NBCUniversal’s Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships, Linda Yaccarino, is betting big on the power of partnership – whether that’s colleagues coming together again in the workplace or competitors coming up with solutions to their industry’s thorniest issues. In this episode, we talk to her about the media company’s plans to do just that, like unveiling at its ONE21 event numerous partnerships across content and tech to help marketers build a new experience for viewers across its platform. Linda also fills us in on Olympics plans, Upfronts, and why trust is the hardest thing to build and the easiest thing to lose.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good Company is a production of I Heart Radio. I
think probably the biggest flaw for what would be a
short term leader would be to think you have the
answers to everything, that human interaction by diverse groups of
people is where innovation is born. Hi, I'm Michael Casson.
(00:24):
Welcome to Good Company, where I'll explore how marketing, media, entertainment,
and tech are intersecting transforming our lives and the way
we do business at a breakneck speed. I'll be joined
by some of the greatest business minds at strongest leaders
who will share how they build companies from the ground
up or transform them from the inside out. My bed
is you'll pick up a lesson or two along the way.
(00:45):
It's all good. It's hard for me to figure a
way to welcome my guest on Good Company today without
getting too carried away. For more years that I want
to out. I have considered Linda Equarino to be an
extraordinarily good friend, kind of like my sister, my younger sister.
(01:07):
Let's be clear, We've traveled around the world both literally
and figuratively as colleagues, but most importantly as friends. Linda Karino,
the chairman of Global Advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. Welcome
and thank you well, thank you very much. Michael, my
friend and hopefully soon to be travel partner again. So
(01:34):
I'm thrilled to be here and I will be the
first person on your dance card when we get the
green light to do that. Well, you know that, and
you know my fantasy whilst it lived on a different
network at one time. You know my fantasy is to
do advertising dancing with the stars. So Ginger, if you're ready,
I'm ready to be Fred. We can do this. Hey, listen,
(01:55):
I'm ready to go you. I don't know how recently
you've seen my dance moves, but they're pretty good. Linda,
where it's such an interesting time in our world, in
our life, and I don't think that I am overstating
what I'm about to say. You have become the leader,
(02:16):
in my opinion, humbly in our industry for kind of
showing us where the puck is going and being there first.
Most recently, the one day that you hosted back in
March said so much about innovation, said so much about
understanding the intricacies of bringing data and all of the
(02:40):
elements that you can from the vast array of NBCUniversal
and Comcast and bringing it all together. You did the impossible,
and you did it the way you always do it,
with clarity and purpose. Can you talk a little bit
about the impetus behind that and what the drivers were
(03:02):
for the effort that you lad, and as I say,
announced to the world on well, thank you, And as usual, Michael,
you open up with an action pact kind of sort
of positioned as one question with many many components in there.
So I'll try to answer it and thank you for
(03:23):
your gracious comments about leading the industry and certainly the
Gretzky comment about skating to where the puck is going.
As a hockey mom, I have a lot of affection
for that comment. But actually I consider myself a representative
of the advertising industry, but solely in a consumer advocacy position.
(03:47):
So if you're an advocate of the consumer, you want
to protect everything about their experience. And when you think
about the state of the macro ecosystem today, what still
largely drives the ad supported ecosystem is a linear experience
that really does not reflect in any way, shape or form,
(04:11):
not only consumer behavior, but actually it doesn't reflect an
experience that they would ever choose on their own and
it had to get better. So content and technology have
always worked together, but not like the need for it
ever before, because the industry had become i will say,
until kind of gave us all permission to look at
(04:33):
the intersection of the marketplace. But people used to say,
you know, look over to the left, that's a tech company.
Look over to the right, that's a media and a
content company. But the reality is is that the consumer
experiences media where content and technology are one and the same.
They want as much content as possible, and they want
(04:54):
it as easy as possible, so they want it all
in one place. And one twenty one really demonstrated a
unique position that Comcast, NBC and Sky live in at
the intersection of media and technology, and we wouldn't be
able NBCUniversal, wouldn't be able to be as good as
(05:18):
we'd like to believe we are in delivering the most
content that we make to consumers without the help of
our partners and being the company that's so dedicated on
three things right. Three simple ideas were rallying and coalescing
all of the industry and our partners around broadband aggregation
and streaming. And we need help to do that, and
(05:40):
we were excited to bring our carefully chosen partners to
the stage with us, whether it was Twitter or the
trade Desk and Instagram help us enhance that consumer experience. So, Linda,
I want to give you a resounding compliment, whether it
was back to you bringing the entire industry together with
(06:02):
all your competitors at the four Seasons, or whether it
was in Studio A when you had one of those
early innovation days and you brought people from another network
and to talk about what they were successful with. Nobody's
ever done that, Linda. We've always been in a world
where you know, kind of dog eat dog. You could
be friends after the presentations, but the dog eat dog
(06:24):
competition of our business as you're never going to shine
a light on your competitor unless it's to say mind's
bigger or mind's better. You did it differently, and no
one's ever done that. You've always been there to either
accept the invitation or create the platform for that coalescing
of competitors, because if you look at the world this way,
(06:45):
we're all kind of in the same soup. Well, it's
a really interesting question and really a what I believe
is quite illogical approach to the marketplace if you're so
precious about your own capabilities and your own assets that
(07:06):
you don't want to either a share best practices or
invite some of your partners and in many cases competitors
in so they can share their's so you can get better.
I think probably the biggest flaw for what would be
a short term leader would be to think you have
(07:26):
the answers to everything, or think you know how to
deliver the best possible experience to your customers. So it's
definitely our partnership philosophy came from a couple of simple areas.
Number one, I'll just go back to consumer advocacy. If
you want to make the experience the best possible, you
(07:47):
better listen to your customer, and you better listen and
learn from your competitors. Right. So, so it's actually a
very simple philosophy. But when either you know and I
laughed because I was you used the heresy, I was
called by someone at my own company a heretic by
showing up on that stage with Bob Lord to talk
(08:08):
about programmatic and the whole idea back then was that
NBC Universal was open to the idea of programmatically opening
up our inventory for customers to purchase with speed and precision.
And back then NBCUniversal wasn't able to do that on
our own, and the the idea or the notion was
(08:30):
to join hands with a O L to do. So
I'm gonna say something that goes to how secure you are,
but how secure NBC Universal is in its position. And
I'm going to make this personal. Years ago, someone said
to me, Michael, you're so open with your relationships. You
(08:52):
always are connecting this person to that person, introducing Sally
to Johnny and Johnny to Billy. And he came from
a world he was in the talent agency business before,
and he came from a world where people were like
this with their relationships. Oh no, no, I need to control.
