WXYZ

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.

“The global pandemic, the focus on racial justice and the intense partisanship of 2020 called on us to work harder and smarter than ever, and today we celebrate a few of the many Scripps employees across the country who rose to the occasion,” says Adam Symson, Scripps’ president.

“I’m extremely excited to become part of the WBAL family,” said Aletha Rideout. “Throughout the recruitment and interviewing process, what attracted me most about the station was the concerted efforts invested into employees.”

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.

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.

The show will capture the country’s passion for cars as more than 40,000 vehicles and more than one million visitors pack a 16-mile stretch of historic Woodward Avenue to join in the celebration.

WXYZ’s winning entry aired in October and explored the issues voters were facing in the election and the role the African American vote might have on the future of Michigan.

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.

Since the Detroit’s Most Wanted series began on WXYZ  nearly four years ago, 21 killers and dozens of dangerous criminals have been taken off the streets.