TEGNA to centralize their station marketing

[Dave Lampstein 99]

TEGNA joins the ranks of other local station groups who have decided to try to hub their station promo marketing. An announcement came down from outgoing COO Lynn Beall today. More industry layoffs ahead, just in time for the holidays.

 

Quote

Dear Colleagues,
 
Today, we're sharing that we're centralizing our marketing team. This team will share the same goals as stations – growing audience and revenue. 
 
We know this change won’t be easy, but it is a necessary step to becoming more focused, effective and strategic in our marketing efforts. This will eliminate duplication of work and allow us to apply best practices across the entire organization.
 
The team will oversee key areas including the growth of our stations and audience, digital marketing, consumer insights, community engagement, commercial production and strategic initiatives like sponsorships and sports. This structure will include regional marketing leaders who will oversee multiple stations and markets. We encourage everyone to apply for roles on the new team.
 
Unfortunately, because not everyone will have a seat in the new structure, we have also created a transition period for marketing employees through mid-January.
 
We’re very thankful for the hard work and dedication of our marketing teams and the positive impact they’ve made in serving our communities.

 

[tyrannical bastard 3933]

10 minutes ago, Dave Lampstein said:

TEGNA joins the ranks of other local station groups who have decided to try to hub their station promo marketing. An announcement came down from outgoing COO Lynn Beall today. More industry layoffs ahead, just in time for the holidays.

 

 

Classy move Tegna, even better to leave the task to your OUTGOING COO.

 

Hopefully this will be a temporary move like it was with Meredith before they got sucked into Gray.  They literally had to rebuild all of their marketing teams after Meredith tried hubbing them.

 

For promos and image campaigns, well, that's one thing.  But hubbing local commercial production is a mistake as the task is taken out of the community where this knowledge is useful, and done in some random place (any idea where the hub will be?)

 

I"ve heard rumblings of something like this going down at Sinclair, but that's still to be determined.

[Dave Lampstein 99]

35 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Classy move Tegna, even better to leave the task to your OUTGOING COO.

 

Hopefully this will be a temporary move like it was with Meredith before they got sucked into Gray.  They literally had to rebuild all of their marketing teams after Meredith tried hubbing them.

 

For promos and image campaigns, well, that's one thing.  But hubbing local commercial production is a mistake as the task is taken out of the community where this knowledge is useful, and done in some random place (any idea where the hub will be?)

 

I"ve heard rumblings of something like this going down at Sinclair, but that's still to be determined.

 

It's inevitable that it happens at all of these station groups. It makes sense... your stations all look the same, they essentially have similar brands that were all developed by the same agencies/consultants. When I was at Hearst, you could see this starting to happen with their cookie-cutter promos being swapped between markets and this was over a decade ago. So many TEGNA stations have similar brands at their core... you could easily build a single campaign, have local news photogs shoot your talent and b-roll and have some editor in Iowa stitch them all together and upload to Dropbox.

 

I know everyone here loves the idea of local identities, but that concept is dead. You can get your black and gold graphics package... that's about it. Woof. 

 

It sounds like it's going to be all remote. I saw a few former colleagues already posting on LinkedIn looking for their next gig. Some really talented people too, which makes you wonder who they're going to keep around...

[Howard Beale 57]

I think TEGNA is doing this as part of a prospective buyout or merger.  Why do I believe this?  Two reasons:

1. Meredith Corporation did the exact same thing in 2020.  It eliminated creative services departments at its TV stations in favor of two marketing hubs.  At that time, Meredith executives were eagerly planning to get out of the TV business, and they hoped cost cutting would appeal to a prospective buyer.  Gray Television (now Gray Media) answered the call a year later.
    
2. TEGNA wants out of the business while the getting is somewhat good.  Under previous CEO Dave Lougee, TEGNA tried to merge with Standard General, but the FCC effectively blocked the merger.  TEGNA management knows that the incoming Trump administration will likely deregulate broadcasting in whole or part, so they’re hoping 2025 is the year they can cash out and get their golden parachutes.

[Megatron81 256]

I agree with Howard Beale that TEGNA wants out Soo Kim or Standard General A.K.A. Media General from the dead will not be the buyer. Why their hubs the marketing and making the cuts which I feel bad for those out of a job right near the holidays. I'm surprised that TEGNA didn't want to sell in that 2017-2020 I know they were into a buying spree in that time and it didn't work out for them.  

[nathannah 2402]

After reading another TVNC op-ed about how 'news directors must lead the AI revolution'...it really feels like most of these soothsayers and execs just don't care.

 

I've already seen a concrete company buy a bunch of smaller outfits and blatantly use AI voices and imagery for TV ads to sell their product in multiple markets and it looks jank and terrible; I'm sure they've plunged to 'only if desperate' status. Let's see what happens when AI has to dare tackle unique market quirks like KUSA's and KARE...it'll probably explode when it has to market around the WNEP talkback line.

[MicFlag 9]

TEGNA owns a powerful and heritage station in my market. It will be painful to watch as this move will probably lead to production mistakes, going to black, unscripted camera swings and other discreps. The business is becoming all about the bottom line and less about what's on their screens.

[ABC 7 Denver 1712]

Remember when Meredith did this and Gray UN-did it?