And I said to him, You've got to be clear
on something. I'm very secure in the basis of the
(09:14):
relationships that I have. So I'm not worried that if
I introduced Linda to Joe that Lynda is not going
to be my friend anymore and she's going to become
Joe's friend. I'm not worried about that because I know
the basis of the relationship that I have with Lynda
is secure in your case, you know that the basis
of what you're bringing to market is secure. Therefore you're
(09:36):
not as worried about the other guy or the other gal,
because we can do this better together. I mean, it
really is. I know that sounds like a bumper sticker,
but it's just it's a tribute to you. But it's
also a tribute to the confidence that you have in
what you're doing that it's not going to take your
eye off the ball to have somebody who is you know,
(09:57):
in air quotes a competitor. I think that says a
lot to the value of the platform or the platforms
that you represent. Well, it certainly does. Look I am
not naive to ever forget any moment that I work
for not only the largest premium content company in the country,
(10:20):
but that we get to represent a diversity of assets
that are literally driving culture and are driving the conversation.
If you're tweeting about something, it's likely in one way,
shape or form, you are connected to that content, whether
it is you know, political in nature, whether it is
(10:43):
what the cold open for Saturday Night Live was, or
it was oh my gosh, did you just just see
this play on Sunday night football, you're likely interacting with
NBCU content. So it's not lost on me. Literally pinched
me moments almost every single day about kind of the
perch that I get to take a look at content
(11:05):
all across our country, all across every screen, English language,
Spanish language. I mean, it's it's truly is, quite frankly,
an embarrassment of riches. That said, you get your confidence
from the belief and the conviction in that product that
you have. Therefore, you're in a position to go seek
(11:27):
out partnerships with the right people that are carefully chosen.
If you look at what the trade desk is doing
in the connected TV space, it would be no surprise
to you that we've chosen that preferred partner very very carefully,
or that we have just entering right a new phase
of a global partnership with Twitter. So we take those
(11:49):
partnerships very seriously. But you're right, it stems from the
confidence in the content that we have, in our deep,
deep belief of an open marketplace that benefits the consumer,
and that's what drives every decision that we make. It
seems like our industry has turned on a series of
(12:11):
words that all begin with the letter t transparency, technology,
talent trust. We're in a world right now where data
and privacy and all the issues are front and center,
and trust, as it is in personal relationships, is equally,
(12:32):
if not more important in business to business relationships, and
particularly when it comes to how companies are handling data
and the information because we live in a world where
everybody knows everything about everybody and it's such an incredibly
important moment, and with what you're doing with one platform,
(12:52):
trust is kind of at the center of it. Can
you talk about that a little? Trust has always been
and is the cornerstone of every good relationship, right but
also at the epicenter of our company for so many years,
in so many decades, and particularly coming out of the pandemic,
(13:14):
is that people, so many people came to us because
they trusted that we would connect them with the important
information they needed that when they needed a break and
they wanted to just connect in a way where they
were being entertained. They came to us for entertainment too,
So we learned more than ever that the brands so
(13:37):
vast of NBCUniversal, but at the core of the relationship
that we have with consumers is trust. And you know,
that is an incredibly difficult thing to build and one
of the easiest things to lose. In a nano second,
that competence of the strength of the ground of it
(13:58):
underneath your feet can be gone. So we take it really,
really seriously. I look back to when we were in
that moment twenty years ago of that dot com bust.
We had a file cabinet that says, these are the
people who think you can build a brand in thirty days.
Twenty years ago, I thought that was impossible. Today it's
probably not impossible. But what has gotten more intense is
(14:20):
the possibility that you could destroy a brand in thirty seconds.
That is absolutely correct. So everything that you're talking about,
whether it starts with trust or then it's technology, transparency, talent,
and maybe some tea words that I forgot, but it's
(14:41):
actually the maturation and sophistication of technology that's forcing all
of this, you know, kind of to collide. And you
have some media and technology companies that could potentially get
caught in the crosshairs of that, and it actually in
turn makes the consumer extremely vulnerable, whether it is from
(15:06):
misinformation to hate speech to just quite frankly subpar content.
The consumer is the one who's on the line and
who's vulnerable, and that's what you have to protect all day,
every day. Because it also just heightens my confidence or
(15:27):
my enthusiasm to talk to any global marketer because many
people talk to me, Linda, how do you feel about trust?
How do you feel about you know, consumer protection and
I and how do you deal with it every day?
My answers surprised them a lot, and I say, I
don't have to deal with it any day because we
(15:48):
don't have that trust issue. If you have a partnership
with NBC Universal from a marketing perspective, you know where
you are creative is going to air next to Arcadent.
You know, none of it's ever a surprise is there
isn't a surprise piece of content that ever goes on
any of our platforms or on any of our network.
You know, I'm doing air quotes on a podcast, but
(16:10):
on our air. So there's a confidence and a confidence
security blanket wrapped around every single deal that we do
with a marketer. And it's actually quite liberating when we
have that conversation because the worry of trust comes off
the table, and for us, that's something that we don't
take for granted, because we keep investing in those capabilities
(16:34):
and those relationships every day. I had a conversation the
other day with a large marketer who talked about the
other C word with content, which is commerce. The collision
of content and commerce shouldn't be a new idea. I
think we were always creating at least marketing messages to
create commerce. You weren't doing it to feel good. You
(16:55):
did it so you could sell stuff, products or services
or goods or what have you a marketing perspective. But
now that marriage is front and center of content and
commerce because it's not only I want to drive you
to the store. I want to send you a message
that makes you go to the store to buy the
product or makes you go to redeem the service. Now,
(17:17):
I want you to do it within the content. Now.
I want you to do it as we're having the experience. Now,
I want you to bring content and commerce together. It's
such an important part of the exchange now because we
all live in a world where instant gratification isn't quick enough.
So I want it now. I want to be able
to buy it as I'm experiencing it, and that is
(17:39):
such I think an important extension of what you do
because you have to have that end to end solution.
Now for your marketing partners, it's not just the point
solution anymore. It's content leads to commerce and we can
complete the commerce in one circle. You know, this is
probably one of the most exciting the areas of our company,
(18:02):
and believe it or not, us investigating developing this type
of technology and capability started a couple of years ago
and I was actually in London doing a speech and
I stayed for the conference and a whole presentation was
given on the intersection of content and commerce and how
(18:24):
it had become commonplace in Asia, and I became infatuated
with the idea of accelerated efforts and capabilities in the US.
But of course at NBC Universal that brought together content,
connection and commerce, right, So we've been working on this
(18:45):
a while. And who better to partner with to bring
this out to the marketplace than Instagram Because think about it,
this is a demonstration or a continuation of our conversation
about partnerships. Choose the right partner that can enhance the
experience for the consumer. But who's better at that particular
(19:06):
thing than you are? Right? So when We've been working
with Instagram for a while to do uniquely bring this
marketplace to our customers. We have the content for them
that could drive a heightened participation in the technology they
have on each of our platforms. So think about the
(19:31):
Instagram platform, think about the linear and digital video platforms
that NBCUniversal has driven by the content all across the boards.
