Meet Scott Felenstein, National CineMedia’s New Leading Man

Only nine days into his tenure when we spoke Scott was already a passionate evangelist for the power of cinema advertising amp160Why did he decide to go to the moviesamp160 The move to NCM unites his personal passion for film with a storied advertising careerScott got his start in network buying at Ogilvy and Mather and Bozell Kenyon Jacobs ampamp Eckhardt amp160Stints at CBS Sports and ExciteHome followed before he landed at Discovery as an Account Executive amp160He quickly rose through the ranks ultimately becoming Executive Vice President National Advertising Sales overseeing all of Discoveryamp8217s networks across all platforms and managing relationships with top agencies and clientsTransitioning from small screen for a major television network group to big screen for the largest cinema advertising network in the US has required an education for Scott amp160Heamp8217s quick to point out that movie advertising isnamp8217t just for splashy product launches and amp8220cinemaworthyamp8221 Super Bowlstyle creative amp160He believes itamp8217s an effective medium for building brands and driving sales at any time of year with any creativeThe following are highlights from our conversationIngrid Laub amp160What are the biggest differences between television and cinema advertisingScott Felenstein amp160Youamp8217re getting your advertising message on the biggest possible screen in front of the most captive audience amp160When people are watching television at home we donamp8217t know if theyamp8217re looking at their smartphone or theyamp8217re on their iPad or what theyamp8217re doing When youamp8217re in a movie theater youamp8217ve decided youamp8217re taking the time and youamp8217re going to go immersively experience a movie for two hours amp160Itamp8217s hard to imagine a more engaged audience than somebody in a dark theater looking at a giant screenIngrid amp160Whatamp8217s the message youamp8217d like your clients to take away from NCMamp8217s Upfront presentationScott amp160The interesting thing aside from the engagement is the audience amp160Trying to reach young people today in traditional media is very challenging amp160Weamp8217re a place where you can reach that audience and reach them at scale amp160I donamp8217t want to beat everybody over the head with the words amp8220Millennialamp8221 or amp8220Gen Zamp8221 but if youamp8217re looking for young audiences and youamp8217re looking to reach them in a great environment we have both of those things all in one shotamp160 When you add in our new Noovie preshow and digital properties launching later this year and the incredible 201718 movie slate itamp8217s very compellingIngrid amp160What are the movie industry and exhibitors doing to keep them comingScott amp160Theyamp8217re investing billions of dollars in content You can draw an audience on a show in digital but the quality is just not the same amp160People go into theaters for a great experience with quality content in a completely brandsafe environment amp160The movies are all rated so you know what to expect Digitalamp8217s a little bit of the Wild West and you never know what content is going to pop upIngrid amp160Are clients able to select specific filmsScott amp160We can target by location by rating or by genre amp160We had challenges when I was working in cable because we couldnamp8217t do regional advertising amp160If you had somebody that was even trying to do something simple like split copy we couldnamp8217t do that amp160Itamp8217s really interesting to me that we have so much flexibility here at NCM because of the way the network is set upIngrid amp160Do you have children amp160How have their media consumption habits impacted your professional perspectiveScottamp160 I have three boys ages 14 12 and almost 9amp160 They watch television and consume content much differently than I doamp160 They watch a lot of live sports and then access a lot of content on demand either on the television or through various channels on the iPad or on their phonesamp160 They are big movie fans like their father which gets me to family movies like Boss Baby amp160My oldest and I see all the superhero movies or whatever the big PG13 release is that weekendamp160amp160 While their video content habits are much different than mine their moviegoing experience is very similarIngrid amp160What advice would you give to young people entering the media industry todayScottamp160 I still think there is tremendous value in starting your career on the agency side especially given the incredibleamp160changes in theamp160media landscape over the last few yearsamp160 Starting there gives you greatamp160trainingamp160andamp160a viewamp160of all of the media options available to advertisersamp160 Once you haveamp160good insight intoamp160everything you are better informed on where to take the next step in your careerClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Meet Scott Felenstein, National CineMedia’s New Leading Man

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