In the wake of the extensive consolidation taking place among ad agencies,
ABC Sales is switching from zone to one-on-one coverage of the market.
In a major reorganization announced Thursday, the network said it has created
sales teams that would be devoted to specific agencies, as opposed to the daypart
sales structure currently in place.
The network said there would still be daypart specialists, but the first
point of contact for agencies and clients would be with the newly created sales
teams, known as "client specialists."
In addition, ABC named Patrick McGovern to head up a new effort to get to the
media planners at agencies and advertisers that often create the strategies
media buyers simply execute. His title is senior vice president, sales and
strategic planning, and he reports to Mike Shaw, president of ABC Sales.
Under the new structure, the client specialists are expected to develop
marketing partnerships, execute buying and planning goals and finalize all
deals. The daypart executives will be responsible for pricing, inventory
management and planning.
"This new structure will allow us to create deeper and stronger ties with
clients and agencies," ABC Television president Alex Wallau said. "It will allow
ABC to better understand the core objectives of our customers" and more
efficiently execute those plans.
Cynthia Ponce will head the client specialists group as executive VP and general manager, reporting to Shaw. John Caruso and Gary Montanus
have been named senior VPs of the specialist group, reporting to
Ponce.
Team leaders include Carrie Byrne, Andrew Messina, Tom Storrier and Catherine
Sullivan. Daypart strategists are vice presidents Max Steelman (news), and
senior VPs Gail Sullivan (daytime), and Geri Wang (prime time). They
all report to Shaw.
Bill Bund continues to head ABC Unlimited, the cross-platform sales unit, and
he will report to Ponce.