This diversity of content you can't even imagine. But then
you add that shop Herble piece to it, and we're
actually just pushing the entire marketing place forward really really quickly,
(19:55):
and we're very excited. I mean already, I think the
announcement is only a couple of weeks old, since one
and we've developed a network of retail partners that is
exceeding a hundred retail businesses back and leverage our platform
and our content to directly get to their consumer. And
imagine how important this is. And this what gets me
(20:17):
really excited, if you couldn't tell, is that think about
how brick in mortar businesses or those sales doors for
our clients are closing, but we're actually opening up new
doors for them to reach their consumer directly. So I
think while we are certainly in early days. We are
so bullish and so excited about what's to come from
(20:39):
these new new doors that we're opening. Not only for
our marketers, so think about small business benefit to large
scale advertisers to deal directly with consumers. Linda, you were
early in identifying some of the leaders in the director
consumer marketplace. I remember having at a dinner at one
of the NBC Innovation Day and my friend John Foley
(21:02):
showed up and I thought, smart, you know this guy
has has got the right idea. And you saw it
early on John Foley for our listeners as the founder
of Peloton, but you saw it early, and you also
understood when we at Media Link and I'm I know
you've heard me say this before, but I'm in the
midst of trademarking a word, and that word is brand formants,
(21:25):
because I think that the marriage, just like content and commerce,
the marriage of brand marketing and performance marketing is happening
before our very eyes. And the only difference really between
the two ever, was the utilization of data and a
closed loop. In some way, you're experiencing it yourself as
(21:46):
a marketer with Peacock. You've now gone from NBC's primary
marketing spend over the years would be around movies and television.
When we talk about what you need to do in
a subscrip fiber acquisition world, it's kind of a different
marketing muscle. You are always in that position in your
(22:06):
purchase chairman. You're a buyer and a seller that brand
formants mentality. Are you seeing it played out by the
agencies and the clients and understanding that marriage of the two.
It's a great question. I'm gonna brand formants? Did I
say that? Right? Did? Okay? So what I would translate,
so if you're going to get it, then we'll also
(22:28):
get it in either the dictionary or Wikipedia, one or
the other. And I think the definition or used in
a sense is exactly one of the ways I would
describe the need for the marketplace for one one and
that is a full funnel experience for a marketer that
(22:50):
is completed or born out of the intersection of media
and technology. You were talking about fully and you're talking
about Peloton. You have this need for this brand building, right,
the power of the brand? What do you stand for?
From a purpose perspective? What are you? What do you do?
But you also have to see the return on your
(23:12):
ad spend and say how do I perform? I gotta
keep this marketing machine going. And you know what we're
seeing with that they need through throughout the whole company
is really demonstrated by a company like NBC Universal because
the more sophisticated that data and technology gets for a
(23:34):
massive content company like NBC Universal, that's when you can
offer the full funnel opportunity for a marketer that closes
that little at the end to end. You know, our
friend Wendy Clark said to me years ago, so many
people come and try to pitch me on point solutions.
(23:55):
I'm really looking for those end to end solutions. And
it was in a different context, but that's where we
are now. Yeah, And that's why it's really important that
I'm hoping more people develop a philosophy like we have
of partnerships. And I'll give you like a really good example,
because you can't do end to end alone no matter
(24:15):
who you are. You may have an end to end
solution or closed loop attribution for your particular communication plan
or by that you did for an advertiser, but there
is not one company in the supported ecosystem that can
give every marketer what they need because the consumer doesn't
(24:37):
act that way, right, So the consumer is not monogamous.
They are all over the place, consuming all different kinds
of media from all different kinds of companies. So you've
got to work with other people to offer the strongest
and best opportunity. I'll give an example. This may be
really provocative, and you and I never talked about this,
(24:58):
and I may keep my title of cheam paratic in
charge at We just recently submitted on a very large
blue chip advertiser RFP, right, and as our team was
reading the brief, and it was for the launch of
a brand new product that was going to be a
(25:20):
nationwide product US launch, but also need very specific local
market additions. But the key thing about it was that
there were certain things that were very important to this
brand launch that NBCUniversal could not bring the scale that
(25:41):
we would like to the response to this RFP. So
what did we do. We went out and we pitched
a social media platform to partner with us in responding
to the pitch, and we went to an audio platform
partner to respond to the pitch, and we went in
(26:02):
together as three not one, NBCUniversal, who's the biggest premium
content company in the world, but we wanted to go
back to them with ideas that we could activate using
our talent and using the scale of our content, but
that would enable consumers to get it on any platform
(26:22):
on their terms. Well, I can tell you that it
blew the advertiser away. I wish I could tell you
a success story that we closed the deal but they're
still considering it. But that was just a couple of
weeks ago. So imagine that responding to an RFP with
other companies in addition to your own. But that goes
back to what I said earlier. Linda, you're secure and
(26:44):
what you bring in, so it doesn't diminish what you bring.
It's an enhancement because it's the power of collaboration in
its best form. So, Linda, there's a couple of things
that are so topical right now, and I'm going to
tell you the three topics I want to kind of
jump too, and I'll do it in whichever order feels right.
Number one is the Olympics. Just want to understand what
(27:06):
it's going to look like to the degree you can share.
Number Two, we have something coming up here in the
market called the Upfronts, and I know people want a
sense of what the market looks like and what you
see and and the opportunities, and then you know, finally
something on how we work, the future of work, and
(27:27):
how we do what we do. As I said to
somebody the other day, I'm anxious to go back to
most of what I used to do, but I'd just
like to do it in sweats. Michael, we might be
the same in that area, except you know me, I'll
be in sweats, but I will have heels on exactly exactly.
You know. Let's start with the Olympics, Linda. It's one
of the most important things in the world, especially now,
(27:51):
because at least in principle, it helps bring the world together,
and God knows this world needs to be a bit
more together on so many different aspects. But it's going
to be different, right And you've had to wait an
extra year and the pent talk about pent up demand.
So I'm gonna let your riff. I mean, what do
we have in store? What? What are we going to see?
What's gonna get? NBCUniversal has the Olympics until at least two,
(28:19):
so I might be able to riff until then. There
you go. I'll try to give you the top of
the top because I get chills when I just think
about how close the Olympics are, and there's some deep,
deep meaning or master plan about having the Olympics have
to wait a year when the world is coming out
(28:42):
of and on the cusp of a healing from the
global pandemic, and the Olympics will certainly be the signature
event that will bring the world together for the first
time since all of this shook us all to our core.
(29:05):
So the global coming together of the most galvanizing event
in the celebration of sport is hard to even wrap
your head around because to cheer for your team, to
cheer for your country, to hear your national anthem playing
(29:26):
while your athlete is on the podium, there's no surrogate
for that. And the Olympics has always been an equalizer,
a celebration of sport, the best of the best, and
for everyone in this world to have had to wait
for a year for it to happen just escalates and
(29:47):
elevates the emotion as all of us the world will
be cheering for these athletes to finally get their moment,
which many times comes to a fraction of a second
that pays off a lifetime of training, so we couldn't
be more excited, We couldn't be more grateful to be
the company that's able to bring that type of event
(30:12):
to the people of the United States in just here
an utter celebration. Well, Linda, I too am excited because
I do think sport is at the center of that
and the Olympics is the quintessential expression. So I know
there's a lot of bated breath and that includes mine
waiting for the summer, and I know it's going to
(30:34):
be exciting, and I'm certain the execution will be NBC flawless.
That's a hashtag, I guess, and I'm certain it will be. Linda.
