In the early years of Robert's career, he discovered the path of entertainment blended with media. For some in the television industry, that's the equivalent of falling through the ice into a freezing lake.
There are times when life's super forces conspire to create a story almost too good to be true. My lunch with Omnicom's Full Circle Entertainment
CEO Robert Riesenberg was such a story… about the Borscht Belt,
being stripped naked by Lucille Ball, a near drowning, Peter Pan, dropping peas into a lady's hair, and a chance meeting at Michael's so coincidental it's hard to believe.
For generations of New Yorkers, the Borscht Belt was synonymous with the funniest comics of their time, virtually all of them Jewish and bred in
Vaudeville and depression era economics. At one time more than 2,000 hotels, motels and vacation cottages were scattered across the upstate Catskills region just 90 minutes north of Manhattan.
The Borscht Belt is where stand-up comedy was founded, where 'schtick' was invented, and where any comedian worth his glass of tea was required to pay dues before graduating to a national tour, Las Vegas or radio.
There are fewer than a handful of Borscht Belt comedians still alive, but many New Yorkers recall the glow of the Catskills era, when families spent weekends at Grossinger's, the Concord, Kutsher's or the Nevele. Robert Riesenberg grew up in Liberty, the capital of the Catskills, spending his teen and college years as a busboy and waiter at the legendary Concord and Kutsher's.
He was not necessarily the most skilled waiter and recalls his most humiliating moment when he accidentally (so he says) dropped peas into a guest's beehive hairdo, where they became embedded.
Rather than departing to the ladies room where she could remove the peas unobtrusively, the woman's husband demanded Robert remove each individual pea by hand. Since then, peas have not been among Robert's favorite foods.
As we chatted at Michael's, Robert noticed Bunny Grossinger across the room. New Yorkers know Bunny today as a patron of the arts who once owned and managed the famous Grossinger's Hotel, a Borscht Belt landmark.
As a child, Robert's best friend was Bunny's son Michael. Bunny was also his Cub Scout den mother. When they were seven, Robert and Michael fell through thin ice into the lake. Fortunately Michael's younger brother Jimmy was too small to fall through. He managed to pull his brother and Robert out.
They straggled back to the Grossinger home where, soaking wet, they were met by Bunny and her good friend who happened to be visiting, Lucille Ball. How many people can claim to have been stripped naked and dried off by Lucille Ball, and could anything be more coincidental than spotting Bunny Grossinger herself at Michael's?
Of course, she recalled the story because Robert, Jimmy and Michael were cited by the town for bravery and written up in the local newspapers, forever commemorating Robert's brush with death and Lucille Ball.
Speaking of naked, growing up in the Catskills also paid off in 1969, when Robert and a group of friends quit their jobs at the Concord and drove ten miles on back roads to Bethel, where the
Woodstock Music Festival was being held. They weren't expecting anything other than a large outdoor concert until they drove past groups of people swimming naked. But by Monday morning Robert recalls being "cold, wet, dirty and disgusted" and walking to his car while Jimi Hendrix played the "Star Spangled Banner."
Robert himself had a rock 'n roll band in high school covering songs by the Young Rascals, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett.
As rhythm guitar player, Robert sang backup vocals, and was allowed to sing lead only for Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances," which has almost no lyrics. Robert still plays guitar to relax, and his wife, Ann,
and two children still refuse to let him sing. (His son is at the University of Vermont and his daughter is a junior in high school).
Although he grew up in a time of rebellion, had a band, quit his job to go to Woodstock, and went to school at the University of Vermont (aka "Hippie Central"),
Robert's rebelliousness was limited. "In high school, I drove to Middletown to buy bell bottom pants, which were the rage in New York.
Our high school principal sent me home to change. In college, we marched and protested, but it was a benign environment," he recalls.
"We were into peace, love, music and skiing." When Robert allows himself to think about retirement, he envisions becoming a ski instructor in the Vermont Mountains.
But retirement is far from his mind these days as he blends his Borscht Belt roots, benign rebellion, his creativity and love of advertising to build a programming and entertainment unit within Omnicom, parent of BBDO, DDB, OMD and PhD.
For Robert, the current enthusiasm for "Madison & Vine" concepts is ironic, since he's been a leader in advertiser-funded programming and integration for more than twenty years. After Robert backpacked through Europe and the Western U.S. for two years, his father, a local doctor,
"finally kicked me out of the house so I made a short list of things I really enjoyed: sports and entertainment. Sports didn't offer a future, so I came to New York and got my first job as a media buyer at Ted Bates," Robert told me.
"I never lost sight of my desire to be creative, so every chance I had I looked for creative media opportunities." From Bates, Robert moved to Norman, Craig & Kummel, Syndicast and then to BBDO, where he developed sports vignettes for Old Spice fragrance and long form programming for other American Cyanamid brands.
He credits the client's Jim Gibbs for encouraging creative media solutions and media director Arnie Semsky for moving Robert into a full time programming job.
While at BBDO, Robert resurrected the GE Theater and produced "Escape from Sobibor" for Chrysler, which won a Golden Globe.
He also developed and produced several movies for Campbell Soup, where he and the legendary Paul Mulcahy initiated business models that advertisers and agencies still study today.
Robert then hung out his own independent production shingle for ten years, a move typical in Hollywood but rare in New York.
During his independent run, he developed the "Portrait of a Teacher" series for Campbell Soup, acquired exclusive distribution
rights to the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" movies, acquired rights for Campbell Soup to the original Mary Martin version of "Peter Pan" for sponsorship on NBC, and says he
“had the honor of working with Gregory Hines to produce the Showtime Movie 'Bojangles' -- the life story of Bill Robinson."
When Bill Cella, who headed network negotiations and media at Interpublic's McCann-Erickson unit and later at Universal McCann,
needed an imaginative choice to head the Coca-Cola media buying unit, Robert was his first choice. When Interpublic formed Magna Global USA with Cella at its head, Robert jumped at the opportunity to head the entertainment unit.
Before leaving Magna to create Full Circle Entertainment at Omnicom earlier this year, he teamed up with Mark Burnett and Ben
Silverman to produce "The Restaurant," which featured restaurateur Rocco DiSpirito and aired on NBC-TV sponsored by Magna clients.
Robert's passion is developing, creating and molding ideas. "I'm energized by putting the pieces of a puzzle together," he admits.
"There's suddenly a lot of interest in branded entertainment, but it's been an important part of the business for years. New media technologies add a dimension to what I do, and they're all good for the industry.
So many advertisers are looking for creative options to sell their brands and stand out. With every project, we are breaking new ground. Out of the experimentation that's being done, there are successes and failures.
New business models are being defined. These models still go back to the basics of knowing who you are as a brand and communicating it on multiple levels. What marketers do outside the boundaries of a TV program is more important than inside. Television is just one powerful component of a mix.
When advertisers are involved with content, it needs to be a living breathing multi-level execution." He cites the American Express sponsorship of "The Restaurant" as an example. "Rocco DiSpirito was a spokesman for Amex.
There was a chat room, direct marketing, and promotion. It all tied together."
In the early years of Robert's career, he discovered the path of entertainment blended with media.
For some in the television industry, that's the equivalent of falling through the ice into a freezing lake.
But Robert survived again and is now at the pinnacle of a business that many consider the TV industry's most exciting new profession.
Not quite as exciting as being in Bunny Grossinger's kitchen with Lucille Ball, but not bad for a kid from the Borscht Belt.
