SHAREHOLDER UPDATE — May 9, 2024
Reggie James gives the opening keynote on the 2nd day of The Emerging Growth Conference in Miami, May 9, 2024.
EmergingGrowth.com is a leading independent small-cap media portal and celebrated its 70th Emerging Growth Conference on May 8 & 9, 2024.
The Emerging Growth Conference identifies companies in a wide range of growth sectors, with strong management teams, innovative products & services, focused strategy, execution, and the overall potential for long-term growth.
By way of public company disclosure, participating companies are invited to attend an investor relations outreach series, and, as such, Digital Clarity was invoiced and paid in cash. This is normal practice for industry conferences.
Below is a transcript of the recording with the host Ana Berry.
A video of the event will be posted for Shareholders shortly.
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Digital Brand Media & Marketing Group, Inc. (OTC Pink: DBMM)
Keynote speaker: Reggie James, COO, Sr. VP & Exec. Director, Founder and Managing Director of Digital Clarity.
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Opening Introduction.
Done in the style and mix of Q&A + EG format. Opening by Ana.
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Ana:
Today, we have Reggie James, who is the Founder and Managing Director of Digital Clarity a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Brand Media and Marketing Group, inc. (DBMM) , a US public , holding company – where Reggie serves as Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of DBMM .
Late last year, Reggie shared some early remarks at his first Emerging Growth Conference as a framework for the holding company’s return to normal trading and normal business after a daunting list of mitigating circumstances, like a full Covid lockdown in the UK affecting both clients and the operating business itself, as well as a regulatory overhang to name a few. All external, no fault of DBMM. Given the number of moving parts. there were lots of questions from shareholders, potential investors, and other interested parties.
A lot of people wanted to understand you as the operations leader directing everything on the ground from your background, and how it has developed from the beginning of the online marketing adventure through 2 successful start-ups and their exit strategies and how that brought you to founding Digital Clarity and its acquisition by Digital Brand Media & Marketing Group, Inc a public company. That of course raised innumerable questions about the actual product offering, the market in which it operates, through the flagship brand of the operating Company, Digital Clarity. Lastly, how will Digital Clarity as the flagship organization drive the growth geographically and ultimately target acquisitions, all of which you have stressed Reggie, change the company’s ultimate size, and eligibility for NASDAQ. Reggie has emphatically stressed this is aspirational, but is the Company’s stated intent.
So, welcome Reggie , we are looking forward to hearing about the expansion on your professional background including DBMM’s acquisition of Digital Clarity and the progress on the geographic growth plans. Then Reggie will be answering some questions, so let’s get to it.
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Reggie:
Thanks, Ana. Well, as you say – the objective of this session is to reinforce and educate current and prospective shareholders as to how and why Digital Clarity is well positioned , how my experience and earlier start up learnings are building blocks to drill down into the DC product offering and operating engine. Then will answer some questions, about Digital Clarity and why DBMM could be a powerful Investment opportunity for long standing and new shareholders.
It is imperative that I convincingly convey to DBMM shareholders that the digital industry is extremely complicated and not for the feint of heart . It is also a continuing learning experience in order to provide a unique , carefully designed client by client experience to provide the differentiating competitive advantage.
DBMM is not a store front, it is a management consultancy. So it is not your typical company selling a product. It’s far more sophisticated than that. If volume was the only metric , a commoditized approach like counting clicks represented the early days but the world has changed dramatically. Some digital marketing agencies still do just that. A management consultancy such as DBMM’s operating brand, Digital Clarity, opens doors to future-facing opportunities, beyond traditional boundaries. Of course, understanding the many avenues of “how,” is the tricky part and it is what gives Digital Clarity the competitive advantage. The “how” is the differentiator and is proprietary.
The naysayers don’t understand most often have no expertise, and though everyone has an opinion, I urge you to heed caution. They simply have an agenda to depress the pps. That means shareholders as decision-makers should use only documented material and public information. Make your own decisions. I’m here to describe the journey and to provide all the rationale to Ignore opinions, often false statements.
The Over-The-Counter (OTC) market is often misunderstood. It’s not an exchange but a platform – this means where there are opportunities, equally there are challenges abound. Beware of the bad actors – the short sellers and bashers who seek to manipulate the market for short term gains. Ask yourself why? Rumors and speculation are just that – rumors without basis. Tenuous , old and superseded examples are constantly brought up by bashers, a recession period , all years old. These practices are legally frowned upon and as mentioned before, they get away with it until one day, they don’t .