The second thing I mentioned was the upfront, So we're
on the verge of another year of a different kind
of an upfront. Don't know that we're going to be
in person. Don't know we get to see you standing
(30:55):
up on the stage at Radio City, a staple for
all of us, and another year of that not actually happening,
at least in person. But that's not the important part,
although that is always a fun part and a meaningful part,
because the interaction does matter, and that maybe goes into
the next question about the future of how we work,
but talk about the upfront at the level that you
(31:17):
can in terms of what you're seeing and hearing. It's
an interesting year coming off of last year, which was
no one knew what the future will bring. The sense
of optimism is overwhelming right now for where we're all
going to land, and we're all excited because we want
(31:38):
to support our customers and help grow their businesses because
consumer behavior has shifted, It's changed forever, and their experiences
have accelerated. So we're actually entering the upfront in a
very very different way. Whether we were hoping to be
(31:58):
physically together on a stage like Radio City, I'll miss
that this year. It will be a little virtual. But
the upfront experience this year will absolutely reflect consumer needs
and then we will map that to our clients needs,
which is really just offering our content across every screen simultaneously.
(32:23):
So gone are the days of having negotiations by network
or day part, and it is all about the one
platform opportunities for NBCUniversal. I think what is really important
to talk about is the opportunity that Comcast, NBCUniversal and
(32:44):
Sky gives NBC Universal and why we're so excited to
have these talks with marketers is because we have a
very interesting and broad horizontal view of consumer behavior. Right.
So we'll start with English language, in Spanish language, but
it's across every screen, so linear digital and now streaming
(33:08):
with Peacock, we interact with over six hundred and fifteen
million people globally, right. And when you're able to talk
to customers about the knowledge of data and behavior from
consumers that's been eighty five billion hours with us across
the globe, you're able to have a very specific conversation
(33:29):
because you'll be able to be an information provider of
how to connect the best audiences to marketers to drive sales.
And that's what the upfront is really about. It's a
futures market of how a client company like NBC Universal
can talk to global marketers about driving their product sales
(33:51):
in the future. So we're in a very unique position
to be able to go to our customers at such
scale with with tent data and technology and now demonstrated
in streaming Peacock. So, Linda, last year, you and I
chatted a lot in the spring because we were dealing
with all the industry issues around what was going to
(34:11):
look like last year in the midst of the in
the early part of the pandemic. You won massive kudos
from the industry for this, and well deserved. The two
words that were so important last year we're flexibility and uncertainty.
Marketers were uncertain and ergo publishers and sellers have to
allow for flexibility. Are you seeing that same need for
(34:34):
flexibility this year? Are people more confident in the bets
they're going to place? Well, I think we're absolutely more optimisms,
that's for sure. So the optimism is there. I think
actually the need for market or flexibility is here to stay.
And quite frankly, that's what one platform is all about.
(34:57):
When you're a company like NBC Universal and you have
the diversity of content and the diversity of product offering,
flexibility is something we can talk about with our clients.
So if you're a customer who has true product rollout
(35:19):
that is massive reach and immediacy needs and you invest
in linear in a very big way, and somehow in
the midst of the cycle you want to move to
a more specific advanced advertising message that's more performance driven
(35:42):
that you need certain deliverables or KPI s. You should
be able to not only move from national to local
or local to digital or change your mixed distribution. You
should be able to do that. As a marketer, you
need to be able to do that. So those are
conversations that we're lucky at NBC Universal. Not only do
(36:04):
we have the diversity of assets right, but we have
the capability and functionality to deliver on all those key
flexibility needs. But the differences is that you're it's all
of that data and technology is powered by premium content.
So if you need flexibility and you need to be
(36:25):
in a more performance marketing realm, you don't have to
trade off to less premium content world that the tech
platforms generally have to offer. We're lucky to be in
the position that we're in to offer this flexibility but
still reach audiences at scale. Here's the thing. I'm going
to do two things as we wrap. Number one, the
(36:46):
vaunted peacock logo, the colors of the rainbow that represent
NBC to the world really also describe the veritable cornucopia
of opportunities that you offer to a marketer. Because you
can have it in blue, you can have it in red,
you can have it and yellow, the various colors, it
really comes together with what you're talking about So I
(37:08):
think Peacock the logo and Peacock the brand, and Peacock
that beautiful picture that represents NBC. I think it says
speaks volumes to to what you just said. So good
on that and good on you. I'm going to do
two things to wrap for us here. What's your take
on what our office work balance home or what do
(37:32):
you think it looks like a year from now? Do
you think we're all still I mean, hopefully we have
the optionality to be all back in one place and
back in thirty rock or whatever it may be. But
do you think that happens? Well, I think you're f
word which I think you normally don't try to put
in a podcast. But the effort of flexibility, I think
(37:54):
it's here to stay in terms of the future of work.
You know, it's it's really believed or not. One of
the most exciting things I've been working on, even before
the pandemic, because I do a lot of work with
the World Economic Forum and the interest in building cultures
and team culture has always been a passion of mind
and the future of work particularly I think all of
(38:15):
us experienced driven by COVID, is that flexibility is the
number one necessary thing. And we've all learned, unfortunately by
a forcing mechanism of lockdown, that we can work virtually.
And that's going to be necessarily all developing the plans
to customize or tell or those opportunities or choices all
(38:37):
of our employees. But I would be remiss to point out,
and you've heard me say this so many many times,
you know, an algorithm is great for determining how to
perfectly place an ad next to a right audience that
a piece of content may deliver. But an algorithm cannot
replace art, an algorithm could have never are made. This
(39:00):
is us. An algorithm can't recreate Simone Biles winning her
next gold medal. So when you say that to go
to the future of work, and where the heck is
she going with that? There is no surrogate for human interaction.
So the need for us to get back into a
collaborative work environment is going to grow over time, and
(39:25):
quite frankly that human interaction by diverse groups of people
is where innovation is born. So I'm a big advocate
of getting back to the office, but in the right
way and probably always a mix of people being virtual
from home or at other workspaces around the world, but
(39:46):
always pushing for some human interaction because the intersection of
all those things is where the companies of the future
are going to be able to lead. There you go. So, Linda,
a great place to end. But it wouldn't be Michael
Casson and Linda Acarina if I didn't put in one plug.
But this is the best kind of a plug. So
(40:07):
one of the shows that I'm thinking you're gonna be
featuring in this coming up front is a show called
Ordinary Joe. And the producer of that show is Adam Casson.
I think I've heard his name before. There you go.
So this is my shameless plug, shameless promotion. I want
all the advertisers who are putting their money down with NBC,
(40:30):
and I hope it's a lot and many. Ordinary Joe
the show to watch. Well, I will follow that up
with Ordinary Joe, a show to watch. You'll have to
hear about it. Make sure you tune in, Linda Acarino,
from my heart, you know how much I treasure our
friendship and how I believe this industry treasures you as
(40:53):
a leader and as a voice that matters. Well, I
couldn't ask for a better partner in you, and thank
you so much for having me. I'm Michael Casson. Thanks
for listening to Good Company. Good Company is a production
of I Heart Radio. A special thanks to Lena Peterson,
(41:13):
chief Brand Officer and Managing Director of media Link, for
a vision of Good Company, and to Jen Seeley, Vice
President Marketing Communications of media Link for programming amazing talent
and content. Good Company is edited by Jessica Crinchich.
