Expert Voices: Solomon Partners' Mark Boidman

Welcome to our latest edition of Expert Voices, where we talked with Mark Boidman, head of media and entertainment at Solomon Partners.

Why he matters: Boidman has more than 22 years of M&A experience including acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged financings, private placements and restructurings. He has advised clients in transactions with a combined value of more than $45 billion.

What are three trends that you've found most fascinating this year?

1. Out-of-home advertising: What we've seen in prior recessions is ad spend starts to fall, but coming out of COVID, brands need to spend money for that brand recognition. More so than ever, in a fragmented media environment where people are getting bombarded with 10,000-plus messages a day, how do you stand out?... Today, you can no longer reach that mass audience on TV anymore. People just have so many choices. So in media, the physical world really stands out.
2. Demand for in-person experiences: People want experiences and are willing to forego other things for experiences. It's why we're seeing concert attendance levels skyrocketing. So that's a big trend. And then you're gonna see brands want to capitalize on that.
3. Interactive music: Nightclubs, whether it's DJs or jukeboxes, are having a big comeback because people are using their phones to interact with them. You can go into a bar and use your phone to connect and control the music in the venue. It gives the power to the consumer and creates a better experience, and people are willing to pay for that.

What are you watching for the rest of the year?

1. More digital billboards: We're selling massive digital billboards right now in major iconic locations. People love the concept of being able to put video on those massive screens, being able to broadcast news, concerts and wrap advertising around it on massive billboards and physical spaces. Video content is going to continue to be successful.
2. Direct mail advertising: People don't get a lot of bills anymore in the mail; it's all marketing materials and media activity. So that's become more valuable. The fact that people are working from home and the fact that consumers have gotten more comfortable with QR codes — they can actually prove that an advertisement or coupon that comes in your mail actually brought you to a website and you actually made the purchase. They closed the loop, and there's full-blown attribution.