#819: Recurrent CEO Andrew Perlman on the role of traditional media companies when there are 1.1 billion active content creators

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX

The Agile Brand

Marketing, Business

4.9 • 113 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With over a billion creators projected to be active in the next decade, is the traditional distinction between a brand, a publisher, and a creator in need of an updated definition? Agility requires not just reacting to new platforms, but fundamentally rethinking who creates your content and how you build an authentic community around it. It's about moving from a campaign mindset to an ecosystem mindset. Today, we're going to talk about the seismic shift in the media landscape, driven by the explosive growth of the creator economy. We’ll explore how the very definition of a creator is evolving from a short-term influencer to a long-term brand builder, and what opportunities and challenges this presents for established brands that are trying to earn and keep their audience's attention. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Andrew Perlman, Co-Founder and CEO at Recurrent. About Andrew Perlman Andrew Perlman is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Recurrent. Perlman co-founded the company in 2018 with the acquisition of The Drive. Over a span of three years, he oversaw the acquisition of nearly 25 noteworthy brands, including Task & Purpose, Popular Science, Dwell, and Donut, and in the process, introduced Recurrent as the new parent company for the digital media portfolio. In 2022, Perlman rejoined the organization from his role on the board as the Head of M&A and Corporate Development before he assumed the role of CEO in 2023. Previously, Andrew spent over six years as the Chief Executive Officer of XpresSpa, FORM Holdings, and its predecessor company, Vringo, where he led the overall business operations and strategy as well as capital raising. During his tenure, he also oversaw five acquisitions and the NASDAQ listing of the company. Andrew has also served as Vice President of Business Development at EMI Music, SVP of Music and Digital at Classic Media, and held roles at early mobile content companies. Andrew Perlman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adperlman/ Resources Recurrent: https://recurrent.io/ Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code AGILE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c43e68ce5cfb321e The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://aglbrnd.co/r/d15ec37a537c0d74 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Agile Brand
0:02.3	Welcome to Season 8 of the Agile Brand podcast.
0:10.1	This season we're going all in on expert mode
0:12.7	MARTEC, AI, and customer experience,
0:15.7	talking with the people and platforms behind the brands you know and love.
0:19.4	I'm Greg Kilstrom, your host, and I help Fortune 1,000 companies make sense of
0:23.8	Martec, AI, and marketing ops.
0:26.6	Hit subscribe or follow to make sure you always get the latest episodes and leave us a rating
0:30.8	so others can find us as well.
0:32.8	And make sure you check out our sponsor, Tech Systems, an industry leader in full-stack
0:36.8	technology services, talent services, and real leader in full-stack technology services,
0:38.4	talent services, and real-world application. For more information, go to teK-systems.com. Now let's dive in.
0:48.7	With over a billion creators projected to be active in the next decade, is the traditional
0:53.5	distinction between a brand,
0:55.1	a publisher, and a creator in need of an updated definition. Agility requires not just reacting
1:00.7	to new platforms, but fundamentally rethinking who creates your content and how you build an
1:05.8	authentic community around it. It's about moving from a campaign mindset to an ecosystem mindset. Today we're going
1:12.1	to talk about the seismic shift in the media landscape driven by the explosive growth of the
1:16.6	creator economy. We're going to explore how the very definition of a creator is evolving from a
1:21.4	short-term influencer to a long-term brand builder and what opportunities and challenges this presents
1:26.6	for established brands that
1:28.3	are trying to earn and keep their audiences attention. Tell me to discuss this topic, I'd like to
	...

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