Advertising

New York, NY – December 19, 2018 – iHeartMedia announced today that Eric Hadley has been named Senior Vice President of Marketing, effective immediately. Hadley will report to Gayle Troberman, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for iHeartMedia.

Audio is a fast-growing category encompassing the scale of broadcast radio, which reaches a quarter of a billion monthly listeners, digital, podcasts, smart speakers, live events and more. In this newly created role, Hadley will utilize iHeartMedia’s position as the leading audio company in the United States to reimagine marketing for advertising partners. He will work closely with advertising partners advising them on their audio strategy, to ensure that clients understand how to best plan, buy, measure and optimize the audio experience.

“As the leader in audio, we understand more than anyone that we’re at a key moment when all things audio are growing,” said Troberman. “It’s important that we have someone who understands data, content, planning and creative. Eric's experience on the client, agency and media sides of the table will help us continue to lead the way with audio.”

Hadley is an experienced digital sales and marketing executive with roles spanning across a range of marketing and sales positions focusing on consumer, b2b and brand marketing and sales management for large companies, agencies and starts-ups. He has worked at Microsoft, The Weather Channel, Outbrain and most recently was the Chief Marketing Officer of the location marketing platform, GroundTruth. Hadley has been named an American Advertising Federation Hall of Achievement winner and an Ad Age Media Maven. In addition, his work has been recognized and named to top industry awards including the Effie awards and at Cannes Lions.

“I am excited to join the iHeartMedia team,” said Hadley. “As the leader in audio, iHeart has the complete offering needed to help marketers drive results. There are few companies today that have the daily reach and impact of iHeartMedia.”

New York, NY – November 2, 2017– iHeartMedia, the leading audio company in America with a greater reach in the U.S. than any other media outlet, announced today that Dr. Michele Madansky will join the company as its Executive Vice President of Insights, Research and Data Analytics, effective November 27. Madansky will report to Peter Ban, Executive Vice President of Revenue & Sales Operation.
 
In her new role, Madansky will develop and manage a variety of data and research efforts involving digital analytics, ratings and measurement, ad sales research, mobile measurement, programming analysis, music research, campaign measurement/attribution and marketing research. Her responsibilities will include providing unique audience and consumer analytics across iHeartMedia’s vast array of operations, which encompass radio broadcasting, online, mobile, digital and social media, live concerts and events, television, syndication, and independent media representation.
 
“Michele has an expansive track record providing cutting edge analytics for a wide variety of today’s biggest media companies,” said Ban. “We’re thrilled she’ll be shaping our research efforts and ensuring our advertising partners are best utilizing iHeartMedia’s unparalleled reach and multiplatform assets.”
 
Madansky’s extensive research background includes operating her own media and market research consulting firm specializing in media and advertising. Over the past decade she has worked with some of the top media companies including BuzzFeed, ESPN, Pinterest, Time Inc., Hearst, Twitter, The New York Times, YouTube, GSN, Chegg and BabyCenter. From 2003 to 2007, Madansky served as Vice President of Global Market Research for Yahoo!; prior to joining Yahoo!, she was a managing partner at analytics consultancy Grey Insight Partners and was the first interactive specialist at advertising agency BBDO.
 
“Through the research I have been conducting with college students over the past 5+ years, I have seen the power of radio and audio and its ability to connect with consumers across multiple platforms including in home, in cars and through their smartphones,” said Madansky. “I look forward to working with iHeartMedia to help marketers continue to best leverage the emotional connections that all audiences have with audio and to measure the impact on their businesses.”
 
Madansky currently serves on the Advertising Research Foundation’s Women in Analytics Advisory Board and on the program board for I-COM (Global Forum for Marketing Data and Measurement). She is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

First Suite of Data-Driven Products that Serve Both the Audio and Video Marketplaces

New York, NY – June 19, 2017 – iHeartMedia and Fox Networks Group (FNG) today announced the launch of Smart A/V Audiences, the first suite of data-driven advertising products available to the marketplace offering campaigns including both Audio and Video creative units integrated onto one platform. Smart A/V Audiences will bring the precision and immediacy of digital advertising to the scale of broadcast radio and television for the first time by creating custom audiences based on the combined power of FNG and iHeartMedia data sets.

Smart A/V Audiences will enable brands to deliver more relevant messages by leveraging Smart A/V data to target consumers based on specific interests and passions like music, sports, specific shows, teams and personalities and then serve to those audiences across a combined audio and video platform. Brands will be able to deliver more compelling creative across platforms by tapping into local data and dynamic creative capabilities based on triggers like weather, sports scores, stock market performance and more. Smart A/V Audiences will launch in beta this fall.