Good Company is a production of I Heart Radio. I
think probably the biggest flaw for what would be a
short term leader would be to think you have the
answers to everything, that human interaction by diverse groups of
people is where innovation is born. Hi, I'm Michael Casson.
(00:24):
Welcome to Good Company, where I'll explore how marketing, media, entertainment,
and tech are intersecting transforming our lives and the way
we do business at a breakneck speed. I'll be joined
by some of the greatest business minds at strongest leaders
who will share how they build companies from the ground
up or transform them from the inside out. My bed
is you'll pick up a lesson or two along the way.
(00:45):
It's all good. It's hard for me to figure a
way to welcome my guest on Good Company today without
getting too carried away. For more years that I want
to out. I have considered Linda Equarino to be an
extraordinarily good friend, kind of like my sister, my younger sister.
(01:07):
Let's be clear, We've traveled around the world both literally
and figuratively as colleagues, but most importantly as friends. Linda Karino,
the chairman of Global Advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. Welcome
and thank you well, thank you very much. Michael, my
friend and hopefully soon to be travel partner again. So
(01:34):
I'm thrilled to be here and I will be the
first person on your dance card when we get the
green light to do that. Well, you know that, and
you know my fantasy whilst it lived on a different
network at one time. You know my fantasy is to
do advertising dancing with the stars. So Ginger, if you're ready,
I'm ready to be Fred. We can do this. Hey, listen,
(01:55):
I'm ready to go you. I don't know how recently
you've seen my dance moves, but they're pretty good. Linda,
where it's such an interesting time in our world, in
our life, and I don't think that I am overstating
what I'm about to say. You have become the leader,
(02:16):
in my opinion, humbly in our industry for kind of
showing us where the puck is going and being there first.
Most recently, the one day that you hosted back in
March said so much about innovation, said so much about
understanding the intricacies of bringing data and all of the
(02:40):
elements that you can from the vast array of NBCUniversal
and Comcast and bringing it all together. You did the impossible,
and you did it the way you always do it,
with clarity and purpose. Can you talk a little bit
about the impetus behind that and what the drivers were
(03:02):
for the effort that you lad, and as I say,
announced to the world on well, thank you, And as usual, Michael,
you open up with an action pact kind of sort
of positioned as one question with many many components in there.
So I'll try to answer it and thank you for
(03:23):
your gracious comments about leading the industry and certainly the
Gretzky comment about skating to where the puck is going.
As a hockey mom, I have a lot of affection
for that comment. But actually I consider myself a representative
of the advertising industry, but solely in a consumer advocacy position.
(03:47):
So if you're an advocate of the consumer, you want
to protect everything about their experience. And when you think
about the state of the macro ecosystem today, what still
largely drives the ad supported ecosystem is a linear experience
that really does not reflect in any way, shape or form,
(04:11):
not only consumer behavior, but actually it doesn't reflect an
experience that they would ever choose on their own and
it had to get better. So content and technology have
always worked together, but not like the need for it
ever before, because the industry had become i will say,
until kind of gave us all permission to look at
(04:33):
the intersection of the marketplace. But people used to say,
you know, look over to the left, that's a tech company.
Look over to the right, that's a media and a
content company. But the reality is is that the consumer
experiences media where content and technology are one and the same.
They want as much content as possible, and they want
(04:54):
it as easy as possible, so they want it all
in one place. And one twenty one really demonstrated a
unique position that Comcast, NBC and Sky live in at
the intersection of media and technology, and we wouldn't be
able NBCUniversal, wouldn't be able to be as good as
(05:18):
we'd like to believe we are in delivering the most
content that we make to consumers without the help of
our partners and being the company that's so dedicated on
three things right. Three simple ideas were rallying and coalescing
all of the industry and our partners around broadband aggregation
and streaming. And we need help to do that, and
(05:40):
we were excited to bring our carefully chosen partners to
the stage with us, whether it was Twitter or the
trade Desk and Instagram help us enhance that consumer experience. So, Linda,
I want to give you a resounding compliment, whether it
was back to you bringing the entire industry together with
(06:02):
all your competitors at the four Seasons, or whether it
was in Studio A when you had one of those
early innovation days and you brought people from another network
and to talk about what they were successful with. Nobody's
ever done that, Linda. We've always been in a world
where you know, kind of dog eat dog. You could
be friends after the presentations, but the dog eat dog
(06:24):
competition of our business as you're never going to shine
a light on your competitor unless it's to say mind's
bigger or mind's better. You did it differently, and no
one's ever done that. You've always been there to either
accept the invitation or create the platform for that coalescing
of competitors, because if you look at the world this way,
(06:45):
we're all kind of in the same soup. Well, it's
a really interesting question and really a what I believe
is quite illogical approach to the marketplace if you're so
precious about your own capabilities and your own assets that
(07:06):
you don't want to either a share best practices or
invite some of your partners and in many cases competitors
in so they can share their's so you can get better.
I think probably the biggest flaw for what would be
a short term leader would be to think you have
(07:26):
the answers to everything, or think you know how to
deliver the best possible experience to your customers. So it's
definitely our partnership philosophy came from a couple of simple areas.
Number one, I'll just go back to consumer advocacy. If
you want to make the experience the best possible, you
(07:47):
better listen to your customer, and you better listen and
learn from your competitors. Right. So, so it's actually a
very simple philosophy. But when either you know and I
laughed because I was you used the heresy, I was
called by someone at my own company a heretic by
showing up on that stage with Bob Lord to talk
(08:08):
about programmatic and the whole idea back then was that
NBC Universal was open to the idea of programmatically opening
up our inventory for customers to purchase with speed and precision.
And back then NBCUniversal wasn't able to do that on
our own, and the the idea or the notion was
(08:30):
to join hands with a O L to do. So
I'm gonna say something that goes to how secure you are,
but how secure NBC Universal is in its position. And
I'm going to make this personal. Years ago, someone said
to me, Michael, you're so open with your relationships. You
(08:52):
always are connecting this person to that person, introducing Sally
to Johnny and Johnny to Billy. And he came from
a world he was in the talent agency business before,
and he came from a world where people were like
this with their relationships. Oh no, no, I need to control.
And I said to him, You've got to be clear
on something. I'm very secure in the basis of the
(09:14):
relationships that I have. So I'm not worried that if
I introduced Linda to Joe that Lynda is not going
to be my friend anymore and she's going to become
Joe's friend. I'm not worried about that because I know
the basis of the relationship that I have with Lynda
is secure in your case, you know that the basis
of what you're bringing to market is secure. Therefore you're
(09:36):
not as worried about the other guy or the other gal,
because we can do this better together. I mean, it
really is. I know that sounds like a bumper sticker,
but it's just it's a tribute to you. But it's
also a tribute to the confidence that you have in
what you're doing that it's not going to take your
eye off the ball to have somebody who is you know,
(09:57):
in air quotes a competitor. I think that says a
lot to the value of the platform or the platforms
that you represent. Well, it certainly does. Look I am
not naive to ever forget any moment that I work
for not only the largest premium content company in the country,
(10:20):
but that we get to represent a diversity of assets
that are literally driving culture and are driving the conversation.
