Fox Networks Group has hired multicultural ad sales veteran
Phillip Woodie to run the new rep firm that will sell national ads for affiliates
of MundoFox, the new Hispanic network launching next month.
Woodie, who was named senior VP of MundoFox national spot
sales, has previously been VP of multicultural sales at Comcast Spotlight,
president of network sales and marketing at Azteca America and has worked for
Univision, Disney and Cox.
Tom Maney, senior VP of advertising sales at Fox Hispanic
Media, says he's known Woodie for a dozen years. "I'm really excited to add
such a seasoned media executive to our roster and get started," he says.
The rep operation, as yet unnamed, will represent 35 of the
50 MundoFox affiliates for national spot sales.
The rep will launch with offices in New York, Los Angeles
and Miami and have 17 people in place by September. "We're hiring sales people,
support people, research. It will be a dedicated group to represent our
affiliates with their national spot sales," Maney said.
So far, six people have been hired and there are offers out
to three more.
Longer term, Maney expects the rep firm to have five
regional offices and 30 people three to five years from now.
The rep firm is also setting up its tech infrastructure to
be user-friendly for both buyers and sellers. "I don't want my sales people
spending hours putting avails together. I want them out making meaningful sales
calls," Maney says. "Everything we're trying to do is about what will we be
selling tomorrow."
Maney says MundoFox has already gotten a warm reception in
the marketplace, both on a national level during the upfront and in local
markets. "We're already getting avail requests from people who are out in the
agency community," he says.
