Title: Senior partner, associate director, national television, at MindShare USA.
Recent interesting deal: “We recently completed a multiplatform, multiyear deal with a vendor that gives the client several sponsored promotions over the next two years. The partnership crosses national television, Internet, print and on-site media. National television includes tagged promotional spots; Internet involves banners and custom-built sites; while print exposure includes advertorials, ad pages and custom-published books. Brand association will be built further through place-based media including signage and sampling. This type of cross-media marketing is something we have done in the past for many other clients and will look to do more of in the future.”
The next big thing: “Repurposing of prime-time network shows on their cable partners. As more parent companies of national television outlets acquire and consolidate with cable networks, the [broadcast] networks will look to garner as much money as they can out of a program by rebroadcasting it. We’ve seen this already with The WB’s `Charmed’, ABC’s `Alias’ and Fox’s ’24.’ This becomes an issue for buyers as we examine the [costs per thousand] we pay for these shows as well as audience delivery/composition for the network run vs. the cable run. Repurposing could also do away with the term `appointment television’ because you can watch it at another time, at your convenience. Why pay premiums for hit shows that are no longer `you must watch tonight,’ but rather `you can watch tonight, tomorrow or next week’? The more this happens, the more likely that it could change the way we buy programs and how we evaluate them.”
Is there anything you wish you had bought less of? “Hindsight is 20/20, so I won’t really question anything I’ve purchased so far. Every buy is made with the best possible information available at the time, and we always make sure our clients end up with favorable year-end results. Hopefully this translates to good sales results for them.”
Is there anything you wish you had bought more of? “I used to work on movie business, so I wish I were buying more big-ticket event programming on a daily basis. It was exciting to constantly be involved in the biggest programs in television and read about their delivery and execution in the papers the next day.”
If you weren’t in media buying: “I’d be working in the sports industry in some way, either as a broadcaster, writer or coach of the Knicks. The Knicks need me right now.”