For this week’s series on broadcast production management, SHOOT asked a sampling of ad agency broadcast business managers how their roles are changing as advertising content appears across varied media, reaching well beyond traditional TV and radio outlets. We asked each person the following, fairly open-ended questions: How is the role of the broadcast business manger evolving as advertising appears on multiple platforms–what does this mean in terms of dealing with talent, new vendors, etc.? Below are their responses.
Linda Bennett
VP/Director of business affairs
Saatchi & Saatchi, New York
New methods of tracking and paying talent residuals will be very important with expanded media and multiple platforms. We need to begin to address that now with ideas that streamline the process.
Ownership and copyright issues, challenging in the recent past with the use of computer-generated imagery, will again be a source of discussion and negotiation when we look to suppliers with techniques that were not born out of the commercial production world. Some may think of advertising on many of these new platforms as cutting edge, but we will soon learn where those new boundaries of copyright infringement and legal clearance are.
Clients will still look to us to address the cost of production for these new platforms. If we continue to produce the way we do for TV, it will cost the same no matter where or how you use it. Will the public want to view commercials on phones and iPods? If not, how will we present advertising and what will that cost?
I don’t see our roles evolving just yet; I see a new sandbox, new tools and a new rolodex emerging. And, where do we start looking for the next generation of business managers?
Anne Joyner
Senior VP/director of business affairs
Arnold Worldwide, Boston
Wow–are you kidding? Every day’s a new challenge in the business affairs world as a result of new technologies. It has a huge impact on talent and will assuredly affect the Screen Actors Guild negotiations in 2006. We thought the Internet and one Web site use was the wild, wild, west only a few years ago. The use of commercials on iPods and mobile phones presents new challenges, not only from a talent perspective but music licensing as well.
We have clients (and agency creatives) that constantly want to push the envelope, as well they should, but it creates daily challenges for what you can do legally and within the client’s budget. Outside vendors can collaborate and have additional input that we need to address as well. Understandably, clients want another piece of the market well beyond broadcast television. As the media marketplace fractures, it spins into new and innovative ways to get their message out there–but there is a price tag. In the end we all need to figure out a way where the client is out there in new ways without a spiraling budget, where everyone (clients, agencies, vendors, licensors and talent) wins. At no time has it been more challenging than now for this very important role in the creative process, as assuredly there are new technologies and ways of getting the messages out there that have yet to be conceived.
Cathy Pitegoff
Co-head of broadcast production/director, business affairs
Euro RSCG New York
Television, radio and cinema are no longer the only focus of our work. We are business managers for advertising, promotions, PR, interactive–you name it! Negotiations ‘r us. As early as the ball-parking stage of a project, we (business managers) must think bigger in terms of the end result: TV, print, radio, cinema, interactive, viral mailings, Web sites, banners, wallpaper, etc. Worldwide, English speaking countries, options, options, options. The job is more complex and more is at stake. We are no longer just analyzing bids and negotiating overages. (As if that wasn’t enough!) Client, agency and editor must be in agreement up front in reference to what the deliverables will be at the end of the job. Communication between vendors, agency and client need documentation like never before. Legal and financial implications abound.
Internal communication is essential. No mind reading. What is the media vision of your creative team? Does the client know? We are in charge of setting precedents for the new media. We are traveling in unchartered waters and we must protect our clients, agencies and the industry as a whole by being smart but fair at the same time. All this relates to talent, music, anything and everything licensable. If you believe change is good, this is a great time to be in our business.
Dianne Richter
Senior VP/director of broadcast business operations
Publicis, New York
The evolving role of broadcast business managers is consistent with the evolution of everyone’s role in making the best possible advertising for our clients, regardless of the platform. Traditionally, the role of broadcast business manager has been to act as a financial and production partner to the agency broadcast producer. Estimating, negotiating, and managing the costs for client production dollars is still very much our primary focus (regardless of platform), but with the potential that a single commercial could span multiple platforms, we’ve had to incorporate measures to address the additional costs for these platforms. When we begin to ball-park costs for a TV commercial, we secure as much information as possible about the potential/intended use for the commercial and account for these costs in the estimate. Our client knows up-front a rough range of what they can expect to pay for the production, as well as opening the door to discussions as to other uses such as Internet, industrial, billboard, cinema, etc. If we decide that a spot will be used in multiple platforms, our specs to the production company, editor and casting director include this information and their bids reflect this accordingly. The talent is notified during the casting session what the intended use(s) will be and if hired, are paid appropriately. If additional edit cuts are necessary for cinema, for example, that too is incorporated into our estimates.