If you're tweeting about something, it's likely in one way,
shape or form, you are connected to that content, whether
it is you know, political in nature, whether it is
(10:43):
what the cold open for Saturday Night Live was, or
it was oh my gosh, did you just just see
this play on Sunday night football, you're likely interacting with
NBCU content. So it's not lost on me. Literally pinched
me moments almost every single day about kind of the
perch that I get to take a look at content
(11:05):
all across our country, all across every screen, English language,
Spanish language. I mean, it's it's truly is, quite frankly,
an embarrassment of riches. That said, you get your confidence
from the belief and the conviction in that product that
you have. Therefore, you're in a position to go seek
(11:27):
out partnerships with the right people that are carefully chosen.
If you look at what the trade desk is doing
in the connected TV space, it would be no surprise
to you that we've chosen that preferred partner very very carefully,
or that we have just entering right a new phase
of a global partnership with Twitter. So we take those
(11:49):
partnerships very seriously. But you're right, it stems from the
confidence in the content that we have, in our deep,
deep belief of an open marketplace that benefits the consumer,
and that's what drives every decision that we make. It
seems like our industry has turned on a series of
(12:11):
words that all begin with the letter t transparency, technology,
talent trust. We're in a world right now where data
and privacy and all the issues are front and center,
and trust, as it is in personal relationships, is equally,
(12:32):
if not more important in business to business relationships, and
particularly when it comes to how companies are handling data
and the information because we live in a world where
everybody knows everything about everybody and it's such an incredibly
important moment, and with what you're doing with one platform,
(12:52):
trust is kind of at the center of it. Can
you talk about that a little? Trust has always been
and is the cornerstone of every good relationship, right but
also at the epicenter of our company for so many years,
in so many decades, and particularly coming out of the pandemic,
(13:14):
is that people, so many people came to us because
they trusted that we would connect them with the important
information they needed that when they needed a break and
they wanted to just connect in a way where they
were being entertained. They came to us for entertainment too,
So we learned more than ever that the brands so
(13:37):
vast of NBCUniversal, but at the core of the relationship
that we have with consumers is trust. And you know,
that is an incredibly difficult thing to build and one
of the easiest things to lose. In a nano second,
that competence of the strength of the ground of it
(13:58):
underneath your feet can be gone. So we take it really,
really seriously. I look back to when we were in
that moment twenty years ago of that dot com bust.
We had a file cabinet that says, these are the
people who think you can build a brand in thirty days.
Twenty years ago, I thought that was impossible. Today it's
probably not impossible. But what has gotten more intense is
(14:20):
the possibility that you could destroy a brand in thirty seconds.
That is absolutely correct. So everything that you're talking about,
whether it starts with trust or then it's technology, transparency, talent,
and maybe some tea words that I forgot, but it's
(14:41):
actually the maturation and sophistication of technology that's forcing all
of this, you know, kind of to collide. And you
have some media and technology companies that could potentially get
caught in the crosshairs of that, and it actually in
turn makes the consumer extremely vulnerable, whether it is from
(15:06):
misinformation to hate speech to just quite frankly subpar content.
The consumer is the one who's on the line and
who's vulnerable, and that's what you have to protect all day,
every day. Because it also just heightens my confidence or
(15:27):
my enthusiasm to talk to any global marketer because many
people talk to me, Linda, how do you feel about trust?
How do you feel about you know, consumer protection and
I and how do you deal with it every day?
My answers surprised them a lot, and I say, I
don't have to deal with it any day because we
(15:48):
don't have that trust issue. If you have a partnership
with NBC Universal from a marketing perspective, you know where
you are creative is going to air next to Arcadent.
You know, none of it's ever a surprise is there
isn't a surprise piece of content that ever goes on
any of our platforms or on any of our network.
You know, I'm doing air quotes on a podcast, but
(16:10):
on our air. So there's a confidence and a confidence
security blanket wrapped around every single deal that we do
with a marketer. And it's actually quite liberating when we
have that conversation because the worry of trust comes off
the table, and for us, that's something that we don't
take for granted, because we keep investing in those capabilities
(16:34):
and those relationships every day. I had a conversation the
other day with a large marketer who talked about the
other C word with content, which is commerce. The collision
of content and commerce shouldn't be a new idea. I
think we were always creating at least marketing messages to
create commerce. You weren't doing it to feel good. You
(16:55):
did it so you could sell stuff, products or services
or goods or what have you a marketing perspective. But
now that marriage is front and center of content and
commerce because it's not only I want to drive you
to the store. I want to send you a message
that makes you go to the store to buy the
product or makes you go to redeem the service. Now,
(17:17):
I want you to do it within the content. Now.
I want you to do it as we're having the experience. Now,
I want you to bring content and commerce together. It's
such an important part of the exchange now because we
all live in a world where instant gratification isn't quick enough.
So I want it now. I want to be able
to buy it as I'm experiencing it, and that is
(17:39):
such I think an important extension of what you do
because you have to have that end to end solution.
Now for your marketing partners, it's not just the point
solution anymore. It's content leads to commerce and we can
complete the commerce in one circle. You know, this is
probably one of the most exciting the areas of our company,
(18:02):
and believe it or not, us investigating developing this type
of technology and capability started a couple of years ago
and I was actually in London doing a speech and
I stayed for the conference and a whole presentation was
given on the intersection of content and commerce and how
(18:24):
it had become commonplace in Asia, and I became infatuated
with the idea of accelerated efforts and capabilities in the US.
But of course at NBC Universal that brought together content,
connection and commerce, right, So we've been working on this
(18:45):
a while. And who better to partner with to bring
this out to the marketplace than Instagram Because think about it,
this is a demonstration or a continuation of our conversation
about partnerships. Choose the right partner that can enhance the
experience for the consumer. But who's better at that particular
(19:06):
thing than you are? Right? So when We've been working
with Instagram for a while to do uniquely bring this
marketplace to our customers. We have the content for them
that could drive a heightened participation in the technology they
have on each of our platforms. So think about the
(19:31):
Instagram platform, think about the linear and digital video platforms
that NBCUniversal has driven by the content all across the boards.