Smart A/V Audiences builds on iHeartMedia’s recently launched SmartAudio, which leverages the power of its programmatic solution to help advertisers evaluate, plan and buy broadcast radio, enabling them to build innovative campaigns that target key audience cohorts. It also complements FNG’s latest initiatives, including OpenAP and UP//LIFT, which leverage new ad formats and data to deliver higher impact ad units.

“We launched SmartAudio with the goal of continually expanding it with innovative and impactful ways to help our advertising partners revolutionize the way they buy ads,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. “Now by combining our assets with the unparalleled data and video assets of Fox, advertising partners can leverage audio and visual as one integrated platform. This is a major breakthrough for the industry and for marketers, allowing brands to leverage both audio and visual platforms to reach consumers like never before."

“Our collaboration with iHeartMedia exemplifies our commitment to creating cross-platform and cross-company tools that enable us to efficiently and effectively deliver targeted audiences to brands, ensuring that the most impactful and engaging messages are being told,” said FNG President of Advertising Revenue Joe Marchese. “Smart A/V unites two companies that are innovators in their fields, and together we are uniting the power of customized targeting with real-time creative optimization across television and radio.” 

The suite of data-driven products will include:

• Smart A/V Audiences: Audience profiles leveraging both companies’ collective data (auto intenders, moms, kids under eight, etc.) as well as more specialized audience profiles based on characteristics of their unique audiences (shows, sports, talent, news and music affinity, etc.)
• Smart A/V Adapt: Will enable creative and campaign optimizations that are driven by shared data and technologies. FNG will optimize flighting for brand lift performance and iHeartMedia will optimize creative messaging for the context of the consumer.

Gayle Troberman, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for iHeartMedia, added: “Marketers have been looking for more integrated data solutions and by joining forces we can deliver very specific targeting seamlessly across radio, TV and digital from cars to couches and everywhere in between. We will now have the ability to precision target at massive scale based on everything from consumer passions for music, sports and programming to sentiments, moments and locations, creating more relevance and better context for results than ever before in broadcast advertising. This is the next greenfield for creatives and data scientists to align.”

Ed Davis, Chief Product Officer for FNG Advertising Sales, commented: “Being able to assemble the right audience, at scale, is the first component in generating the best possible returns for advertisers.  The second component is the ability to tune live campaign creative and exposure profiles based on our real-time monitoring of brand performance data.  Sharing the necessary data between Fox and iHeartMedia unlocks the best mechanics to move consumers.”

About Fox Networks Group

Fox Networks Group (FNG) is a primary operating unit of 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA). FNG consists of Fox Television Group, which includes Fox Broadcasting Company and 20th Century Fox Television; Fox Sports Media Group; Fox Cable Networks, which includes FX Networks and National Geographic Partners; and Fox Networks Group Europe, Asia and Latin America. Together these units create, program and distribute the world’s most popular entertainment, sports and nonfiction programming.

The Latest Feature of iHeartMedia’s Groundbreaking Programmatic Solution Combines the Massive Scale of Broadcast Radio with the Power of Digital Data and More Informed Audience Targeting

New York, NY – March 16, 2017 – iHeartMedia, the media and entertainment company with the largest reach of any radio or TV outlet in America, introduced its SmartAudio digital data advertising product, an added feature of its groundbreaking programmatic solution, last night at its “SoundFront” advertising industry event. SmartAudio leverages the power of iHeartMedia’s programmatic solution to help advertisers evaluate, plan and buy broadcast radio, enabling them to build innovative campaigns that target key audience segments.
 
With more than 850 broadcast stations across the country that reach a quarter of a billion listeners a month, industry-leading on-air personalities, digital assets including iHeartRadio, the all-in-one digital music, podcasting and streaming radio service, nationally-recognized live events; mobile; and social, iHeartMedia has the unique ability to offer a suite of advertising solutions and tightly integrated multiplatform campaigns to advertisers and provides them access to a national scale and reach unmatched by any other media outlet in the U.S.
 