[Dave Lampstein 99]

Today is the last day for local marketing teams at TEGNA stations. 
 

It will be interesting to see what sort of creative shows up on air over these next few months. 

[newsteam13 394]

The media landscape under Gannett was characterized by significant investment in resources, fostering a vibrant and distinctive identity for each station. Gannett stations enjoyed access to high-quality cameras, advanced equipment, helicopters, the best damn photojournalists (NPPA award winners), and top-tier talent, including renowned voiceovers like NBC's Danny Dark and ABC's Ernie Anderson (for station promos and news opens). Not to mention the patriotic red/white/blue color scheme for each station's logos and graphics. The emphasis was on creativity and local engagement, allowing each station to develop its unique branding and tailor content to resonate with local audiences. This commitment to individuality and quality resulted in a rich viewer experience, with stations able to connect deeply with their communities.

 

In contrast, the current model under Tegna reflects a shift towards standardization and efficiency, often at the expense of local identity and production values. Centralizing marketing teams means that individual stations no longer have the autonomy to customize their branding and messaging for their specific markets, leading to a homogenized viewer experience. As Tegna prioritizes cost-cutting and uniformity, the previous emphasis on creativity is diminished, which can alienate local audiences who appreciate the distinctiveness of their hometown stations. This transition may also have negative implications for employees, resulting in job losses and decreased morale, ultimately affecting the connection between the stations and the communities they serve.

 

I remember KUSA in Denver as a fabulous television station during the Gannett days. The anchor team featured Mike Landess and Ed Sardella. 9NEWS was allowed to showcase its theme music, which included the "It's All Right Here" promos and news theme music packages from Peters Productions and Frank Gari. When KUSA was an ABC affiliate in the 1980s, who better to promote 9NEWS and open its newscast than Mr. ABC himself, Ernie Anderson?

 

Unfortunately, today's KUSA doesn't resemble its glory days. One noticeable change is removing the signature patriotic red, white, and blue lines from the current 9NEWS logo, which was introduced in 1984 when the station changed its call letters from KBTV to KUSA. Not to mention we don't see the 9 K*USA logo as much nowadays.

Edited January 17 by newsteam13

[tyrannical bastard 3933]

52 minutes ago, newsteam13 said:

The media landscape under Gannett was characterized by significant investment in resources, fostering a vibrant and distinctive identity for each station. Gannett stations enjoyed access to high-quality cameras, advanced equipment, helicopters, the best damn photojournalists (NPPA award winners), and top-tier talent, including renowned voiceovers like NBC's Danny Dark and ABC's Ernie Anderson (for station promos and news opens). Not to mention the patriotic red/white/blue color scheme for each station's logos and graphics. The emphasis was on creativity and local engagement, allowing each station to develop its unique branding and tailor content to resonate with local audiences. This commitment to individuality and quality resulted in a rich viewer experience, with stations able to connect deeply with their communities.

 

In contrast, the current model under Tegna reflects a shift towards standardization and efficiency, often at the expense of local identity and production values. Centralizing marketing teams means that individual stations no longer have the autonomy to customize their branding and messaging for their specific markets, leading to a homogenized viewer experience. As Tegna prioritizes cost-cutting and uniformity, the previous emphasis on creativity is diminished, which can alienate local audiences who appreciate the distinctiveness of their hometown stations. This transition may also have negative implications for employees, resulting in job losses and decreased morale, ultimately affecting the connection between the stations and the communities they serve.

 

I remember KUSA in Denver as a fabulous television station during the Gannett days. The anchor team featured Mike Landess and Ed Sardella. 9NEWS was allowed to showcase its theme music, which included the "It's All Right Here" promos and news theme music packages from Peters Productions and Frank Gari. When KUSA was an ABC affiliate in the 1980s, who better to promote 9NEWS and open its newscast than Mr. ABC himself, Ernie Anderson?

 

Unfortunately, today's KUSA doesn't resemble its glory days. One noticeable change is removing the signature patriotic red, white, and blue lines from the current 9NEWS logo, which was introduced in 1984 when the station changed its call letters from KBTV to KUSA. Not to mention we don't see the 9 K*USA logo as much nowadays.

Gannett definitely planted of the seeds of decline in the 2000s as they shifted towards centralized graphics.  It made for easy assimilation of the Belo stations and any others that were purchased before Tegna was split off.

 

Meanwhile, Gannett has continued the decline on the newspaper side as they've grown to become the largest "publisher" of "newspapers" in the country.  (I use the quotations because the actual act of printing a newspaper is becoming rarer and rarer.)

Edited January 17 by tyrannical bastard

[channel2 978]

1 hour ago, newsteam13 said:

Unfortunately, today's KUSA doesn't resemble its glory days. One noticeable change is removing the signature patriotic red, white, and blue lines from the current 9NEWS logo, which was introduced in 1984 when the station changed its call letters from KBTV to KUSA. Not to mention we don't see the 9 K*USA logo as much nowadays.

 

They were barely using it even when I grew up, which would've been the 2000s. Considering that a lot of the American flag iconography Gannett once drenched its stations in now seems to be the exclusive province of outfits like Fox News, I sadly don't blame them for ditching those trappings.