This diversity of content you can't even imagine. But then
you add that shop Herble piece to it, and we're
actually just pushing the entire marketing place forward really really quickly,
(19:55):
and we're very excited. I mean already, I think the
announcement is only a couple of weeks old, since one
and we've developed a network of retail partners that is
exceeding a hundred retail businesses back and leverage our platform
and our content to directly get to their consumer. And
imagine how important this is. And this what gets me
(20:17):
really excited, if you couldn't tell, is that think about
how brick in mortar businesses or those sales doors for
our clients are closing, but we're actually opening up new
doors for them to reach their consumer directly. So I
think while we are certainly in early days. We are
so bullish and so excited about what's to come from
(20:39):
these new new doors that we're opening. Not only for
our marketers, so think about small business benefit to large
scale advertisers to deal directly with consumers. Linda, you were
early in identifying some of the leaders in the director
consumer marketplace. I remember having at a dinner at one
of the NBC Innovation Day and my friend John Foley
(21:02):
showed up and I thought, smart, you know this guy
has has got the right idea. And you saw it
early on John Foley for our listeners as the founder
of Peloton, but you saw it early, and you also
understood when we at Media Link and I'm I know
you've heard me say this before, but I'm in the
midst of trademarking a word, and that word is brand formants,
(21:25):
because I think that the marriage, just like content and commerce,
the marriage of brand marketing and performance marketing is happening
before our very eyes. And the only difference really between
the two ever, was the utilization of data and a
closed loop. In some way, you're experiencing it yourself as
(21:46):
a marketer with Peacock. You've now gone from NBC's primary
marketing spend over the years would be around movies and television.
When we talk about what you need to do in
a subscrip fiber acquisition world, it's kind of a different
marketing muscle. You are always in that position in your
(22:06):
purchase chairman. You're a buyer and a seller that brand
formants mentality. Are you seeing it played out by the
agencies and the clients and understanding that marriage of the two.
It's a great question. I'm gonna brand formants? Did I
say that? Right? Did? Okay? So what I would translate,
so if you're going to get it, then we'll also
(22:28):
get it in either the dictionary or Wikipedia, one or
the other. And I think the definition or used in
a sense is exactly one of the ways I would
describe the need for the marketplace for one one and
that is a full funnel experience for a marketer that
(22:50):
is completed or born out of the intersection of media
and technology. You were talking about fully and you're talking
about Peloton. You have this need for this brand building, right,
the power of the brand? What do you stand for?
From a purpose perspective? What are you? What do you do?
But you also have to see the return on your
(23:12):
ad spend and say how do I perform? I gotta
keep this marketing machine going. And you know what we're
seeing with that they need through throughout the whole company
is really demonstrated by a company like NBC Universal because
the more sophisticated that data and technology gets for a
(23:34):
massive content company like NBC Universal, that's when you can
offer the full funnel opportunity for a marketer that closes
that little at the end to end. You know, our
friend Wendy Clark said to me years ago, so many
people come and try to pitch me on point solutions.
(23:55):
I'm really looking for those end to end solutions. And
it was in a different context, but that's where we
are now. Yeah, And that's why it's really important that
I'm hoping more people develop a philosophy like we have
of partnerships. And I'll give you like a really good example,
because you can't do end to end alone no matter
(24:15):
who you are. You may have an end to end
solution or closed loop attribution for your particular communication plan
or by that you did for an advertiser, but there
is not one company in the supported ecosystem that can
give every marketer what they need because the consumer doesn't
(24:37):
act that way, right, So the consumer is not monogamous.
They are all over the place, consuming all different kinds
of media from all different kinds of companies. So you've
got to work with other people to offer the strongest
and best opportunity. I'll give an example. This may be
really provocative, and you and I never talked about this,
(24:58):
and I may keep my title of cheam paratic in
charge at We just recently submitted on a very large
blue chip advertiser RFP, right, and as our team was
reading the brief, and it was for the launch of
a brand new product that was going to be a
(25:20):
nationwide product US launch, but also need very specific local
market additions. But the key thing about it was that
there were certain things that were very important to this
brand launch that NBCUniversal could not bring the scale that
(25:41):
we would like to the response to this RFP. So
what did we do. We went out and we pitched
a social media platform to partner with us in responding
to the pitch, and we went to an audio platform
partner to respond to the pitch, and we went in
(26:02):
together as three not one, NBCUniversal, who's the biggest premium
content company in the world, but we wanted to go
back to them with ideas that we could activate using
our talent and using the scale of our content, but
that would enable consumers to get it on any platform
(26:22):
on their terms. Well, I can tell you that it
blew the advertiser away. I wish I could tell you
a success story that we closed the deal but they're
still considering it. But that was just a couple of
weeks ago. So imagine that responding to an RFP with
other companies in addition to your own. But that goes
back to what I said earlier. Linda, you're secure and
(26:44):
what you bring in, so it doesn't diminish what you bring.
It's an enhancement because it's the power of collaboration in
its best form. So, Linda, there's a couple of things
that are so topical right now, and I'm going to
tell you the three topics I want to kind of
jump too, and I'll do it in whichever order feels right.
Number one is the Olympics. Just want to understand what
(27:06):
it's going to look like to the degree you can share.
Number Two, we have something coming up here in the
market called the Upfronts, and I know people want a
sense of what the market looks like and what you
see and and the opportunities, and then you know, finally
something on how we work, the future of work, and
(27:27):
how we do what we do. As I said to
somebody the other day, I'm anxious to go back to
most of what I used to do, but I'd just
like to do it in sweats. Michael, we might be
the same in that area, except you know me, I'll
be in sweats, but I will have heels on exactly exactly.
You know. Let's start with the Olympics, Linda. It's one
of the most important things in the world, especially now,
(27:51):
because at least in principle, it helps bring the world together,
and God knows this world needs to be a bit
more together on so many different aspects. But it's going
to be different, right And you've had to wait an
extra year and the pent talk about pent up demand.
So I'm gonna let your riff. I mean, what do
we have in store? What? What are we going to see?
What's gonna get? NBCUniversal has the Olympics until at least two,
(28:19):
so I might be able to riff until then. There
you go. I'll try to give you the top of
the top because I get chills when I just think
about how close the Olympics are, and there's some deep,
deep meaning or master plan about having the Olympics have
to wait a year when the world is coming out
(28:42):
of and on the cusp of a healing from the
global pandemic, and the Olympics will certainly be the signature
event that will bring the world together for the first
time since all of this shook us all to our core.
(29:05):
So the global coming together of the most galvanizing event
in the celebration of sport is hard to even wrap
your head around because to cheer for your team, to
cheer for your country, to hear your national anthem playing
(29:26):
while your athlete is on the podium, there's no surrogate
for that. And the Olympics has always been an equalizer,
a celebration of sport, the best of the best, and
for everyone in this world to have had to wait
for a year for it to happen just escalates and
(29:47):
elevates the emotion as all of us the world will
be cheering for these athletes to finally get their moment,
which many times comes to a fraction of a second
that pays off a lifetime of training, so we couldn't
be more excited, We couldn't be more grateful to be
the company that's able to bring that type of event
(30:12):
to the people of the United States in just here
an utter celebration. Well, Linda, I too am excited because
I do think sport is at the center of that
and the Olympics is the quintessential expression. So I know
there's a lot of bated breath and that includes mine
waiting for the summer, and I know it's going to
(30:34):
be exciting, and I'm certain the execution will be NBC flawless.
That's a hashtag, I guess, and I'm certain it will be. Linda.