SmartAudio provides brands with even more effective ways to reach their audiences. With SmartAudio, iHeartMedia can now mine its unparalleled digital data from more than 95 million registered iHeartRadio listeners, along with leading second and third-party digital data, consumer and behavioral resources and social networks, to create robust audience segment profiles --including Millennials, auto intenders, mothers and more. Advertisers will be able to utilize these enhanced profiles to select the best broadcasting schedules and methods to reach their targeted consumers. By utilizing the product’s capabilities, brands will receive the massive scale of broadcast radio and the targetability of digital. iHeartMedia has already developed more than 700 SmartAudio audience segment profiles, and will continue to create more based on advertisers’ requests. 
 
SmartAudio also enables advertisers to use dynamic ad creative that utilizes real-time triggers such as weather, pollen counts, sports scores, mortgage rates and more to deploy different campaign messages based on what is happening in a specific market at a specific moment. Now, with radio ads, brands will be able to dynamically serve the most relevant message in each market at each moment just as they have done with digital to ensure increased relevance and impact. For example, advertisers can serve one message in Los Angeles when it’s sunny, a different message in New York when it’s snowing or even a different message in the same market later that day when the weather changes automatically without any back-end work on their part.
 
“Broadcast radio has the unparalleled advantage of real-time connection with consumers, giving the ability for advertisers to reach enhanced audiences at scale, and even tailor their creative messages for real-time,” said Tim Castelli, President of National Sales, Marketing and Partnerships for iHeartMedia. “We’ve been testing SmartAudio with some of the top brands and we’re already seeing additional impact for those using it. They’re able to leverage the product’s flexibility to decide which specific ad to run based on something as simple as whether the local sports team won or lost last night’s game.” 
 
“SmartAudio allows us to easily sort through the millions of combinations of stations, shows, dayparts and markets, and hone in on the ones that best reach the audiences we care about,” said Seth Goren, Senior Vice President of Media Strategy and Analytics at Discovery Communications. “Combining the efficiency and scale of radio with data and advanced analytics of digital, moves iHeartMedia beyond the standard age and demo paradigm to create enhanced audience-based plans that drive real business outcomes for us.”
  
In April 2015, iHeartMedia launched its programmatic and automated ad buying solution for its broadcast radio stations, powered by cloud-based technology innovator Jelli.  The company’s programmatic solution– branded SoundPoint – now features the SmartAudio product and is the foundation for iHeartMedia to offer its ad inventory to advertisers and agencies looking to leverage programmatic and automated technology, including private market place and exchange environments, improving the buying process and reducing administrative hurdles and delays.
 
“We launched our programmatic platform with the specific goal of bringing the best resources, unprecedented accountability and speed to our advertising partners,” said Castelli. “Industry response to our SoundPoint platform has been so well received that we’re now unveiling SmartAudio which allows audience segmenting and dynamic creative capabilities all in one planning and buying tool.”
 
SmartAudio is available now to all advertisers who want to utilize the power of broadcast radio to develop highly targeted campaigns that leverage the rich data sets only available via SoundPoint’s technology and analytics.

Steve Keller to Receive Full-Tuition Scholarship to Attend the Berlin School Global Executive MBA Program

BERLIN and NEW YORK – 23 February 2017 —The Berlin School of Creative Leadership and iHeartMedia announced today Steve Keller, CEO of iV, as winner of the second “iHeartMedia Scholarship for Leadership in Audio Innovation” program. Keller will receive a full-tuition scholarship (worth 53,000 Euro) to attend the Berlin School's prestigious global Executive MBA in Creative Leadership Program starting March 2017.

The global scholarship competition was created to help reinforce iHeartMedia's initiatives to drive excitement among the creative community around the possibilities audio offers to advertisers and to develop leadership talent in the field. The second Leadership in Audio Innovation Scholarship Competition received entries from across the world which members of the Berlin School Admission Committee and iHeartMedia's Creative Advisory Council reviewed and evaluated to select the winner.

“iHeartMedia’s goal is to help foster the next generation of innovative creatives, and inspire them to use the power of audio to create groundbreaking advertising campaigns,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, Inc. “Together with the Berlin School, we are pleased to award Steve Keller the second Leadership in Audio Innovation Scholarship, underscoring radio’s important role in enabling advertisers to meaningfully connect and engage with consumers.”

“As a recipient of the iHeartMedia scholarship, I feel a responsibility to give back as much as I get. I want to honor the confidence iHeartMedia has placed in me by devoting time and energy to looking at the unique opportunities and challenges currently facing radio,” said Keller. “I’m already beginning to explore ideas for my Master’s Thesis, and look forward to immersing myself into the world of radio, understanding everything I can to connect the dots between its past, present and future.”

