Multi-Platforms and Multi-Partners — NBC’s Innovative Olympics Play

NBCUniversal has rolled out one of the most sophisticated content distribution plans in media history for the 2016 Olympics, with more than 6,000 hours of coverage across broadcast, cable, digital, mobile, and social platforms. NBC Olympics Executive Producer Jim Bell, along with CMO John D. Miller and NBC Sports Group CMO Jennifer Storms, delved into the ins and outs of executing such extensive multi-platform coverage, exploring the crafting of record-breaking sponsorship deals, and the forward thinking behind unprecedented digital partnerships with such players as BuzzFeed and Snapchat. Moderated by NBC News' Stephanie Gosk.

Panelists

JIM BELL
Executive Producer
NBC Olympics

Jim Bell served as the executive producer for his second straight Olympics at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. Bell was the executive producer of the 2012 London Olympics, the most-watched event in U.S. television history, and was named full-time executive producer of NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Olympic Games on November 13, 2012. He has editorial and creative control over NBC’s Olympic Unit, led by Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics. Bell reports to NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus.

Bell, whose extensive Olympics work began at the 1992 Barcelona Games, has worked on every NBC Olympics broadcast in either sports (1992, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2012) or news (2006, 2008, and 2010). With more than 20 years of experience producing some of the highest profile news and sports programming on television, Bell has played an integral role in NBC’s Olympics coverage. Bell rejoined NBC Sports Group full time following seven years leading TODAY the iconic news program that dominated the morning ratings race for 16 years. He served as both executive producer of TODAY and the London Olympics in 2012.

Bell joined TODAY in 2005 with responsibility for all aspects of the program, guiding the TODAY show through some of its most challenging transitions and ambitious initiatives. During his tenure, it extended its dominance in the morning ratings race to 16 years, earned seven Emmys, seven Edward R. Murrow Awards and nine Headliner Awards. Bell also won Emmys for his work on the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2012 Olympics and a Peabody for NBC’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.

TODAY news coverage overseen by Bell included the 2008 Presidential Election, Hurricane Katrina, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the earthquake in Haiti. He led TODAY’s six-hour live broadcast of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Bell also oversaw the two of the most prominent and successful anchor shifts in morning television history when Meredith Vieira replaced Katie Couric, and Vieira was succeeded by Ann Curry.  He also launched the successful fourth hour of TODAY pairing Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb as hosts.

Prior to joining TODAY, Bell was coordinating producer for NBC Olympics, leading the production hiring for the Olympics unit and supervising nearly 100 hours of afternoon and late night programming on NBC during the 2004 Athens Summer Games.

Bell’s reputation as a ground-breaking, hands-on producer is well documented. He was responsible for the “Ends of the Earth” series that aired the first-ever live simultaneous broadcast from the Arctic, the Antarctic and the Equator. He was the executive producer of Matt Lauer’s primetime special “Decision Points: A Conversation with George W. Bush,” the President’s first one-on-one television interview after leaving office. Early in his career, he developed NBC’s AFL in-game interviews, with game announcers interviewing coaches during live telecasts, a technique used throughout the industry today.

Bell’s career as a producer for NBC began in 1990 when he was hired to profile athletes for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. He worked each subsequent Summer Olympic Games for NBC, and the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Over the following 14 years, he produced NBC broadcasts of the NFL, MLB, and the NBA, and won Emmys for the 1997 NBA Finals and Wimbledon tennis in 1998.

Bell graduated cum laude from Harvard with a B.A. in government in 1989. He was an All-Ivy defensive tackle and a member of the school’s Ivy League Championship team in 1987. He resides in Greenwich, Conn. with his wife Angelique and their four sons.

JOHN D. MILLER
CMO
NBC Olympics

John D. Miller was appointed CMO, NBC Olympics upon his 65th birthday in October 2015. He made the personal decision transition his role from CMO of NBC Sports Group to this newly created position to focus solely on the Olympics. Miller leads the Olympic marketing efforts for Rio and co-leads for Pyeongchang with NBC Sports Group CMO Jenny Storms. He is also Chair of NBCUniversal’s Marketing Council, which includes the marketing leaders from every NBCUniversal division, and oversees all cross-company promotional opportunities and marketing initiatives known as “Symphony.” Miller reports directly to Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group, for the Olympics, and to Steve Burke, CEO, NBCUniversal, for the Marketing Council.

