In a top-level shakeup of its advertising sales team, NBCUniversal announced that two senior executives, Laura Molen and Mark Marshall have been promoted to president, NBCU advertising sales and partnership.
Two other senior executives, Mike Rosen, executive VP, advanced advertising and platform sales, and Scott Schiller, executive VP and general manager, marketing, are leaving the company.
The changes were announced by Linda Yaccarino, chairman, advertising and partnerships at NBCU.
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“Our industry changes every minute. As we focus attention on reimagining our audience first culture, plus developing partnerships across NBCUniversal and beyond, it became increasingly important to elevate leaders to be on frontlines managing our sales teams,” said Yaccarino. “Laura and Mark are dynamic, indispensable visionaries and together they will establish the most agile, innovative sales organization. I congratulate them on this accomplishment.”
With the changes, Molen continues to head ad sales for NBC's lifestyle and Hispanic properties. Marshall adds responsibility for sports, advanced ad sales and client services to his previous responsibilities for entertainment sales.
The new structure will allow greater synergy between verticals and also help marketers more effectively connect with mass reach or targeted audiences across the portfolio, NBCU said.
As part of the overall restructure, Josh Feldman will gain oversight of all creative capabilities.
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Here is the internal memo from Linda Yaccarino to NBCU staffers:
Team,
We wanted to provide insight into our continuing evolution, business strategy and make you aware of some key leadership developments.
The industry we love is in a revolution of seismic proportions. Our audiences and marketing partners deserve a higher standard of excellence. That’s why our teams set bolder visions every year and will double down on our strategic priorities.
Every bold vision also requires strong leadership. As we place increased emphasis on new developments across the full portfolio and work with partners at Comcast NBCUniversal, we needed to transform our Sales organization. Today we’re announcing Laura Molen and Mark Marshall, as Presidents, NBCUniversal Advertising Sales and Partnerships.
At NBCUniversal we’re in constant transformation. As a media and a technology company, we have a clear advantage to reimagine how audiences engage with content and connect to brands. We see things from both sides. Our strategic priorities will set new industry standards and drive growth for businesses.
· First, we’ll up-level audiences’ viewing experience on the networks they trust and programs they love;
· Second, we’ll provide marketer and agency partners increased value across the portfolio connecting brands to scaled audiences and delivering measurable outcomes;
· Lastly, we’ll build technology to be used for good, focused on contextual alignment and automation.
Laura and Mark will be my right, and left, hands in driving this strategy and running the day-to-day business of our National Sales teams for our leading portfolio of premium content, on all platforms. Each will have increased responsibility. The full press release below has all of details on their roles and our extended leadership team.
As part of these changes, Mike Rosen and Scott Schiller have decided to leave the company. I want to personally thank them both for their incredible dedication to our team and the NBCUniversal family. Scott will also continue to represent NBCUniversal on the IAB Board of Directors until the end of the year.
In our world, things shift every minute. One thing that remains constant – is our unwavering commitment to our audiences and marketing partners.
The most important thing to remember is that the industry looks to us to innovate and lead - so we must continue to be bold and raise the bar. That’s who we are.
Please join me in congratulating Laura, Mark and their teams.
Linda
