VH1 last week named Reggie Fils-Aime as its senior vice president of marketing, charged with overseeing efforts for the flagship network and its newer digital offerings, including VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, VH1 Uno and VH1 Country.
In his new role, Fils-Aime — who most recently served as chief marketing officer for bicycle manufacturer Derby Cycle Corp. — is responsible for consumer and trade advertising; affiliate and consumer marketing; ad-sales marketing; and event marketing and promotions.
When asked what attracted him to the job, Fils-Aime said VH1 is a "great brand" and cable "a great industry — what more could you ask for?"
The new post isn't Fils-Aime's first experience working with VH1; a number of the consumer-products companies he's worked for have advertised with the music channel. His 18 years in that arena included stints at Procter & Gamble Co., Pizza Hut, Panda Management Co. and Guinness Import Co.
"From an advertiser's perspective, the channel does a phenomenal job" in terms of delivering a coveted viewing audience and through its special events, Fils-Aime said.
A self-described "brand builder," Fils-Aime said he will look for new ways to grow the VH1 imprimatur and make it more powerful. One of his first priorities will be "to help drive focus and clarity for what VH1 the brand means," he said.
Fils-Aime will also work to create additional revenue opportunities for the network, although he said it was too soon to provide details.
Fils-Aime said he was pleased with the unique things VH1 can do for its affiliates through promotions such as "Save the Music," which raises money and collects instruments to help music-education programs across the country.
"I'd love to do more with that and do it even better and continue to be the gold standard" for such affiliate-relations programs, he said.
Such high-profile events as Divas Live
and the VH1 Fashion Awards
are a "great way to touch our consumer and to provide value to our advertiser sponsors and our affiliates," he added.
Last Wednesday and Thursday, Fils-Aime was set to attend his first meeting with an internal Viacom Inc. marketing council, "where all my peers meet on a regular basis," he said. "We consider it real work to create value for all the networks within the group."
It's too soon to say whether the new VH1 senior vice president of marketing plans to conduct a search for a new advertising agency. Many of the network's on-air interstitials are done in-house, Fils-Aime said.