“We are very excited that this second iHeartMedia Scholarship for Leadership in Audio Innovation was awarded to Steve Keller, a creative executive with pioneering experience in audio branding and Nashville sound in his blood,” said Michael Conrad, President of Berlin School of Creative Leadership. “Steve’s unique industry insights will serve iHeartMedia’s assignment well, and he for sure will add much color to our new diverse Class No. 20.”

The part-time EMBA program starts March 2017 in Berlin, Germany and is designed for senior executives in the creative industry who have a track record for creative excellence. The Executive MBA comprises of five separate two-week modules taking place in the USA, Asia and Berlin over 18-24 months.

If you have any questions, please contact the Berlin School at tel. +49 (0) 30 884 980 80 or via email: info@berlin-school.com.

About Berlin School
The Berlin School of Creative Leadership (www.berlin-school.com) is the world’s first educational institute and think-tank dedicated solely to leadership for the creative industries including: media, advertising, marketing, design, journalism, entertainment and digital. Its part-time global Executive MBA program in Creative Leadership is the centerpiece of a vibrant global community of senior creative industry executives from more than 60 countries. Based in Berlin and operated by a not-for-profit foundation, the school’s mission is to help develop leaders whose innovative ideas can refresh, renew and transform the creative industries.

iHeartMedia and AdAge Launch Tagline, an Original Podcast with Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, Where Storytellers and Creators Gather Over Cocktails to Discuss Culture and Creativity

Premier episode to feature guests Wendy Clark, President and CEO of DDB North America and Rob Reilly, Global Creative Chairman of McCann Worldgroup; as well as host Rob Norman, Chairman of GroupM North America on whether marketers are making or chasing culture today

WHAT: Advertising Age and iHeartMedia come together with Bulleit Frontier Whiskey to create Tagline, the new definitive podcast for creators and consumers to listen, learn and laugh over cocktails as some of the most successful people in and around culture today discuss their craft.

As the presenting sponsor of Tagline season one, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey will work with AdAge and iHeartMedia to craft stories and experiences centered around the cultural frontier. Bulleit and its family of high-rye, award-wining variants will provide inspired cocktails to Tagline guests throughout the season, and will work with award-winning mixologists to curate cocktails based on each episode’s discussion topic. The premier episode features Jeff Bell, 2013 World Class American Bartender of the Year.

Tagline will be one of the first podcasts to benefit from iHeartMedia’s recently announced partnership with ART19 to provide first-of-its-kind listening data about when users start, stop, and skip during an episode, as well as listener demographics.

WHO: Hosted by Rob Norman, Chairman of GroupM North America, the premier episode of Tagline will also feature C-level executives in advertising: Rob Reilly, Global Creative Chairman of McCann Worldgroup; and Wendy Clark, President & CEO of DDB North America.

WHEN: Monday, February 6, 2017

WHERE: Tagline will air twice monthly on iHeartRadio and AdAge.com

About Advertising Age
Advertising Age is the leading global source of news, intelligence and conversation for the marketing and media community. Ad Age connects today’s top marketers and brands online, in print and in person with analysis and insights, events including the Ad Age Brand Summit and Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards, and industry data including the Agency Report and Leading National Advertisers.

About Bulleit® Frontier Whiskey
The Bulleit Distilling Co. was founded in 1987 by Tom Bulleit, whose Bulleit Bourbon is inspired by a family tradition. Bulleit Rye, a straight rye whiskey, was added to the portfolio in 2011 to critical acclaim, and the brand's third variant, Bulleit Bourbon 10-Years Old, was introduced in 2013. Bulleit whiskeys use a large amount of rye grain, which gives them their distinctive bold, spicy taste. Bulleit ranks as one of the fastest-growing whiskeys in America, which Tom largely credits to word of mouth recommendations. In 2014, Bulleit broke ground on a new $115 million distillery located in Shelby County, Ky., anticipated to be operational by early 2017. Guests are invited to learn more about the past, present and future of Bulleit by visiting the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience at Stitzel-Weller in Louisville, Ky., a member of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® tour. For more information, visit www.bulleit.com.

About Diageo
Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands including Bulleit and Buchanan's whiskies, Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE) and our products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world. For more information about Diageo, our people, our brands, and performance, visit us at www.diageo.com. Visit Diageo's global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practice. Follow us on Twitter for news and information about Diageo North America: @Diageo_NA. Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.

Please enjoy Bulleit Frontier Whiskey responsibly. The producers of Bulleit Bourbon and The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (FAAR) support responsible decision-making.