Tête-à-Tête with Dan Kahn, President and CEO of Kahn Media, Inc.: ‘We Never Stop Innovating—That’s Just Who We Are, and That’s How We Stay Ahead of Our Competition’

“Everyone at Kahn Media is a specialist and is passionate about what they do.”

Kahn Media Inc. is a California-based creative marketing and advertising agency, focused on mobility, technology, and luxury-lifestyle markets. The agency operates worldwide.

Kahn Media was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Moorpark, CA.

Interview Excerpt: Dan Kahn, President and CEO of Kahn Media, Inc.

Q. Brief us about the origin and evolution of your company.

I started Kahn Media in 2008 after I realized that traditional public relations agencies were not keeping up with the changes to the media landscape. Digital-only media outlets, social media networks, and internet forums were being ignored by these traditional agencies yet carried huge potential for brands to deliver their message directly to consumers in real-time versus the 90–120-day lead time of most print publications.

Kahn Media was one of the first agencies to offer brands the mix of traditional public relations and “new media” marketing techniques. With this, we changed the agency model to act more like an extension of a company’s in-house marketing team—working hand-in-hand with company principals as well as product development and sales teams.

As the company has continued to evolve, we have steadily added more services to increase our value to clients, including building out a full-service in-house creative team with graphic designers, videographers, and photographers on staff, as well as creating a team dedicated to designing and running paid digital marketing campaigns through the Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Amazon Merchant Services networks, among others.

Q. ‘Kahn Media is the bridge between brands and consumers.’ This sounds highly promising. How did this idea come to your mind? Was there any prior experience that led to the establishment of the company?

My prior experience at other PR agencies was the biggest driver that led to Kahn Media’s establishment. While working for another agency, I authored a white paper called “PR 2.0” that laid out how to dovetail public relations with social media marketing to connect brands with consumers and presented it to the owner of the agency. After he brushed off my ideas, I knew that I had to branch out on my own if I was ever going to be able to put in motion what I knew was the future of PR. So, I left and started Kahn Media.

Q. You operate a full-service public relations, and marketing agency focused on mobility, technology, and luxury-lifestyle markets. How uniquely do you address your customers’ pain points?

Our clients’ pain points vary from client to client, which is why being able to offer them a wide range of services is so important. Whether they need traditional public and media relations, social media strategy development and management, influencer and brand ambassador program management, content creation, or even product photography—Kahn Media is there to help and provide a turnkey solution for them.

Q. Kahn Media is the only agency in the mobility and luxury lifestyle space that handles all public relations, content marketing, video production, and digital marketing in-house. How do you manage to do that?

It’s all about having the right people. Everyone at Kahn Media is a specialist and is passionate about what they do. We also foster an environment driven by innovation and outside-the-box thinking. We encourage our employees to take the initiative to develop new techniques, best practices, and ideas for new services to offer. This is what led to the introduction of growth of our digital marketing department as well as the development of the many “influencer” relationships we’ve built over the past few years.

Q. Delineate a short overview of the services your company offer.

Public relations, social media management, social media influencer outreach, digital marketing, videography, photography, graphic design, brand development, market research, and marketing strategy development.

Q. Where do you stand as a company in a crowd of competitors? And what are you doing to stay ahead of the curve?

In our space, there is no other company like ours. We are large enough to offer the wide array of services that we do, yet we are small enough that we are incredibly agile and are ready to quickly pivot our clients’ strategies based on what is going on in the world or in their industries. Not only that, but we also pride ourselves on the very personal attention that we give to every client, as well as the relationships we have built with journalists and influencers in nearly every vertical.

Q. How do you plan to combat your competitors in the future?

We never stop innovating—that’s just who we are, and that’s how we stay ahead of our competition.

Q. Briefly walk us through your plans. Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

Over the next few years, we will continue to help our clients stay ahead of industry trends, especially a heavier focus on marketing to support direct-to-consumer sales and the expansion of our digital marketing services.

Dan Kahn: A Relentlessly Reliable Leader

Dan Kahn, Founder, serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Kahn Media Inc. He has worked in media for two decades, first in print and digital publishing and then public relations and marketing, driving MarCom strategy and execution for some of the largest automotive, consumer goods, and luxury brands globally.

After leading PR strategy for brands including Airstream and Aston Martin, he founded Kahn Media in 2008 under the premise of merging public relations tactics with cutting-edge consumer engagement through branding, social media, content, and influencer marketing. The company has grown aggressively and employs a team of publicists, social strategists, and creatives in a state-of-the-art facility.

Kahn currently serves on the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) board of directors and the Checkered Flag 200 charitable organization. In 2019, he was named the “SEMA Person of the Year,” and his agency was named one of the Top 100 Agencies in America by Adweek and the #1 PR Agency in the Business Journal region.

Mr. Kahn lives in Thousand Oaks, California, with his wife and three young children.

We’re large enough to offer the wide array of services that we do, yet we are small enough that we are incredibly agile and are ready to quickly pivot our clients’ strategies based on what is going on in the world or in their industries.