Van Dyke’s new PR, creative agency overcomes bumpy start

BY JAY DAVIS

Detroit-based public relations and creative rm VVK PR & Creative overcame some early hurdles to end with a solid rst year in business.

e company launched April 25, 2022, following co-founder Peter Van Dyke’s March 2022 departure from Van Dyke Horn Public Relations LLC, where he had been CEO for six years and a partner for a decade prior to that.

A lawsuit led in May 2022 by executives of Van Dyke Horn accused VVK PR & Creative principals Jamie Kaye Walters, Michael Sherman and Van Dyke of stealing trade secrets and clients after Van Dyke was unable to buy out partner Marilyn Horn. A settlement was reached earlier this year.

“ at issue has been settled,” Van Dyke said.

Horn and Georgella Muirhead rebranded Van Dyke Horn as 98Forward. O cials there did not respond to requests for comment.

VVK PR & Creative, operating out of Detroit event and co-working space Chroma, said it surpassed revenue projections and expanded its team and client roster. e principals of the company expect that growth to continue.

“You set high expectations, but there’s also probably a little bit of trepidation, too, with any kind of startup,” Van Dyke said. “We’ve been super fortunate. It’s really the trust of the team and trust our clients have placed in the three of us. e first year went wildly beyond our expectations.” e agency o ers services in public relations, video production, digital media, media relations, public a airs, issues and crisis management, stakeholder and community relations, event production, and organizational and executive positioning. It plans to add to its services in the next year and expand into other markets in Michigan and the U.S., Van Dyke said. e co-founders tout the diversity of the company as a strength. Walters said diversity of thought is what sets VVK PR & Creative apart from other agencies in the same space.

VVK in its first year posted $2.4 million in revenue, about $400,000 more than it projected, and is on track to hit $2.8 million in revenue this year, according to Van Dyke. The company, which started with a staff of seven, is now up to close to 20 employees. Among the staff VVK added over the last year are Laura L’Esperance, senior vice president; Stephen Jones, senior account executive; Evan Webb, account executive and digital specialist; PR coordinators Ciara White and Zakiyyah Wade, and video editor Dyan Bailey.

VVK has also grown its list of clients from eight to more than 40, including the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, Invest Detroit and Somerset Collection. VVK aims to broaden its client base beyond nonpro ts, insurance companies, real estate, hospitality, corporate and legal clients.

“ ere’s diversity of thought in this partnership and there’s diversity of thought with the new people we’ve brought in, people we brought over from Velocity Cow, and people (Van Dyke) has worked with in the past,” Walters said. “In starting a new company, there’s a lot of guring things out, planning things out, things that just come up. I think that’s been really helpful on the internal operations side with how we run and work as a team.” e group came together with years of experience in their respective elds. Van Dyke is a 20-year PR veteran. Walters spent more than 18 years with WDIV-TV as a senior programming producer, and creative services and programming director. Sherman before starting Velocity Cow worked as a freelance video editor and spent two years with WDIVTV as a freelance editor and motion graphics designer.

VVK PR & Creative includes Velocity Cow LLC, the video production company Walters and Sherman started in 2008. Sherman, who lives in South Carolina but comes to Detroit when the need arises, said the move made sense but there were some concerns to be addressed.

“We had some clients who had some questions about the move. ey wanted to know if they’d be getting the same level of service we had provided,” Sherman said. “ ere was some reassurance. Jamie and Peter have known each other for years. A lot of my clients were in Detroit and the metro area and they know Peter. We’d been working with a lot of our clients for six or seven years, so it was natural for them to want to know that things weren’t going to change.” e latter part of the year will be big for VVK, Walters said. e company has plans to move into a new, larger undisclosed Detroit space. Van Dyke said the change will help VVK PR & Creative better serve its customers and its sta . ere’s so many more states out there we can go after,” Walters said. “We have to make sure we’re sta ed in the right way and make sure our sta looks like the community we serve, and to be a little more targeted as far as going after the certain types of clients we want.” e needs-based scholarship is open to students studying video production, graphic design, digital design and public relations. e company made a three-year commitment of $7,500, giving one $2,500 award each year.

“ e goal is to expand services.

VVK is also using its success to help shape the next generation of PR pros and creatives.

Van Dyke, a graduate of Wayne State University, and his partners have developed the VVK PR & Creative Student Scholarship at WSU.

“We want this scholarship to be reflective of this company,” Van Dyke said. “I think it reflects the integrated nature of our company and it allows us to give back to students who have a need and a barrier to graduating in multiple disciplines.

“Usually in the rst year, all the money goes back into the business. A lot of money has gone into the business. But we got into a position where we could start to give back in a way that was really meaningful and longer lasting.”

Contact: jason.davis@crain.com (313) 446-1612; @JayDavis_1981