because you just can't come in. And I don't want someone who's going to be here a year, two years, three years, or four years. I want someone who's going to be committed to learn and be a part of our family and not leave. You know, kind of like Hotel California. You check in, but you can never leave. But we don't want you to leave.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And I think that it's very hard. We're in a very specialized business. Very hard to train new people. Very hard to bring great people aboard. There's very few specialists that do what we do in music, sports, or Hollywood, or licensing. And when we get them, we don't want to lose them. And if you ever do want to leave, you know, we probably had over 100 people.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And in like 14 years, I can count on two hands how many people left or quit or got fired. And when you're ready to leave, one person in my sports group wanted to go to Golf Digest. I'll make the call for you. One wanted to be a yoga instructor. I don't know where that came from. Let me help you. A couple of them wanted to start their own businesses. Let me seed you.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I learned that from Julian Robertson at Tiger. If I have great people and I believe in them, and they want to go off on their own and do something tangential to my business, how can I support you? How can I back you both financially with monetary capital, but also human capital? Let me find you good employees. Let's talk. How can I help? And I think that's what I'm the most proud of.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And I look back at my career, which is very, very far from over because it's a blessing and a curse. I'm kind of never satisfied. I'm always still hungry for the next deal, the next thing. And my wife will say to me, wow, that spot of yours was amazing with Jennifer Aniston. Didn't you love it? I said, I worked on that deal three months ago. It's over. It's on TV. Great. I've done 80 deals since.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I forgot that one already, but that's terrific that you're enjoying it. And I think it's staying hungry, staying on top of things, training great people, surrounding myself with really freaking smart people. You know, it's very easy to get a 1080 on your SATs, which I get. So I make sure that everybody else is at least above that. But as you can tell, I'm very enthusiastic.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I'm still bullish about our business. I think more and more brands, no matter what sector you're in, want to use athletes, celebrities, influencers, music to sell, right? Because what am I really doing? We're helping people become aware of products and sell, right? We want consumers to buy what we're selling, using talent, music, celebrity, but it works, right? It's always worked.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
It's going to continue to work. And it's becoming more and more relevant. I don't know a new brand out there that at least doesn't want an influencer to talk and shout out and get to their audience. So I think our business has a long way to go to continue to evolve and morph and change. But I've never been more bullish on it.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Two, knowing if there's conflict. So if it's a beverage brand, Do they already have a beverage complex so you don't look like an idiot when you call and say, I'd like to have you for X, Y, and Z beverage? Knowing the price points, knowing the attributes, knowing the analytics behind it, but more importantly, it's having that leverage that I was talking about of spending and the buying power.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
So if someone's going to be a half a million dollars to do something, I better be getting it for 375 or 400 grand. If someone only wants to do two posts, I better be getting four or five. Someone wants to fly private, I sure as hell hope they're going to fly commercial for me. And that doesn't mean they're best friends with me.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
That doesn't mean they love me or we're really brilliant negotiators at Mayflower Entertainment. It's pure and simple. It's called leverage. And that's it. So we're CAA's biggest commercial buyer, WME's biggest commercial buyer, UTA, all the record labels, all the publishers' biggest buyers.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
So not only do we have that inside knowledge of inside baseball, of really what's going on, but we have the leverage and we also know what they've gotten for other endorsement deals. So I think anybody, like I said, can get to somebody. It's another thing to know their worth, know what they'll do or not do, and negotiate a great deal on behalf of the brand.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I think it's pretty interesting because back when I started, essentially 30 years ago, You'd have to win five Grammys to be relevant. You'd have to be on a TV show that lasted 10 years on CBS. You'd have to have four or five big blockbuster movies. I think the problem now for talent is we live in a world of instant celebrity, which you would know more than I do.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Someone we've never heard of today, legitimately in 30 days could have 50 million people following them on YouTube. They become hot for the moment. So what happens with that is We have, as someone who represents brands and companies, we have so many more people to choose from. It used to be very Casablanca-esque, line up the usual suspects.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Thanks, Dan. Thanks for having me. And yes, the $8.72 that you paid me to be here today is definitely worth it.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And it'd be the same 10 girls, 10 guys, 10 athletes that everyone cared about. Now, how quickly can we get on board that train that when someone has a quick hit that goes viral and all of a sudden they're number one, we can't wait six months to do a spot. We got to do something now. Both of our good friend Gary really talks about that all the time at VaynerMedia, which is, What are you doing?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
