PromaxBDA members live all over the U.S. So in an effort to serve TV station marketing professionals, PromaxBDA is offering one-day sessions on the latest strategies and tactics these executives can execute at the stations and in their markets. The day-long events are dubbed, The Essentials, and two sessions took place last month in Lansing, Mich., […]
PromaxBDA members live all over the U.S. So in an effort to serve TV station marketing professionals, PromaxBDA is offering one-day sessions on the latest strategies and tactics these executives can execute at the stations and in their markets.
The day-long events are dubbed, The Essentials, and two sessions took place last month in Lansing, Mich., and Atlanta.
“The great news is that over the last few years, the relationship between PromaxBDA and local broadcast TV stations has grown dramatically,” said Bill Butler, VP programming and promotions at Sinclair, when the announcement was made in October.
The sessions are free to PromaxBDA members. Half the day is devoted to the station professionals, while the other half serves students who might be interested in entering the field of marketing, promotion and design.
At the Atlanta event on Oct. 21, there were 26 industry attendees from five local stations, CNN, The Weather Channel, Cartoon Network, Turner Broadcasting and three local agencies. In addition, 35 students were in the house from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
I talked to several presenters and attendees from the Atlanta event to see what they thought of the sessions. More one-day events are planned, but PromaxBDA is still working on locations and dates.
“The point of The Essentials sessions is to provide information that is immediately actionable by local marketers at local stations” says Lucy Denny Gardner, PromaxBDA’s director of local market development. “So if they attend the sessions on a Tuesday, they can be better marketing managers on Wednesday.”
Meredith Conte, VP marketing for Gannett, was a presenter in a session titled, Digital First: Leveraging Digital to Engage Local Audiences & Drive Tune In.
“I spoke specifically on digital marketing and the ways to use digital to drive audience is a huge piece to the mix these days,” Conte said. “We had students coming up who were interested in the field. We had marketers from the local stations in each market attending and I think anything we can do to inspire young people to get into this business and to continue inspiring and evolving the skillset of the people who are already in the business is a place we want and need to be.”
Part of Conte’s presentation included this spot from WFAA, Gannett’s ABC affiliate in Dallas, which executed a real-time marketing campaign when Dallas healthcare systems came under fire for Ebola care procedures. The integrated campaign brought together news, marketing, social media and more.
Denny-Gardner said she knew “the attendees liked to see lots of spots” so PromaxBDA showed The Best of the Best: A Showcase of the Year’s Standout Spots, award-winning creative from across the television industry from entertainment, to trailers, to brand campaigns and local station promotion.
Emily Mowers is the marketing director at WTVA, the NBC affiliate in Tupelo, Miss., owned by the Spain family. She drove six hours to attend the session in Atlanta.
“I thought this was a great event because the TV industry is rapidly changing and evolving,” she said. “The information I received will help my company continue to grow with our consumers. There are so many entities fighting for eyeballs that you have to know how to cut through the noise. I received some great tips and ideas on how to effectively do that in a way that is consistent with my brand strategy and message.”
Steve Riley, brand manager for WSB, Cox’s ABC affiliate in Atlanta, was on a panel that ended the day talking to students.
“It was an advice-laden career path discussion with questions and answers,” Riley said. “We talked about diversity, how to get started, how we got started, what we love about the work and the business, from what/where do we draw creative inspiration.”
Denny Gardner said she was impressed with the students who attended. “It was great see the station people, attendees and presenters surrounded by students firing questions at them. For the presenters, it was a chance to tell their story.”
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