Welcome to another episode of “Checking In,” a Market Share feature in which we survey local TV marketing and creative services directors. Today, we check in with Kristen Joyal, marketing director for Tegna’s WTLV and WJXX, the NBC and ABC duopoly in Jacksonville, Fla., co-branded as First Coast News.
Welcome to another episode of Checking In, a Market Share feature in which we survey local TV marketing and creative services directors to find out who they are, their challenges, their successes and their visions for the future.
Today, we check in with Kristen Joyal, marketing director for Tegna’s WTLV and WJXX, the NBC and ABC duopoly in Jacksonville, Fla., co-branded as First Coast News.
Early in her career, Joyal was a local TV news producer. Then she switched to marketing and became what I call a classically trained promo writer/producer, working her way up to marketing and creative services manager at two stations with 12 years of managerial experience now under her belt.
If you want Market Share to check in with you, just let me know, [email protected] or 817-578-6324.
Below is my recent interview with Joyal conducted via email:
Biggest change in your job in 2022?
Taking on the challenge of marketing on Roku and Fire TV and seeing it as an advantage, and not competition to the ‘mother ship,’ so to speak. It’s exciting. It’s new. It’s the wild, wild West of media consumption and trying to wrap your brain around how to best use it is mind blowing.
Biggest challenge of your job?
Motivating employees when sometimes the incentive is little more than food and the appreciation of a job well done. I believe they deserve more than what I can give at times. To make up for this, I take them to lunch or leave a card at their desk with a giftcard tucked inside because I feel they went above and beyond.
Another big challenge is marketing a duopoly when budgets are tight. It’s tough in this competitive landscape, but we do it. We use every arsenal, and leverage the power of our WTLV NBC12 and WJXX ABC25 duopolies to help attract new viewers moving into the region or sway the minds of those who may be undecided. And, we are always marketing to retain our loyalists. This is always on my mind. When you are a marketer, it’s hard to turn it off. Even on downtime you get ideas. And you see what the competition is doing; whether it’s experiential marketing, social media, radio, on air or now on OTT.
Biggest success you have had in the last 12 months?
I’ve been told, “I bring people together.” That’s a compliment and it’s also a testament to the type of person I am and how I lead. I have always thought collaboration is key and I see that daily on my team and it truly makes me happy. My reward at the end of the day is watching an 18+ year veteran here teach a young marketing producer a trick in AfterEffects and watching them both beam with pride on the accomplished task.
What you’ve done recently that you’re most proud of?
At the end of the day, I love what I do. I love getting a team excited about what they do and seeing the thrill of their success. I love working as a #onecontent team, news, digital and marketing together to launch unique initiatives. The most recent accomplishment was revealing the Buddy Bus to our First Coast News community. The Buddy Bus is a mobile mammography unit that is the heart, soul and brainchild of our legendary Anchor Jeannie Blaylock. For more than 3 decades she worked to promote the message of self-breast exams monthly. Then, with generous First Coast News viewers and community partners Baptist Health MD Anderson Cancer Center, we were able to raise enough to bring the Buddy Bus to reality.
We unveiled it to our community in front of our station throughout 90-minutes of news simulcast on First Coast News On Your Side. We created a block party atmosphere including survivors, employees, city leaders, breast cancer specialists, technicians, Jacksonville Jaguar Cheerleaders and the Jacksonville Jaguar Drumline. We invited all to join us for this grand reveal, and I am honored to say I was one of the three on top of the bus to drop a curtain covering the bus when people underneath popped confetti to a drumroll as Jeannie’s mom, a breast cancer survivor cut the ribbon… giving the cue to reveal the bus. It was a moment I won’t ever forget. It was an undertaking that included every department and key coordination for months.
A second feat I’m proud of is the station’s launch of the First Coast News+ new and improved app on Roku and Fire TV. It contains exclusive, locally produced content that viewers can’t get anywhere else. Plus, they can watch local news on their schedule. It’s literally, live, local all the time.
Here are some recent promos from Joyal and her team at First Coast News:
Good Morning Jacksonville
Custom music by Stephen Arnold
First Coast News Evening Team
Custom music by Stephen Arnold
New Jobs Posted To TVNewsCheck
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