WDAF

The nominations include work for television stations in Kansas City, Missouri; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; Denver, Colorado; Columbus, Ohio; and Dallas, Texas.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include an opening for a creative services director at Nexstar’s WDAF, the Fox affiliate in Kansas City.

In a Zoom interview, you can watch the creative services directors and marketing executives of four local TV stations in Kansas City describe how they all came together as partners to hold an all-day fund raiser to benefit local residents affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

WVUE, Gray’s Fox affiliate in New Orleans, took a tongue in cheek approach to its Super Bowl Sunday strategy with a series of promos for its 10 o’clock news. “We went hyper local,” said Blaine Strawn, WVUE’s marketing director. “Granted, most viewers outside of New Orleans won’t understand, but we knew our viewers would.”

“Rather than just one promo,” said Scott Brady, WDRB’s creative services VP, “we launched a whole new news campaign. This was a half-day of tremendous viewing sampling with much of our competitors’ audience tuning in as well! The Strategy was Super Bowl Sunday rather than just the Big Game Ad.”

As you would imagine with the home town team Kansas City Chiefs playing in the Super Bowl, viewership on the Fox affiliate, WDAF, would be high. And the creative services team at Nexstar’s WDAF was ready.

The San Francisco 49ers are playing against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl this Sunday. Their appearance in the big game is causing fans across the Bay Area, and even some people who work at KTVU, to come down with some kind of strange fever.

In Kansas City, WDAF got some Kansas City fans together outside, in 14 degree weather, to show their colors. “It’s gets cold here, we play in the cold, our stadium is outside and we tough it,” said Danielle Ray, WDAF’s creative services director.

Two local TV news directors and a general manager attended the Promax Station Summit last month in Las Vegas. After you read what they have to say about it, this may start a trend. “I am really glad I went,” said one. “To me, having both the news director and creative services director there to hear the same information is key,” said another. “I was taking notes like a fiend.”

When you think about it, few careers demand you be creative every day as much as being in the marketing department of a TV station. So how do local TV creative services directors and marketing managers keep themselves and their staff from getting burned out, stuck? That was the mission of the first-time session, Unstuck, at the Promax Station Summit last week in Las Vegas. Check it out.