DBMM Management has fine-tuned relationships , honed over previous successful ventures and solid outcomes. It has brought the Company long term investors and gotten us through the toughest challenges until we have eliminated all the hurdles and set forth a blueprint for geographic expansion, focused on the US whose economy is the best in the world. The key to optimize results is to make certain the growth is sustainable while expanding at the same time. Each new client takes a combination of resources , both investment in capital, time and the right professional team member to advise, consult and execute the unique plan for each new client. There is no template other than the process to put all the individual pieces of the whole, balance it, and then execute . But not done yet. Next you have to measure the results and adjust to maximize the ROI, quarter to quarter. The good news is doing it right starts to build a cadre of satisfied clients who look to us to help then navigate and position all of the changes in the marketplace and business environment pro-actively. Earning a seat at the table is ongoing, but a highly remunerative proposition. The skill set is valuable to the client’s bottom line as the marketing outreach pulls the whole product offering together. That is sustainability.
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Ana:
Thanks, Reggie.
One of the questions we were asked last time was to try and understand a little more about you and the company, Digital Clarity.
Could you give me some background on you and how your 2 earlier start-ups, and their disposition, which led to founding DC, and the opportunity of a public company by then being acquired by DBMM?
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Reggie:
I am a seasoned entrepreneur and businessperson. I started life working in an Advertising and Media company, Ziff Davis.
I then launched the European division of the 1st Singaporean dot com. With C-suite directors from Ericsson in Sweden. Ericsson like Cisco plumbed the internet – so 80—90% of the world’s traffic flowed through their network. I built and exited the company when it was acquired by an Asian Telecoms company.
I then joined AltaVista, where I sold marketing and Advertising solutions to brands like Dell and Hewlett Packard – as well as their agencies worldwide.
AltaVista was acquired by Yahoo and is now owned by Apollo Asset Management, a major global private equity firm.
Those skills and contacts were invaluable and expanded my already growing network and all of those experiences was before Google had launched. It also whet my appetite for public company possibilities in the future.
When Google launched in Mountain View, CA , its first office outside the US, like many companies was in London. The first employees for Google were from AltaVista (AV). Why? Because AV knew how to shape business models – many of those are common places too but started back then.
Working with agencies presented an opportunity. They struggled to manage and understand search.
Digital Clarity was born – first as an agency advisory service offered and then as a full-service digital marketing agency.
Seeing an opportunity again, with 2 engineers from AltaVista I was principal in the launch of DC Storm. This technology was built for analyzing huge data sets and managing ad campaigns on Google.
This led to my second exit with the company being acquired by a Japanese technology conglomerate Rakuten, based in Tokyo.
All good stepping stones leading to Digital Clarity which was acquired in its early days by DBMM . From regulatory hurdles to external environmental issues like Brexit and Covid—none of which were our making— it has tested our mettle and we not only survived we prevailed and it had made us stronger and honed to why we can become one of the best in the industry for our sector size. So we are well positioned to achieve success each step of the way.
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Ana:
Reggie that is quite the journey and not dissimilar to many businesses that are household names today.
Can you give us an overview of Digital Clarity and why you are focusing on the B2B Market as the nexus for your growth initiative?
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Reggie – Gives presentation –
- The B2B Marketing Challenge
- The Market
- Our Process
- Overview of Service
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Reggie Adds: This will be the first of a new series of presentations and podcasts.
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Ana: – thanks, Reggie. That is a compelling proposition in a complex market.
We had several questions as to the learnings from the formidable challenges, particularly those brought about when the acquisition of DC was about to lead a growth initiative, but met with a series of mitigating circumstances. My experience is other companies would have thrown in the towel and walked away. You guys strategized a way to win instead. Tell us about how that happened.
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Reggie:
Ana – The future is bright and DBMM has earned it, and will be led by DC as our operating brand and the flagship. I am proud to be part of that solution. DBMM has met every mitigating circumstance and prevailed every time because of its tenacity, and strategy and because we earned the respect of each of the regulator ‘s due diligence of the Company and its Management. The Company got kudos and that kind of acknowledgment is hard to come by. We got it from every single one. That is what experience and success in blue chip public companies allows . Linda and I bring all the requisite entrepreneurial and public company leadership together.
