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Creative services, this one’s for you.
Recent news about broadcast groups eliminating creative services positions at their stations should be a wake-up call to marketing teams at all local TV stations. You’re under review. But it’s not too late, and you have a leading role to play in the industry’s future.
WDIV Detroit is the best example I have of this. Its creative services department in the 2010s, led by Jamie Kaye Walters with Donna Harper in charge of digital, did extraordinary work blending the strengths of broadcast and digital to create meaningful community engagement — and revenue.
My favorite project was “4Frenzy,” which expanded on the more traditional Friday high school football concept to celebrate all types of high school sports and activities throughout the school year. Led by Harper, the campaign tapped into the passion students and families brought to marching band, cheerleading, theater and all sports — not just football. The result? Major sponsorship deals, digital traffic, young people in newscasts — any of that sound useful today?
Creative services sits at the intersection of editorial, sales and station branding, and is usually staffed with creative, multi-talented producers and designers fluent across broadcast and digital platforms. High-paid consultants couldn’t map out a more ideal setup for innovation than what already exists, or at least existed, at most stations.
But these highly effective departments with rich histories of innovation are victims of being too good at too many things. These overworked teams are typically responsible for daily topical promotion, image promotion, brand management,