New CEO of Radical Media wants to test business models that drive equity production in work done for others

At Radical Media, the only constant is change. Originally conceived as a way for founders John Common and Frank Sharma to explore new content formats after years in the advertising business, the company is now known as a home for music documentaries, branded entertainment and long-form content. Radical Media […]

At the center of radical media production, the only constant is change.

Originally envisioned as a way for founders John Kamen and Frank Sharma to explore new content formats after years in the advertising business, the company is now known as the go-to place for music documentaries, branded entertainment and long-form content. Radical Media has touched on everything from Questlove's musical documentary "Summer of Soul" to the streaming version of "Hamilton" that made its way to Disney Plus to "It's a Gardening Show," Zach Galifinakis' unique Netflix series that's made up of 15-minute episodes. RELATED STORIES Why 'You Can See It All' Could Make Oscar History As First Documentary Best Picture Nomination Oscar Predictions: Best Director - Can Christopher Nolan Win Again With 'Odyssey'?

The founders plan to continue testing new boundaries with a change in the company's leadership ranks. Anomaly Agency founder Justin Barukas will join as CEO, while Kamen will move to executive chairman and Sharma will retain his position as president. With the move, Barocas would like to see the company increase the number of theatrical properties it brings from Broadway to screens and move toward greater ownership of the content it creates. Popular in Variety

"It's very different from what we see in the marketplace now, where we see work for hire and work," Nistbarokas said during a recent interview at Radical's offices in midtown Manhattan. The service business is changing. "The ability to commercialize it in very different ways is one of the key areas." RadicalMedia can look at models that include co-financing, retention of backend rights, development of proprietary formats, and retention of substantive rights in stage adaptations and brand projects.

Across the advertising ecosystem, ownership of certain works created for ads and other promotions has long been a sort of holy grail. Many advertising concepts become part of popular culture, inspiring everything from memes to merchandise. Agencies that once relied on a flat commission never really benefited from any collateral use of the intellectual property they contributed to its creation.

Many have tried. For example, in 2006, the agency once known as Crispin Porter + Bogoski took a minority stake in the clothing company Haggar as part of a deal with the manufacturer. But the same work continues today. Many media agencies are developing practices called "mainstream media," a term used to describe the process of buying inventory from media companies and reselling it to advertisers, rather than simply negotiating prices and placements.

RadicalMedia is testing these waters as more advertisers show a yen to create their own content. Geico is working on a holiday-themed special that is expected to use a lot of advertising from the characters it has created over the years. Sportswear brand Under Armor has launched its own in-house studio to better address its content needs as more advertisers strive to capture consumer attention across a wider range of media.

"The idea of being able to use entertainment to solve brand challenges and really commercialize our strengths is where we're going to work in the future," Barokas said. This is the destination for music storytelling, whether it's streaming theater or television, or artists who want to tell their story in a different way. Partners" with advertisers, artists and media and entertainment companies.

Kamen sees the new movements as part of the early maneuvers that gave rise to the radical in the first place. "Continuous disruption" in the media and marketing industry "has been going on forever," he says. When he and Sharma founded the company, "we were always looking for and wanted to be radical to embrace whatever changes there were going to be. We've been ahead of the curve at times," he adds.

In the previous period, Radical Media was involved with an MTV dating series, "Gamekillers", which was produced with the advertising agency BBH and sponsored by Unilever's Ax. Deodorant Some of the character types used in the show were also featured in ads for Ax. And Radical enjoyed a long working relationship with ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, which designed work for Nike that took the company beyond the typical 30-second ad.

New concepts with similar themes have emerged in the broadband age. Some advertisers can sponsor documentaries or series that sit alongside more traditional content choices on Amazon's Prime Video or NBCUniversal's Peacock. "There's no doubt that brand dollars continue to play a role, even in this world of streaming," Kamen says. Marketers must determine how to make advertising a part of the on-demand experience, but "How do you do it effectively? How do you do it tastefully? How do you do it while embracing the audience and making sure they're appreciated for bringing something?"

Executives say the current Radical team will remain in place. Chris Kim, Dave Sirolnik and Jim Bovet, who head the company's studio, entertainment and advertising divisions, respectively, are expected to continue in their roles.

In many ways, Barukas has returned rather than entered radical media. He worked alongside Radical's team while at Weeden, and Kamen gave Barukas and others time to develop Anomaly in Radical's offices. He plans to leverage the company's hard-earned skills in bringing advertisers "something incredibly different," Kandbarokas says. In an industry that is changing to accommodate new technology, even the media radical wants one thing to remain constant - its reputation.