Phil Wrobel

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 Phil Wrobel, who’s been the creative services director for the E. W. Scripps stations in Detroit, WXYZ, the ABC affiliate and WMTD, an independent station, for going on 7 years.

WXYZ in Detroit has created unique and authentic promos approved by the anchors. “I was very, very pleased with the result,” one says.

Local TV promos that move you, enchant you and convince you of the value of local news are on display here in part 4. It’s a historic moment, and local TV news and its marketing are giving voice to viewers, whether they’re marching in the streets, or searching for answers about COVID-19.

Working from home for local TV marketers is the new normal, as they say. So let’s have some fun with it. Show me your home studio, desk, set-up, edit station, wherever it is that you’re calling your work station at home. Write a few lines about it and then send the videos (links to YouTube or Vimeo works great) or pictures to me.

I wanted to know how a TV station’s creative services/marketing department could function when each member of its staff had to work from home. I know this is how things work now, but I couldn’t imagine how it is accomplished. So I reached out to a couple of station marketing directors to hear how they were managing working from home. In addition, I asked each if they would allow their staff to pen a few lines about their experiences working from home.