The second thing I mentioned was the upfront, So we're
on the verge of another year of a different kind
of an upfront. Don't know that we're going to be
in person. Don't know we get to see you standing
(30:55):
up on the stage at Radio City, a staple for
all of us, and another year of that not actually happening,
at least in person. But that's not the important part,
although that is always a fun part and a meaningful part,
because the interaction does matter, and that maybe goes into
the next question about the future of how we work,
but talk about the upfront at the level that you
(31:17):
can in terms of what you're seeing and hearing. It's
an interesting year coming off of last year, which was
no one knew what the future will bring. The sense
of optimism is overwhelming right now for where we're all
going to land, and we're all excited because we want
(31:38):
to support our customers and help grow their businesses because
consumer behavior has shifted, It's changed forever, and their experiences
have accelerated. So we're actually entering the upfront in a
very very different way. Whether we were hoping to be
(31:58):
physically together on a stage like Radio City, I'll miss
that this year. It will be a little virtual. But
the upfront experience this year will absolutely reflect consumer needs
and then we will map that to our clients needs,
which is really just offering our content across every screen simultaneously.
(32:23):
So gone are the days of having negotiations by network
or day part, and it is all about the one
platform opportunities for NBCUniversal. I think what is really important
to talk about is the opportunity that Comcast, NBCUniversal and
(32:44):
Sky gives NBC Universal and why we're so excited to
have these talks with marketers is because we have a
very interesting and broad horizontal view of consumer behavior. Right.
So we'll start with English language, in Spanish language, but
it's across every screen, so linear digital and now streaming
(33:08):
with Peacock, we interact with over six hundred and fifteen
million people globally, right. And when you're able to talk
to customers about the knowledge of data and behavior from
consumers that's been eighty five billion hours with us across
the globe, you're able to have a very specific conversation
(33:29):
because you'll be able to be an information provider of
how to connect the best audiences to marketers to drive sales.
And that's what the upfront is really about. It's a
futures market of how a client company like NBC Universal
can talk to global marketers about driving their product sales
(33:51):
in the future. So we're in a very unique position
to be able to go to our customers at such
scale with with tent data and technology and now demonstrated
in streaming Peacock. So, Linda, last year, you and I
chatted a lot in the spring because we were dealing
with all the industry issues around what was going to
(34:11):
look like last year in the midst of the in
the early part of the pandemic. You won massive kudos
from the industry for this, and well deserved. The two
words that were so important last year we're flexibility and uncertainty.
Marketers were uncertain and ergo publishers and sellers have to
allow for flexibility. Are you seeing that same need for
(34:34):
flexibility this year? Are people more confident in the bets
they're going to place? Well, I think we're absolutely more optimisms,
that's for sure. So the optimism is there. I think
actually the need for market or flexibility is here to stay.
And quite frankly, that's what one platform is all about.
(34:57):
When you're a company like NBC Universal and you have
the diversity of content and the diversity of product offering,
flexibility is something we can talk about with our clients.
So if you're a customer who has true product rollout
(35:19):
that is massive reach and immediacy needs and you invest
in linear in a very big way, and somehow in
the midst of the cycle you want to move to
a more specific advanced advertising message that's more performance driven
(35:42):
that you need certain deliverables or KPI s. You should
be able to not only move from national to local
or local to digital or change your mixed distribution. You
should be able to do that. As a marketer, you
need to be able to do that. So those are
conversations that we're lucky at NBC Universal. Not only do
(36:04):
we have the diversity of assets right, but we have
the capability and functionality to deliver on all those key
flexibility needs. But the differences is that you're it's all
of that data and technology is powered by premium content.
So if you need flexibility and you need to be
(36:25):
in a more performance marketing realm, you don't have to
trade off to less premium content world that the tech
platforms generally have to offer. We're lucky to be in
the position that we're in to offer this flexibility but
still reach audiences at scale. Here's the thing. I'm going
to do two things as we wrap. Number one, the
(36:46):
vaunted peacock logo, the colors of the rainbow that represent
NBC to the world really also describe the veritable cornucopia
of opportunities that you offer to a marketer. Because you
can have it in blue, you can have it in red,
you can have it and yellow, the various colors, it
really comes together with what you're talking about So I
(37:08):
think Peacock the logo and Peacock the brand, and Peacock
that beautiful picture that represents NBC. I think it says
speaks volumes to to what you just said. So good
on that and good on you. I'm going to do
two things to wrap for us here. What's your take
on what our office work balance home or what do
(37:32):
you think it looks like a year from now? Do
you think we're all still I mean, hopefully we have
the optionality to be all back in one place and
back in thirty rock or whatever it may be. But
do you think that happens? Well, I think you're f
word which I think you normally don't try to put
in a podcast. But the effort of flexibility, I think
(37:54):
it's here to stay in terms of the future of work.
You know, it's it's really believed or not. One of
the most exciting things I've been working on, even before
the pandemic, because I do a lot of work with
the World Economic Forum and the interest in building cultures
and team culture has always been a passion of mind
and the future of work particularly I think all of
(38:15):
us experienced driven by COVID, is that flexibility is the
number one necessary thing. And we've all learned, unfortunately by
a forcing mechanism of lockdown, that we can work virtually.
And that's going to be necessarily all developing the plans
to customize or tell or those opportunities or choices all
(38:37):
of our employees. But I would be remiss to point out,
and you've heard me say this so many many times,
you know, an algorithm is great for determining how to
perfectly place an ad next to a right audience that
a piece of content may deliver. But an algorithm cannot
replace art, an algorithm could have never are made. This
(39:00):
is us. An algorithm can't recreate Simone Biles winning her
next gold medal. So when you say that to go
to the future of work, and where the heck is
she going with that? There is no surrogate for human interaction.
So the need for us to get back into a
collaborative work environment is going to grow over time, and
(39:25):
quite frankly that human interaction by diverse groups of people
is where innovation is born. So I'm a big advocate
of getting back to the office, but in the right
way and probably always a mix of people being virtual
from home or at other workspaces around the world, but
(39:46):
always pushing for some human interaction because the intersection of
all those things is where the companies of the future
are going to be able to lead. There you go. So, Linda,
a great place to end. But it wouldn't be Michael
Casson and Linda Acarina if I didn't put in one plug.
But this is the best kind of a plug. So
(40:07):
one of the shows that I'm thinking you're gonna be
featuring in this coming up front is a show called
Ordinary Joe. And the producer of that show is Adam Casson.
I think I've heard his name before. There you go.
So this is my shameless plug, shameless promotion. I want
all the advertisers who are putting their money down with NBC,
(40:30):
and I hope it's a lot and many. Ordinary Joe
the show to watch. Well, I will follow that up
with Ordinary Joe, a show to watch. You'll have to
hear about it. Make sure you tune in, Linda Acarino,
from my heart, you know how much I treasure our
friendship and how I believe this industry treasures you as
(40:53):
a leader and as a voice that matters. Well, I
couldn't ask for a better partner in you, and thank
you so much for having me. I'm Michael Casson. Thanks
for listening to Good Company. Good Company is a production
of I Heart Radio. A special thanks to Lena Peterson,
(41:13):
chief Brand Officer and Managing Director of media Link, for
a vision of Good Company, and to Jen Seeley, Vice
President Marketing Communications of media Link for programming amazing talent
and content. Good Company is edited by Jessica Crinchich.
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