HRTS eNews - 05/28/2009 (Plain Text Version)
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John MillerHRTS Member - Chief Marketing Officer, NBCU TV Group
A Member Profile by Chris Davison, davison@intellcap.com John Miller is President of the NBC Agency and Chief Marketing Officer for the NBC Universal Television Group. John began his career at a local television station and has since worked in many areas of the business, from daytime to children’s to primetime. I recently had a chance to interview John to discuss Brandon Tartikoff, the Olympics and Lazy Sunday.
Q. Can you tell us about your background and what made you want to work in entertainment? How did you get involved with the HRTS? A few years later I moved to marketing at the network level and in 1985 took on the job of Head of Advertising and Promotion for NBC. Since then I have had other assignments such as programming daytime, children’s, primetime specials, and supervising sales marketing - but always at the core, I’ve supervised the Marketing at NBC. I’m currently President of the NBC Agency and CMO for NBC Universal Television Group. As for the HRTS, my association started back in the mid-1980s. Brandon Tartikoff, to whom I reported, was serving as president of the organization. It seemed like a great opportunity to network and establish contacts, and I've been a member ever since.
Q. What are your thoughts on product integration and branded entertainment in general? Branded entertainment will expand as DVR penetration continues. However, it should be remembered that the 30-second spot is still a very viable means to reach an audience. That said, more and more there are opportunities for advertisers to take advantage of a promotional campaign, a show integration or perhaps be a sole sponsor for a show or a timeslot.
Q. How are things looking for the upfronts and infronts? We are now preparing our Infront presentations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. We’ll reveal show pick-ups, discuss digital opportunities and talk to the advertisers about how we can work together. The more intimate infront process is more effective than the big upfront mega-presentation because we can have a dialogue with advertisers. We have time to talk with them about what their needs are and how together we can find marketing solutions.
Q. What’s the marketing value of an event like the Super Bowl or the Olympics? These types of events are few in number but clearly, the Olympics and the Super Bowl are at the very top of culture-creating events. We eagerly look forward to the next Olympics – Vancouver in 2010. What both events have in common is they reach a broad part of the viewing public in a short period of time. A marketer can significantly build awareness and interest if you have the right message. In terms of brand value, the Olympics is perhaps even a step above the Super Bowl. The Olympics carries a quality persona with it that is almost unlike anything else in television. When you put your message in the Olympics you actually receive benefits for that association. It is the one event that brings everyone together from around the world. A connection with the Olympic experience really resonates very strongly. We do post-analysis for all of our Olympic advertisers and the benefit it is for them, and it is remarkable and undeniable.
Q: Did “Lazy Sunday” help make YouTube what it is today?
Q: How do you see things changing over the next 3-5 years? There is always the Internet, but the Internet is very much a mix of news and opinion and sometimes it’s difficult to separate fact from rumor and conjecture in that space. My concern is that the television station which has been a local window on the world and provided a real service to the local community will have to cut back on local coverage and community outreach just to remain financially viable. I am hopeful that the economy will come back and local television stations will find advertiser support and will be able to maintain robust local news presence.
Q. Anything you would like to add? |