There is an opportunity to become deep and longterm partners and to bring systematic change, urges Olga Ramos, President of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico in this video session with Rita Ferro, President of Advertising Sales at Disney.

In this session, Ramos, a former senior Walmart executive, provides an overview of the many issues facing Puerto Rico, including the systemic issue of child poverty on the island and the organization’s vision to cut the poverty rate by 50% in 10 years.

And she relays the work of the Clubs during the pandemic by helping the children with their studies and providing other support to the communities.

This 5-part series abut diversity and inclusion is made possible by a generous contribution to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico  from Disney Advertising Sales.

Editor’s Note: Since 2017, I have been been an advocate for this group. Please find the latest video report from San Juan with the Clubs’ president Olga Ramos. You can make a tax deductible contribution right here.

Gracias Rita! 

Thomas-Copeland, the first Black CEO of the venerable Madison Avenue institution, formerly known as Doyle Dane Bernbach, has implemented a number of processes around hiring and talent development.

The move towards diversity and inclusion on a global level is being headed by Nikki Lamba, the newly appointed Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at DDB.

Speaking of the industry-leading changes at the Omnicom creative shop, “We are going bigger (with D&I) and it’s paying off,” he tells Ferro.

This 5-part series abut diversity and inclusion is made possible by a generous contribution to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico  from Disney Advertising Sales.

Editor’s Note: Since 2017, I have been been an advocate for this group. Please find the latest video report from San Juan with the Clubs’ president Olga Ramos. You can make a tax deductible contribution right here.

Gracias Rita and Justin. 

Having fully assimilated, the Harvard-educated ad executive eventually found that reconnecting with her “authentic self” was important in her life.  And, it has been essential in her  career, leading to her role as president of the New York office of Omnicom creative shop TBWA/Chiat/Day.

Interviewing Reyes is Rita Ferro, who credits her identity as a Latina, with her own success. Ferro is President of Disney Advertising Sales.

In this wide ranging conversation, Reyes addresses her agency’s various actions in actualizing diversity and inclusion.  But she says  it’s very much a work in progress.  Hiring diverse employees is not the challenge, it is the need for talent development and mentorship that is often missing, she says

Reyes addresses the of role of creative agencies in changing attitudes around racial bias.  While the advertising industry made important statements after the George Floyd murder, she fears that marketers will become “conversative,” pulling back on”uncomfortable” messages.

This 5-part series abut diversity and inclusion is made possible by a generous contribution to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico from Disney Advertising Sales.

Editor’s Note: Since 2017, I have been been an advocate for this group. Please find the latest video report from San Juan with the Clubs’ president Olga Ramos. You can make a tax deductible contribution right here.

Gracias Rita and Nancy.

This was among the the topics in this wide-ranging conversation about race, diversity and inclusion, and the role of marketers.

Solomon, longtime Chicago-based OMD executive on McDonald’s Clorox, and and other accounts, who moved to his role at PHD six months ago, explains how brands authentically market to diverse communities.

“At PHD we’ve actually pivoted to make multicultural thinking –  and really cultural thinking –  more of a business imperative, and by that I mean tying to get  closer to where clients’ growth is going to come from.” I think that’s a much more interesting conversation as opposed to investments that we’re making against audiences. So … we’re making it bigger and broader .. thinking overall not only about culture and the connection point for clients, but also what it means to the agency, and how that becomes part of everything we do.”

In his journey as a person of color, he cites the value of mentorship in his career. And, he says that more people of color need to be attracted and mentored by the marketing and media industries.

This 5-part series abut diversity and inclusion is made possible by a generous contribution to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico from Disney Advertising Sales.

Editor’s Note: Since 2017, I have been been an advocate for this group. Please find the latest video report from San Juan with the Clubs’ president Olga Ramos. You can make a tax deductible contribution right here.

Thank you Rita and Mike for this very special segment. Gracias!

While she “didn’t look like a person of color” or sound like someone from outside the U.S., she felt like an “imposter,” she says in this Beet.TV video.

She decided that being her “authentic” self was essential in her life, and a key part of a successful career in brand marketing.

The veteran marketer, who has worked for PepsiCo, Toys“R”Us and Kellogg, was named CMO of Citi last September.

Hosting this session is Rita Ferro, President of Disney Advertising Sales and Brand Partnerships  for The Walt Disney Company.

Hassan talks about building a diverse work force at Citi and in the wider marketing ecosystem. She talks about making marketing more relevant in a diverse society.

She talks of concrete steps Citi is taking to help close the racial wealth gap.

This 5-part series abut diversity and inclusion is made possible  by a generous contribution to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico from Disney Advertising Sales.

Since 2017, I have been been an advocate for this group.  Please find the latest video report from San Juan with the Clubs’ president Olga Ramos. You can make a tax deductible contribution right here.

Thank you Rita and Carla for this very special segment. Gracias!

Broadcasters have experienced a dearth of live sports with the suspension of operations by professional sports organizations during the coronavirus pandemic. That absence has raised expectations for the upcoming return of the National Football League, whose regular season last year was responsible for 47 of the 50 most-viewed telecasts, according to researcher Nielsen.

Rita Ferro, president of Disney Advertising Sales, is keeping a close eye on news developments for sports, with network brands that include ABC, ESPN, Freeform, FX Networks, Hulu and National Geographic. In this episode of the Beet TV/VAB “TV Reset” forum, Ferro discusses the possibilities for innovation in sports broadcasting that will be meaningful for fans and advertisers.