We got to pounce on this idea now. We got to pounce on the moment now. How do we create a piece of content that pairs with what's going on to stay relevant? But I think, you know, it's very hard if your talent, like I said, you know, Brad Pitt's not going anywhere, but he's really not on social media. So he's great to be the face of Brioni. Right.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
But is he great to be the face of a new drink that needs people to, you know, post constantly and be out there constantly? Right. But even if you look at what happened a year ago, two years ago, Lizzo was hot. And she kind of faded and then Ice Spice was hot. And she kind of faded and now Dochi's hot.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
That's all it took to get me on the mic. At the end of the day, though, my bio is pretty simple. I started off as a sports agent. I loved it. At 19, I was... probably the youngest guy in history to be a sports agent. I did that for a little while. Then I was the CMO of the first publicly traded sports marketing company when I turned 26.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
So very few people are Lady Gaga who, yes, she has ebbs and flows, but she's relevant for the past 15, 20 years. You know? But a lot of those people now, whether it's TV, film, sports, who have kind of ebb and flows, but kind of have been in that pop cultural zeitgeist, are starting their own brands. They want equity. They don't want even $5 million to be in a Super Bowl ad.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
An unnamed talent that I can tell you that's probably one of the biggest female pop artists in the world. One of our brands offered her $20 million to be in an ad. And you know what she said? No, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity, but no thank you. So... Whoa. It shows how much money the top AAA talent is making. And...
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
What happens is sometimes also, Dan, not to kind of throw you a curveball, but the A- and B-plus list talent sometimes think that they could also do what Kim's done with Kim's or what Rihanna's done with Fenty or what, you know, the Paul's done and KSI for Prime or Mr. Beast with Feastables. That's very difficult. That's the 1% of the 1% of the 1%.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And even that, we don't know how long those brands are going to last. So, you know, I would say the biggest faulty of a lot of this talent is when they're hot at the moment, they don't capitalize. They say, oh, I'm holding out for Chanel or I'm going to hold out for $5 million. And then a year later, they're calling back and being like, excuse me, Mayflower, can you bring us some brand deals?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And you're like, oh, I thought you were starting your own jewelry company. And now you want to do this. So... I think you got to capitalize.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I think the most famous moment was, I remember years and years ago when Jeremy Lin, there was something called Linsanity in New York when he played with the Knicks and we would bring him so many deals and he would turn down so many deals and his family who was kind of involved would be like, no, no, no, we're holding out. We're holding out. We're holding out. A year later,
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
There was no such thing as Linsanity, and he should have taken the millions and millions of dollars that were offered to him for people to capitalize at that moment. So the town and their managers and agents have to be managed right. There's nothing worse than me negotiating or someone on my team negotiating with an imaginer, agent, or lawyer. It's good to believe in your client.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
It's good to believe that they're Rihanna or Tom Brady or Messi, but not everybody is. So pounce, do the deal if it makes sense. And go on to the next.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
So I don't care if it's food, clothing, cosmetics, tech, you know, video games, we're in every sector. And I think what happens is, you know, there's two business models that we have. One is somebody says, go fetch. I want Dochi, or I want Tyla, or I want Billie Eilish.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And what I realized, what I really enjoyed was working on the brand side versus working on the talent side. Working on the talent side, you're pitching talent all the time. You're kind of selling. My vision was, how do I become a buyer? And in 98, I started a company called Platinum Rye Entertainment.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And we go fetch, we give them the analytics, we tell them what else is doing, we get a price, we kind of look at what else they've done in the marketplace, what they have coming up, what projects they have. Do they have a new record that's hitting? Are they going on tour? How can we tie into them? Will they do interviews or not? And then the second model is,
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I want a Latin comedian or I want a piece of music that sounds like beautiful day by YouTube, but isn't beautiful day. What's the modern version of beautiful day that's out there right now. And that's where our team really gets to work.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
You know, we have a sports team, a music team, a Hollywood team, international team, and all of our teams kind of sit back and say, okay, let's look at here's 20 people that fit that creative or fit that brief. here's what they're doing, here's what they have going on, here's what they're excited about.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
