Steve Ellwanger

Television programmers are not only in a race for consumer attention amid a glut of content. They’re also trying to automate their systems to keep pace with the demands of buyers seeking digital and linear convergence. “We’re actually going through a huge change right now on the technology side,” says Robyn Goldman, Relationship Manager, AMC […]

Representing 50% of the domestic television impression supply, the OpenAP audience-targeting consortium has reached critical mass and created a uniform currency around advanced advertising, says Viacom’s John Halley. Phase Two will see more publishers joining OpenAP as it works on ease-of-use and other improvements for media buyers. In this interview with Beet.TV at the recent […]

In order for digital and linear media to converge, so too must technology. This is why WideOrbit Chief Product Officer Will Offeman has been busily melding the company’s various acquisitions in the digital space and “marrying it up with the linear side.” Approaching 2019, WideOrbit is working on three initiatives, Offeman explains in this interview […]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—What happened in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in September of 2017—with broadcast and cable television lacking a power grid—can be considered a “test market,” according to Andres Claudio. Among other changes over the past year, media agency Hearts & Science Puerto Rico now does more “real-time” media planning as people continue […]

ORLANDO—Johnson & Johnson believes its marketers need to be better scientists, storytellers, strategists and socializers, according to Head of Marketing Excellence Denis Sison. “Talent is critical to the journey of transformation for marketing these days. As we all know, many of our organizations have been disrupted and are all undergoing transformation to drive growth,” Sison […]

ORLANDO—Although the U.S. Navy isn’t your typical consumer brand, it’s in the lead generation business nonetheless. And because its target audience consists mainly of the Centennial Generation, 70% of its media is spent in the digital realm. That age cohort, consisting of those born between roughly 1995 and 2008, has been the subject of focus […]

ORLANDO—The latest report on marketers taking certain activities in-house as opposed to using agencies comes as both sides need to produce more growth and profits. “Everybody’s under pressure at the same time,” observes MediaLink Chairman and CEO Michael Kassan. Noting margin inadequacies at agencies and profit-and-loss challenges at marketers, it’s logical to take a close […]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—When Hurricane Maria shut down Puerto Rico’s power grid in the fall of 2017, NBC and Telemundo gained a new appreciation of their digital platforms to continue engaging with viewers. “We didn’t have a business,” recalls Jose Cancela. “That really was a focus for us on seeing how without power, television is […]

ORLANDO—Burger King has more than 17,000 restaurants around the world. “So imagine each of them is kind of like a small company” guided by three principles: getting the basics right, ensuring guest friendliness and using technology to help people engage with the brand, says Global CMO Fernando Machado. “We put a lot of effort on […]

ORLANDO—Given the huge increase in customer-retailer interaction sparked in large part by technology, it’s not enough to be Chief Marketing Officer at Sam’s Club. “Marketing’s just a piece of it,” says the company’s Chief Member Officer, Tony Rogers. “The nature of the relationship between consumers and retailers has changed so dramatically over the years.” Whereas […]

ORLANDO—For marketers looking to take back control amid a tsunami of change, it all starts with attracting the right talent. “Talent is the most important asset that we all have, including American Express. And it’s precious,” says Elizabeth Rutledge, CMO of the financial services provider. “You need to nurture it and you need to sort […]

ORLANDO—It’s not just advertisers that are in the business of balance as they try to figure out where to allocate their media spending. Consumers are seeking the right mix of ad-free and ad-supported video—an exercise that could get even trickier if, or more likely when, more providers adopt the latter option, according to A+E Networks’ […]

ORLANDO—The latest Association of National Advertisers survey regarding in-house agencies at marketers shows they have grown in use to 78% of ANA members in 2018 versus 42% in 2008. To the president and CEO of the 4A’s, which represents outside agencies, numbers don’t represent the entire range of attributes that agencies bring to the table […]

ORLANDO—Driven by advances in data-driven targeting, political advertising on local cable television is soaring in advance of the mid-term elections. To FreeWheel’s Joy Baer, it’s a microcosm of what lies ahead for all advertisers. “Emotions are running high. The good news is spend is running very high as well,” already surpassing spending in the 2016 […]

ORLANDO—With 1,800 stores, Target’s biggest challenges don’t include size. “We’re big. We have scale,” says CMO Rick Gomez. The trick is to seem small as the chain expands and tries to provide a singularly unique shopper experience on the ground and online. It’s a situation that many retailers would love to find themselves in, Gomez […]

ORLANDO—Trying to guess what Progressive’s chameleon-like character Flo might morph into next is harder than winning the Power Ball lottery. It’s all about taking marketing risks because Progressive is “not like your father’s insurance company,” says CMO Jeff Charney. Suitably, Charney’s presentation at the recent Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing conference was titled […]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—Before Hurricane Maria made land in the fall of 2017, Procter & Gamble had been in the process of upping its involvement in digital media. What followed the devastation was an immediate reliance by P&G on traditional media and, a year later, a “quantum leap” in how Puerto Ricans consume media, with […]

ORLANDO—Lack of scale has been a common excuse to avoid trying to reach TV viewers using dynamic devices to view content on the big screen in their living room. But with set-top box VOD and OTT viewing soaring, it’s time for advertisers to “catch up to that viewership,” says FreeWheel’s James Rothwell. “I think we’re […]

ORLANDO—For brands trying to engage with consumers, “making less matter more” is a much better business strategy than simply creating tons of content and not being channel-specific in the process, says IBM Chief Content Officer George Hammer. “I don’t think we should try to mimic business models that aren’t necessarily thriving,” Hammer adds in this […]

ORLANDO—Marketers need to find the nexus of performance marketing—“a bunch of clicks and data and sets”—and the big, thematic and typically slow-moving ideas that have long characterized brand marketing, according to the CMO of Clorox. “I’m going to suggest that we have to figure out how to pull them both together around one consumer in […]