“It’s a heckuva third day on the job”
Joe Marchese made his Upfront debut yesterday at the Fox upfront presentation, having just been named the new ad-sales leader for the massive Fox Networks Group just days before. “It’s a heckuva third day on the job,” he told the packed house of media buyers and advertisers. Imagine the pressure he might feel as he squares off against a league of video content all-stars spanning digital, cable and network broadcasters. Never has the competition been so fierce for video ad dollars and, perhaps, never has the future loomed so uncertain. And, then, along comes Joe… Marchese joined Fox Networks Group (FNG) back in December 2014 when he sold the company his digital ad business, TrueX, for reportedly $200 million. The choice to put Marchese in a leadership role with FNG underscores the dramatic shifts in audience attention and media consumption. Traditional interruptive advertising must change and FNG is making a bold statement that they recognize that fact and are betting on a guy who will lead that change for them. Quoting from a May 10, 2017 Variety article: “This is the start of the hard work,” said Marchese in an interview, indicating that he was eager to come up with new ideas for advertisers at a time when technology has made the act of avoiding or ignoring traditional TV commercials much easier. “We are going to see a new model” of advertising put into place around video content, he said. This year during Brand Storytelling at Sundance Film Festival, Marchese captured the attention of the brand and agency audience with his thesis that “The Market for the World’s Most Valuable Resource is Broken,” and that resource is attention. This is a fascinating presentation that really simplifies the challenges advertisers and their media partners face today when we don’t value people’s time correctly. Invest 15 minutes of your time to watch this today and tell me if it doesn’t make the media world a little clearer. It’s very insightful thinking from a guy whose big job just got a whole lot bigger.
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