By the way, that person will not do Burger King because they're vegan or hey, that person loves your product because they love fries and can't wait and that's their kind of food passion. So we give them all the information, everything that's going on, provide the analytics, give our point of view, But we also like the brands to choose. We give them, it's kind of like multiple choice. Here you go.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Whatever fits the brief. What's also nice is we're not trying to step on the toes of their ad agencies or their PR agencies who are coming up with the brilliant creative that the talent needs to be in or the brilliant creative that I need to plug in a piece of music to or the amazing creative that an athlete wants to tie themselves to.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And I think what's important is we try to sit at the epicenter because when you have the ad agency and the corporate communications agency, they sometimes don't talk. You would think they would, but they don't a lot of the time. So sometimes what happens is the PR or corporate communications or digital agency is working on something. The ad agency is working on something.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And if we're at the epicenter, we can say, hey, wait, you want this person to develop content and show up at these three things as you're launching a new product. It's the same time as the ad agency is coming up with new creative. Why don't we get one talent to do both? And that way, the right marries the left.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
So what sometimes happens when we're not involved is ad agency will come up with great creative. PR agency will come up with great kind of ancillary material and content, which is sometimes even more relevant than the hero spot nowadays. But they're not talking.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
So we need to kind of be there and say, hey, guys, let's all work together and figure out to get the assets you need, get the assets you need. And here's the right person to do it and go from there.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And our entire vision was if corporations would buy talent, music, and celebrity and athletes, the way they bought media through one vertical, you get cost savings, cost avoidance, and value add. So what does that mean? Essentially, it's collective buying. Why does someone like Pepsi use OMD to buy media instead of hiring three smart people to buy their media?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Well, I think at the end of the day, I don't care if it's a CPG company like Pepsi buying Poppy last week or, you know, Hershey's buying companies or, you know, everybody's buying companies. I think, you know, P&G buys companies, Unilever buys companies, Colgate-Palmolive. I think what happens is,
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
People have bigger companies that we can talk about the media companies in a second, but even in traditional companies, they innovate, but people are risk averse there. People will get a great salary or in departments if they take risks. they're sometimes penalized for it if it doesn't work out. The entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs for a reason. And they're not afraid to take risks.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
They're not afraid to be bold. They're not afraid to try stuff and pivot and see what works. And then ultimately, you get acquired by someone who says, wow, I wish we would have thought of that, developed that, marketing that. And that's also why you hear of when, for example, I was an investor in Sir Kensington and we sold to Unilever. The brand was so great.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
It redefined kind of a premium condiment, whether it's ketchup or mustard or mayonnaise. But the minute you put it inside a bigger company, it kind of lost its shine, lost its way. And you don't hear about it anymore. And it's too bad because it was a brand that the two founders had a vision. They created ketchup in their dorm rooms. They seasoned it.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
They thought of the name and the graphics and they were scrappy and didn't have millions of dollars of marketing budgets. Then it goes inside this ecosystem and who knows? So I think the same thing happens with these media companies. I mean, look at our friends, Ryan and Chris, who four or five months ago sold to Publicis.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Could Publicis have developed 10 years ago and figured out that influencers are the wave of the future and brands interacting with their billions of dollars to spend? Sure. But Ryan and Chris did it better. They thought of it. They were bold. They got strategic investments for people like WME who put money in and believed in them.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
They worked with brands and were scrappy and got more and more and more brands. And then people realized, hey, wait a second. Creator economy really means something. And sometimes it's better to have these makeup influencers than Julia Roberts. Because Julia Roberts looks beautiful in a commercial. but she's not doing a post a week. And she's also not posting for a living.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Her career is making unbelievable movies. The creators are about creating. And that's all they want to do. And what is their unique point of view to create? Same thing with event marketing companies who can be really creative.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
When we sold to Bruin Capital and Engine Shop, we were doing unbelievable things for InBev and Budweiser and unbelievable things for Mercedes and American Family Insurance and activating at Augusta and at the US Open, doing stadium naming rights deals. And a company, Bruin, which was owned by Bruin Capital and WPP said, we want that. And my partners and I sold, but That's the secret sauce.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
OMD is buying on behalf of 40, 50, 60 companies. So when they're calling Condé Nast or Van Wagner Outdoor, they're calling NBC, they get cost savings, cost avoidance, and value added. And that was kind of the vision behind Platinum Rye, which I sold in 2004 to Omnicom. We sold the International 2007 to them.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I think at the end of the day, there's always a place for really, really good agencies that are smart, that are bold, that are hardworking. And I think what you see more and more in the marketplace is people like me who have done it multiple times because you have that entrepreneurial spirit. You can't help but want to do something else.