For a company like Viacom, it is both internal and external
curation; carefully choosing the right team of employees, fostering a culture
of collaboration, and forming a rallying point, like Fans First.
I sat down
with five executives from different departments at Viacom – Valerie Bischak,
EVP, Marketing and Partner Solutions; Deb Brett, SVP, Marketing and Partner
Solutions; Sarah Iooss, SVP, Business Development; Gabe Bevilacqua, SVP, Data
Strategy; and Kiel Berry, SVP, Co-Head, Viacom Labs – to discuss how to authentically
engage audiences as well as synergize this effort both internally and
externally. These are their takeaways:
Fandom as a Connector
Fandom as a
connector between departments and a unifying concept externally for marketers
permeates the organization. For Bischak, her role is to insure that the
marketers see how differentiated Viacom is from competitors. “Each of our
brands has unique fans,” she stated, “and the brands we are talking to can come
along for the ride. We have custom content capabilities to create programs
around fandom for a brand. We work with
Gabe and his group to add an additional layer and use data to show we are
reaching these fans in a meaningful, targeted way.”
The idea of
Fans First ties together all aspects of sales. Brett, Bischak and Iooss all
worked together years ago at Viacom running digital, mobile and linear sales.
“We saw a phenomenon back then in sales and we thought, we can buy spots and
dots, we can run pre-roll online but what we wanted out of Viacom is the ephemeral,
the fan engagement. How can we harness that and make it a part of what we are
contracting,” Brett said. Over time, the three executives evolved their roles and
disciplines, but they still connect via Fandom. “We use Fans First as a guiding
principal,” explained Iooss, “It is a core piece of the mission statement for
my team. It is something my team and our partners can get behind.”
Her team is
not composed of the usual suspects. “Our business development team is made up
of some pretty untraditional picks for business development. It’s not all
consultants and MBAs. It’s people who come from social media agencies or brands
and digital accounts at an agency and some from other cable companies,” she
added.
Data and Analytics Are Critical Components
In the areas
of data and analytics, the Fans First concept encourages a new way of looking
at the audience. “Fandom is an easy way for me and my team to relate as a
mission,” stated Bevilacqua. “Let’s not just think of the people who watch TV
as Adults 18-49. Let’s think of them reflective of behaviors and attitudes and
passions.”
With Viacom
Labs, an incubator for the future of fan experience and engagement, “Fans
First” is both a mission and an opportunity. “We have a responsibility to our fans,” stated
Berry, “Fans give a large percentage of their time –time being the most
valuable resource - to their brands that they really identify with. And they see themselves in those brands. As
fans move at the speed of pop culture, the speed of new technology, it is our
responsibility to meet them at these new evolving platforms and give those fans
the opportunity to interact with those brands where they are.”
The way Data
and Analytics, Viacom Labs, Business Development and Sales work in tandem is an
essential advantage for the company. As Brett concluded, “We work closely with
Gabe’s team with social analytics so we know that when we put something out
there, we know what we are getting back. We also look at things that Kiel’s
team has discovered. We bring incubation from the Lab into the infrastructure
so we can ignite it quickly. Everything is happening quickly and Viacom is at
the forefront of change.”
No comments:
Post a Comment