A Filcro Media Staffing Advertising Sales Executive Search Review

                                  
      Vice President
    National Online Advertising Sales

Based   New York, NY - USA
Search  Vice President National Online Advertising Sales
Search Firm   Filcro Media Staffing, New York, NY
Search Group  Advertising Sales
Search Officer Tony Filson in New York, NY
Reporting to  Client COO in Washington, DC

Client Company

The Interactive Broadcasting Division of a multiplex multicast multichannel cable television network with 100 million+ subs.  The Network is a division of a major media and entertainment conglomerate.  The client enjoys niche dominance and branding on many platforms as a digital multiplatform, multiplex, multicaster serving a wide group of diverse demographics in domestic and international markets.

Client Situation

The COO of the Interactive Group wanted to expand the digital advertising sales force by identifying a key digital sales executive to manage and build a national sales force in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and the required back-office digital sales operations and client services infrastructure.  The sub groups of Chicago were Ohio for CPG and Detroit for automotive, also falling to this new VP of national advertising sales. 

The COO was introduced to Filcro Media Staffing by the President of TV Network advertising sales who had conducted other senior level national advertising sales searches utilizing Filcro Media Staffing for VP’s; Directors; Managers; Account Executives; Planners; Ideation and sales support.

Industry and Sector Inclusion

• Television Broadcasting
• Motion Picture
• Music Entertainment
• Book and Magazine Publishing
• Interactive Media and Search Engines

The COO retained Filcro Media Staffing (FMS) and Tony Filson (TF) functioning as Officer in Charge of Search.

Filcro Media Staffing is Retained

The Filcro Media Staffing Officer in Charge of Search (Tony Filson) had conducted many searches for the client company in the past and the COO was able to covey tactical and strategic goals without having to convey cultural nuance.  Filcro Media Staffing’s successful experience with similar searches to monetize digital content across multiple media platforms and achieve revenue goals permitted a detailed understanding of what the COO was seeking in the new Digital Vice President of Sales and the internal relationships required with TV Network sales.

The COO of the Interactive Group was an exceptionally articulate and gifted media  executive who able to covey his strategic goals clearly.  His primary focus was to establish a national digital advertising sales organization that would be led by an executive who could lead and mentor others to gain internal and external consensus for convergent programs across multiple media platforms.  At the same time,  this new Vice President of Online Advertising Sales would be expected to function tactically across multiple verticals with clients and agencies and enjoy a duel player / coach role.

The COO wanted to remove himself from the advertising sales function to concentrate on the strategic business goals of the firm.  The new digital sales executive we identified would also be required to capitalize on convergent programs with the TV and Motion Picture Studio Division (MPSD) while building the Online Interactive Advertising Group (OIAG) to be a strong standalone entity unto itself.  An online advertising sales executive who could function with autonomy while building national sales infrastructure in New York, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles would be required.  Recruiting the right cultural fit for the organization would be a challenge as nothing else in the industry existed with this national and international footprint in this genre.

The character, morality and work ethic of this new Vice President were as important as their business acumen.  Anyone speaking with the COO would immediately recognize he is a fine gentleman who wanted the new Vice President to be a reflection of what he had built over the years.

Some of the challenges facing the new Vice President

• Change Management
• Building A National Sales Infrastructure
• Mentoring Current Sales Staff
• Adaptation of Creative Product to the Client
• Formulation of Product for Future Digital Platforms (OEM, OTT)
• Financial Management and Budget Controls
• Client, Agency and Digital Network Relationship Building
• Human Resource Concerns for Training & Development
• Building Internal Consensus for Convergent Programs With TV
• Client and Creative Services, Ideation, Inventory and Traffic
• Building a Planning Process That Benefited TV and Interactive to Optimize Dollars
• Optimizing Multicast, Multiplex, Multi-platform CPM’s With Clients and Agencies

The Filcro Media Staffing Solution

Filcro Media Staffing proceeded to identify over 40 executives in our initial universe of senior directors and vice presidents, all were apparent to the firm.  Those with related convergent experience in broadcast environments were top tiered and ultimately eight executives were recruited to participate from broadcast and cable TV network national online advertising sales environments.

It took three and a half weeks to identify, recruit, attract and qualify five top candidates from those 1st tiered.  The COO moved quickly to take advantage of Filcro Media Staffing’s cadence. The candidates with proven records of success were verified on (4) four levels and the final group was completed with three exceptionally qualified candidates from TV Network and Interactive Media & Entertainment environments.

The three final executives were all exceptionally capable of building nationally and focusing on sales team development that could be responsive to clients and agencies tactically and strategically.  Sales budgets were also similar with the type of growth the COO expected over the next few years.  The COO ultimately spent considerable time making his final decision as he truly felt that two of the executives reflected “exactly” what he wanted in his new Vice President of Sales.

Successful Vice President of Advertising Sales Recruited

The new Vice President hired had built a world-class national on line advertising sales organization and self-sufficient New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit sales offices that facilitated sales, sales engineering, customer / client services and digital media operations.  He had increased operational efficiency and customer retention by restructuring the digital advertising sales organization into three groups: sales, customer service and sales engineering.  He was ideal to implement the type of “Change Management” that the COO wanted to differentiate Interactive Sales from the TV and Motion Picture Groups.

The new Vice President's prior experience renegotiating contracts with existing clients would also enable him to set new price points for sales OPEX once he instituted the changes desired to creative content to meet the needs of new clients in desired verticals.  He had lead TV and Digital account management teams in successfully implementing, tracking, reporting and optimizing interactive marketing campaigns to exceed specific ROI, CPA, CPL and CPS metrics.  He was projected to increase sales by over 250% in his prior environment.

A prior track record of being transparent and accessible to management and board members was another key factor.  The COO felt comfortable knowing that this new Vice President of National Advertising Sales was capable of detailed financial and sales reporting and being transparently accountable for his directives.

Working with and enhancing key relationships with clients and representing his prior employer(s) at industry trade shows, conferences and network events, also made him a very visible person in the interactive community.  Noted were speaking engagements in New York, Las Vegas, Chicago and San Francisco where business, technical and creative acumen were required to demanding audiences of peers, advertising agencies and direct clients.

With clear strengths in new business development, team building, financial management and a creative capacity with interactive digital product development this executive was a true match on every level. His education being focused on finance, the COO knew that the new Vice President would express fiscal responsibility in all the areas that reported into him.

On a cultural level the new Vice President was very much like the COO and a good fit for the organization.  The new Vice President is known as a caring, honest, smart and diligent executive by those who know him personally and professionally.  Our firm was very fortunate to bring forward such a talented executive to be hired who could facilitate every aspect of the COO’s immediate and long-term sales and digital business objectives.

This executive has accomplished everything the COO mandated and Filcro Media Staffing was instrumental in identifying subsequent sales executives as the executive search firm of record that built the national infrastructure desired around the Vice President in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago.