It was wonderful to catch up with Amy Baker for this interview. We
worked together at Discovery back in 1990. Since then she has scaled the
heights of cable sales and is now the EVP, National Ad Sales for all female
networks at A+E – Lifetime, LMN - Lifetime Movie Network and their newest brand,
FYI.
Lifetime has been around since 1984 in its current incarnation and is
an established cable brand. But to remain relevant to today’s women, Lifetime
realized that it needed to be even more relevant in the women’s space. To do this they embarked on an extensive cultural
research study with Troika late last year which concentrated on all aspects of
a woman’s day. “We recruited over 465 women over many weeks and asked them to log
what they did, felt and watched the group was a highly diverse one and yet had
many things in common. We wanted to
understand everything about them” Baker explained.
Charlene Weisler: What was the
ultimate goal of the study and what were some conclusions?
Amy Baker: Essentially, we wanted to understand the state of womanhood
today. What we found was that there is a lot of things women love about being
women! – Motherhood, female friendships and the emotional intelligence
associated with being a woman. But…
unfortunately there are still many things that women do not like…. Too often, women
feel under-valued. They suffer from
inequality- especially in pay, which is a big conversation going on today. Women do not stand up for themselves as much
as they want to for fear of being labeled difficult or worse “bitchy”. Our research identified a universal response
regardless of age, race or socioeconomic background that women rallied around
strength. Women look to content for
characters who convey strength.
Charlene: What are the next
steps for Lifetime with these key learnings?
Amy: We aim to be the
aggregator and curator of the new feminist voice in entertainment. We are
building our brand around strong women.
We are going to be unapologetic, fun and edgy, but never too earnest or
preachy. And it is never girl against
girl. We will always be inclusive. Importantly our voice will speak to all women
with heart and humor. We needed a word
to capture this fun attitude to our consumers and advertisers; we are calling
this our Fempire! The Fempire serves as
a rallying cry for being positive, bold and fierce.
Charlene: Why do this now?
Amy: While we were doing our study, we noticed a major cultural shift
happening. Women started to dominate in
almost every category of pop culture and project images of strength from Taylor
Swift to Beyonce in music, Tina Fey and Amy Schumer in comedy and Katniss
Everdeen from the Hunger Games. And
actresses like Jennifer Lawrence, who portrays Katniss Everdeen, are using
their platform to advocate for equality for women. Interesting enough, there is a fourth wave of
feminism going on now that is influenced by technology and empowerment.
Charlene: How will the Lifetime
brand transition to Fempire?
Amy: This has been a transition over the last four years. We now have a
name to it and have deeper insights. Our audience is already there in terms of
how they see us. In fact, in recent
focus groups they told us that their perception of us has changed. They no longer see us the “damsel in
distress” network of old. They actually
see us as the network that empower women and uses us as a scratch for their
emotional itches. They already see us as a Fempire … the place they turn to for
strength.
Charlene: Here is a question
many of us face – how do you achieve work / life balance?
Amy: I’ve always prioritized where I need to be. I never missed my kids’ big events, but
everything is a trade-off. I go to their small events where I think it will
make a difference in their lives. I tell women with whom I work to take care of
themselves which will make you stronger at work. Work and Life balance is a
marathon, not a sprint.
Charlene: What advice can you
give a young woman in college today about a career in media?
Amy: In general, choose a career that you are passionate about. Don’t
worry about your first or even your second job. Just get experience and enjoy
the journey. There is no book of instructions regarding a career path. College
kids today may feel that they cannot afford to take any risks – they need that
internship on their resume. But you need to take risks. Even if a job seems
like a big detour, that is okay.
This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com
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