SSA at 25

With clients from across the international entertainment community, SSA Public Relations has spent the last 25 years building up a reputation with the top broadcast and cable networks, globally renowned production and distribution companies, home-entertainment producers and distributors and many other industries. Steve Syatt founded the company in May 1989, and today serves as CEO.

“Prior to establishing SSA, I had amassed experience in marketing, promotions and public relations working with large entertainment and media companies as well as working as a broadcast journalist for several years in my hometown of Boston,” Syatt tells World Screen Weekly. “During these years, I had the opportunity of contributing towards the launch of media companies as well as towards helping to grow businesses. The tremendous satisfaction derived from playing a role in a company’s growth led to the creation of my own agency, where I could apply a business-building as well as brand- and image-building approach to public relations, which is a hallmark of SSA.”

The media landscape has undergone many changes since the time when SSA first launched, Syatt explains. “I began at a point in time when the industry itself was evolving from a relatively small and really close-knit group of executives to the large and extraordinary industry it is today. The creative, business and technological growth of countries worldwide as exciting sources of original programming for global television, the introduction of new distribution platforms and, of course, the expansion of digital media have inspired opportunities for entertainment suppliers of all sizes and have attracted exciting talent from many diverse fields to the industry.”

From inception to where the company is today, SSA has carved out a place for itself in the burgeoning direct-to-consumer industry. “Whether working with our network clients involved in content distribution, our many kids-based clients or film and home-entertainment clients, we have introduced direct-to-consumer marketing strategies that enabled companies to generate revenues while building brands and ‘proof of performance’ in the marketplace that led to broadcast and other critical-mass deals,” Syatt says.

International television distribution has been core to SSA’s client base from the beginning, and remains a strong segment of its business today. “Being involved in a process that markets entertainment to countries throughout the world is extremely rewarding,” says Syatt.

The company also has extensive involvement with clients in the kids’ programming business. “In representing the publicity and promotions for kids’ entertainment, SSA has been instrumental in engineering campaigns that address kids where they live, play and go to school. For example, we pioneered promotions with arcade centers and were among the first to implement sponsored study guides for the classroom. SSA also four-walled movie theaters to run half-hour kids’ series and promote them locally, and in addition we instituted targeted-market local cable spot buys within kids’ and family channels for the promotion of new kids’ programming.” 

Syatt was introduced to the world of direct-response television (DRTV) in the mid-’80s, years before the formation of SSA. When the company launched, he had already gotten to know many of the major players in that business (several of whom are still SSA clients today). The direct-response TV business continued to grow, and soon TV producers realized that they were building brands that could be marketed directly to consumers. “Our agency became involved in the pioneering efforts of taking successful television shows and marketing them as home-entertainment collections, or creating deals with apparel manufacturers and numerous other categories of manufacturers to create catalogues offering a wide array of products under the series’ brand,” Syatt says. “As the Internet grew, DRTV companies we represent became powerful online marketers—and SSA was involved in numerous campaigns that transformed our entertainment clients into Internet-marketing engines. Today, the lines between television series or films and direct-to-consumer product ventures have been obliterated, as direct-response marketing plays a pivotal role in supporting VOD, PPV and over-the-top (OTT) media as well as traditional television while creating powerful revenue streams.”

David Syatt, who joined the company in 2009, is heading up the international trade media relations for SSA, representing the next generation for the agency.

Syatt adds, “These past 25 years have given us the rare privilege of working with and getting to know many of the most outstanding executives in television production and distribution, men and women who have not only built their own companies, but have had a major role in shaping our industry. I have found that strong ethics and a profound belief in their companies and programming, as well as faith and confidence in themselves, are the factors that have led to our clients’ successes.” 

He adds, “We at SSA have always been deeply appreciative of our role in sharing their achievements with the world, and look forward to carrying out this unique responsibility for the next 25 years.”