ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment Taps Former GroupM North America CEO Marc Goldstein to Lead Content Development
NEW YORK (March 30, 2010) – The Association of National Advertisers’ Alliance for Family Entertainment announced today the appointment of media agency and branded entertainment leader Marc Goldstein to spearhead its key content development initiative.
Since its inception, the Alliance, which includes nearly 40 of the largest national advertisers in America, has help put 20 plus primetime family shows, including Gilmore Girls, Everybody Hates Chris, Chuck and Friday Night Lights on the air. Goldstein, formerly CEO of media agency holding company GroupM North America, is an acclaimed industry veteran who has worked closely with the Alliance for years. For nine years he served on the Alliance’s Executive Committee and played a leading role in the group’s content development successes.
Goldstein’s new consulting practice will lead the Alliance’s mission to develop content that reflects the modern American family everywhere American families consume stories, including traditional, digital and emerging platforms. Goldstein will with work the Alliance’s numerous content development partners, including Humanitas, the Hollywood organization that partnered with the Alliance last spring to find inspiring stories supported by its award winning writers. Several concepts created by Humanitas are currently being considered for development by Alliance member companies.
“We are delighted to have Marc lead the Alliance’s content development initiative,” said Pat Gentile, ANA Alliance co-chairman and general manager, Procter & Gamble Productions. “As a leader during the most turbulent time in our industry’s history, he has seen it all, done it all, and made it all work. Marc is the perfect choice at the perfect time to advance our mission.”
“The Alliance has worked closely with Marc for almost a decade, and we know firsthand he thoroughly understands all the nuances of content development from the marketer’s perspective as well as what the networks and content providers expect from advertisers,” added Ben Simon, Alliance co-chair and director of Wal-Mart brand marketing. “As we continue to expand and pursue new opportunities, we’ll need an inventive and knowledgeable hand at the steering wheel and there is no one that can fill that role better than Marc.”
Goldstein added, “Arguably nothing is more critical to a marketer’s success today than the ability to effectively reach consumers. The need for quality storytelling that reflects what really goes on in American households is greater than ever, making the Alliance even more relevant now than when it was formed. I relish the opportunity to pursue my passion for using compelling content to help marketers build enduring relationships with their consumers.”
Goldstein has been at the forefront of change in the media business. At GroupM, he oversaw the company's four operating units – Maxus, MEC, MediaCom and Mindshare. Before that, he was President/CEO of Mindshare North America, and under his leadership, the WPP media shop was twice named Adweek’s “Agency of the Year.” He joined Mindshare North America as President, National Broadcasting and Programming, in November 2000, from GM Mediaworks, where he served as Executive Vice President, Managing Director and managed the automotive manufacturer’s $1 billion national broadcast media account.
About the ANA/ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment
Founded in 1910, the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) leads the marketing community by providing its members with insights, collaboration, and advocacy. ANA’s membership includes 350+ companies with 9,000 brands that collectively spend over $250 billion in marketing communications and advertising. The ANA strives to communicate marketing best practices, lead industry initiatives, influence industry practices, manage industry affairs, and advance, promote, and protect all advertisers and marketers.
For more information, visit www.ana.net.
The ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment is a group of nearly 40 national advertisers representing approximately 30% of all U.S. television advertising dollars. Its mission is to find, nurture, develop and support high quality content the entire family can enjoy. Founded more than a decade ago (as the Family Friendly Programming Forum) the power of the collective group is committed to ensuring there are family programming choices on broadcast/cable networks, internet, mobile devices and gaming platforms, wherever consumers look for family entertainment.
The group has hosted five symposiums (its sixth is planned for June 2010) to keep an ongoing dialogue with the entertainment community about the business efficacy of family entertainment and has granted 58 scholarships to ensure that future content developers and writer understand marketers’ commitment to family entertainment.
For more, visit www.anaafe.com.
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Contact:
Patty Kerr
for
ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment
310.344.4487
pkerr@spkllc.com