Speaking to Bill Koenigsberg, the president, CEO and founder of media services agency Horizon Media Inc., Ferro said she sees more opportunity to provide “second-screening” experiences to fans who use their smartphones and tablets while watching games on TV. Second-screening is likely to be more important to fans who preventing from attending games at stadiums, but still want to share the experience of watching their favorite teams.

“Even if they allow some fans in, it’s never going to be the full, packed, sold-out stadium and the energy that that brings to a game, and yet you can create so much of that,” Ferro said. She cited the coverage of this year’s NFL Draft of college players, which this year was a virtual event consisting of 200 live video feeds from across the country.

“There was a tremendous engagement around that property, and it was the biggest NFL Draft of all time because it was covered differently and relevant for the times,” she said. “It’s opened our eyes to ways you can do things very differently than before.”

You are watching TV Reset, a leadership forum produced in partnership with VAB.  The series is presented by 605 and Magnite. For more videos please visit this page.

Rita Ferro, president of Disney Advertising Sales, said investments in original programming are central to her company’s strategy to reach audiences on any device. In this episode of the Beet TV/VAB “TV Reset” forum, Ferro discusses Disney’s efforts to develop content for its lineup of streaming and linear TV brands.

Speaking to Bill Koenigsberg, the president, CEO and founder of media services agency Horizon Media Inc., Ferro said linear TV not only works for live programming, but also an outlet for original content that reaches a different audience than over-the-top (OTT) services do.

“We continue to make significant investments in original content, because we know that original content drives consumption not only on the OTT platforms but on our linear platforms,” she said.

With its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox last year, Disney became the world’s biggest movie and TV studio. Its media brands include streaming platform Hulu, which has ad-supported and ad-free tiers to provide a customized viewing experience, and linear channels such as ABC, ESPN, Freeform, FX Networks and National Geographic.

“They are complementary, and they have different audiences as we’re finding through the research and the data,” she said. “That’s informing a lot of the decisions we’re making from a content investment perspective.”

You are watching TV Reset, a leadership forum produced in partnership with VAB.  The series is presented by 605 and Magnite. For more videos please visit this page.

The house of brands is now more unified than ever following the consolidation of sales efforts this fall under Ferro, who is President of Advertising Sales & Sponsorships in a unit called Disney Advertising Sales. In this interview with Beet.TV, Ferro recalls taking over the ABC/Disney/Freeform portfolio about 18 months ago and having happy advertisers respond “Where’s ESPN?”

At that point, “we slowly started working toward understand that this was going to come together because the marketplace was asking for it,” she says of the inclusion of ESPN in the unified sales structure.

“It really is about bringing all the best of the brands and storytelling of the Walt Disney Company together so that advertisers can reach audiences across all dayparts, all lifestyles, all genres, in the best way possible.”

Asked about differentiation from other multi-brand publishers, Ferro says it all comes down to one word: Disney.

“I think when you talk about data and technology, everyone has their flavor. I think the difference is Disney. The way we tell stories and connections we have with our fans and our brands, no company has that,” says Ferro. “You name it, we talk to that audience. It’s great storytelling that has really differentiated us and I think bringing it all together only allows us to really accelerate what that’s going to be for partnerships and brands.”

Now that advertising sales, data and technology sit under the purview of Kevin Mayer, who is Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer and International, the company’s products and services are now aligned “under one opportunity to make sure that we can sell you across the portfolio and you have visibility to that. So we’ll have better metrics, better targeting, we’re building out better vendor relationships and better technology partners.”

One recent tech change was Disney ending its involvement with FreeWheel in favor of Google Ad Manager to manage and deliver all online ad campaigns. Disney has worked with both FreeWheel and Google Ad Manager in the past, as The Wall Street Journal reports.

The efforts under Mayer will “allow more visibility, more targeting, better metrics and also allow us to launch new products like programmatic linear television, which we’ll be bringing to market,” Ferro says.

This video is part the Beet.TV preview series ‘The Road to CES 2019.” The series is presented by dataxu.  For more videos, please visit this page. 

Disney+ will be the third piece of a direct-to-consumer triad when combined with ESPN+, which launched last April, and Disney’s stake in Hulu, the President of Advertising Sales & Sponsorships explains in this interview with Beet.TV.

“On the Disney side, while we are not doing advertising at launch right now, we are doing marketing partnerships around how we can actually bring brands together that we’ve done broadly with the company,” Ferro says.

Disney believes that direct-to-consumer, which requires a new approach to content allocation, which in Disney’s case includes pulling its movies and shows from Netflix next year, gives both consumers and advertisers the best opportunities.

“What you saw in the launch of that product was the quickness of adoption,” Ferro says of ESPN+, which provided access to more mainstream and “unique” sports like boxing. “Five months in we announced we were at a million subscribers and we’ve only grown from there.”

She describes Disney+ as “a broad, general entertainment brand for families” built around proven entities like Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Disney and National Geographic.

The third leg of the direct-to-consumer stool is Hulu, the unprofitable streaming pioneer that will be 60% owned by Disney at the beginning of 2019 by virtue of its acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox. Hulu is where ABC and Freeform programming resides, with ad-supported “live and on-demand content in season,” says Ferro.

“We’re also working very closely obviously with our product groups and our events groups and our parks and movie promotions teams,” she says of the company’s direct-to-consumer initiatives.

This video is part the Beet.TV preview series “The Road to CES 2019.” The series is presented by dataxu. For more videos, please visit this page.