Despite the hurdles we’ve faced, DBMM/Digital Clarity stands tall as a testament to its resilience. Every challenge has been met with determination and innovation, a path that we have always said would be step-by-step. We’ve weathered storms before, and we’ll continue to do so with resolve. Also, we are adamant that we know what we are doing.
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Ana:
Again, it seems your tenacity and professionalism have been key during those tough times. Where is the future for DBMM? What is the next stage on this incredible journey?
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Reggie:
The next step for DBMM is to Uplist to the QB platform and drill down to make certain we leverage and go up from there. The world is one big digital landscape and we intend to attract new shareholders who understand the industry.
Our path forward is clear – to Uplist to OTCQB and seize the opportunities that await. Many brokers won’t allow trading unless a company is on the OTCQB, so there are manipulators who continue to try to prevent DBMM from meeting the criteria required .The OTC is replete with bad actors. We kick them to the curb, in a word. We may have taken longer, but we have the support of the decision makers and we will get there. We are in a world dominated by the digital landscape, so without a doubt, we are poised to attract new shareholders who understand the industry’s potential. The future is bright, and we’re ready to harness its power.
The Principals of the Company. Linda and I have the relationships, the contacts , the access , the complementing skill sets and the vision. Our long term investors support us because we have all of the above, and we have been told that we have grit. We are going to develop the Company and position it to continue to increase its options going forward.
At the heart of DBMM and Digital Clarity lies a network of relationships built on trust and integrity. These connections, forged over time, have led to long-term investors and a future pipeline of new clients. Together, we are stronger, in our pursuit of growth ,shareholder value and opportunities.
In summary and most importantly, Linda and I have access and consequential relationships. We are a team. This is why we have Long Term Investors and new clients in the pipeline.
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Ana:
100 % Reggie – successful business is all about relationships. You said right at the top, that your market is complex and any organization looking to retain DC takes time and investment. How might you continue to educate and inform current and new shareholders?
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Reggie:
Indeed Ana, we have been updating shareholders with regular company updates.
Over the next few weeks, I will be launching a podcast. The podcast will be there to also update, inform, and educate the market as well as be a tool for business development. I will have in-depth conversations with guests, partners, and industry leaders – as well as fireside chats with veterans in the business. We have begun to identify various external situations to augment our value offering and will be adding more. That approach is the most cost-effective for all parties. Whether it is organization change experts, representation in Southern California, AI in process and others TBD. The power of a management consultancy which can provide advisory expertise is already being well received because it is pro-active and anticipatory. Clients find that kind of support reassuring and it manifests into the ROI metric.
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Ana:
Reggie – Before we conclude, is there anything you would like to round off with?
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Reggie:
Ana, our sophisticated products have a competitive advantage that sets us apart from others. Offering the full panoply of professional marketing expertise is an immediate step ahead. With a deep understanding of the market landscape, we are primed for growth and success. We do not see ourselves as a short-term investment. Growing the Company , we expect, will allow for shareholder gain to balance position or situational events, not to trade on every tick or force short sales. That is our position and the Company will provide those opportunities.
The initiatives thus far have just scratched the surface in a word, lots more to come, so we hope to broaden our shareholder base in the public market. Ideally those who understand the digital marketplace—the online world which every company needs to grow its market share, is complicated and evolving. If there is not an interest in learning about it, DBMM will not be a comfortable place. DBMM and its supporters have been growing since it returned to normal trading and normal business and the challenges met. Our tenacity was rewarded.
It’s now time to keep faith in our vision and our capabilities. Forget the noise and chaos, and be part of our success story. Trust in the information provided by the company itself, or in public information . Ignore the noise as this too will pass. The naysayers and manipulators , so prevalent in the OTC platform, can lie to each other. They are only there until they are not.
The way forward is a bright future. Join us on the journey.
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Ana:
Reggie thanks so much. Look forward to our next chat to update us on progress next month. In the interim, read our Updates on DBMM’s website, www.dbmmgroup.com/news.
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Thanks for the opportunity to chat. Appreciate everyone who has participated.
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Shareholder Update
DBMM Management
Linda Perry and Reggie James
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Safe Harbor Statement
The foregoing contains certain predictive statements that relate to future events or future business and financial performance. Such statements can only be predictions, and the actual events or results may differ from those discussed due to, among other things, those risks described in DBMM’s reports filed with the SEC. Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. This document is published solely for information purposes and is not to be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any state. Past performance does not guarantee future performance. Additional information is available upon request.