Previously, Miller served as Chief Marketing Officer of NBC Sports Group from 2011 – 2015, overseeing all marketing and branding for NBC Sports Group assets, which included NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, NBCSN, Golf Channel, the 10 NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Radio and NBC Sports Digital. He also led The NBC Sports Agency, which uses NBC Sports Group marketing resources to produce campaigns for group partners the Premier League, PGA TOUR and NHL.

Before joining NBC Sports Group, Miller co-founded and led The NBC Agency from 1999 to 2010. The NBC Agency was the industry’s first full-service advertising agency comprised of an award-winning in-house unit that quickly established itself as one of the country’s top creative commercial firms. Under Miller’s direction, The NBC Agency built on the NBC Advertising & Promotion Department’s long tradition as a television industry leader with innovative marketing, promotion and branding concepts, and campaigns. Miller has also overseen the creation of successful franchise campaigns, such as the now ubiquitous “Must See TV,” and helped to develop and strengthen the network’s brand identity.

Miller joined NBC in August 1982 as Vice President, Affiliate Promotion Services, West Coast. He was promoted six times between 1982 and 1993, in various executive marketing, advertising, promotions and programming roles throughout NBC Entertainment and NBC TV. In 1993, Miller became Executive Vice President, Advertising and Promotion, a position he held for six years.

Miller began his career in freelance productions in 1972. A year later, he joined WMAQ-TV, the NBC television station in Chicago, and became promotion manager at WBBM-TV in Chicago in 1978. In March 1980, he was named Director, Affiliate Promotion Services, CBS-TV, West Coast, and moved to New York in July 1981 to become Director, Advertising and Promotion, CBS News.

Miller has been honored by his peers on many occasions including the PROMAX Hall of Fame, which inducted Miller in 1991, named Miller and The NBC Agency co-president, Vince Manze, the Marketing Team of the Year in 1995, and honored Miller as the Promotion Executive of the Year in 1996. In 1999, Miller, Manze and their NBC colleagues received a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Commercial for an advertisement promoting the internet portal service Snap.com. The spot also received the World’s Best Commercial award from the IBA. Miller was also honored with a Campaigns of Distinction award by the Promax&BDA organization in 2006 and 2007. Miller has been named Entertainment Marketer of the Year four times, and was named Sports Marketer of the Year by Cynopsis in 2012, 2013 and 2016.

A native of Chicago, Miller graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University. He and his wife, Sharon, have four sons.

JENNIFER STORMS
CMO
NBC Sports Group

Jennifer ‘Jenny’ Storms was named Chief Marketing Officer for NBC Sports Group in October 2015. She oversees all marketing for NBC Sports Group assets, which include NBC Sports, NBCSN, Golf Channel, the NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Radio and NBC Sports Digital. She is also responsible for The NBC Sports Agency, which uses NBC Sports Group marketing resources to produce campaigns for group partners, which have included the Premier League, PGA TOUR and NHL. Storms reports to Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group.

Storms joined NBC Sports Group from PepsiCo, Inc., where she most recently served as Senior Vice President of Global Sports Marketing. In that role, she was responsible for developing and implementing an integrated global sports strategy across PepsiCo’s portfolio, including 22 flagship global billion-dollar brands. She also managed the relationships for PepsiCo’s sports initiatives, including the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, as well as many team and player partnerships.

Previously, Storms led sports strategy and property management for PepsiCo-owned Gatorade, including league, team, influencer and athlete partnerships. She managed the brand’s relationships with the NFL, NHL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, colleges, teams and other sports organizations, as well as athletes, including Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, Serena Williams and many others.

Prior to joining PepsiCo in 2009, Storms served in various marketing and programming leadership positions at Turner Broadcasting System / Turner Sports in Atlanta. She held a succession of positions during her 14-year tenure with the company, culminating in her role as a senior vice president of Turner Sports Marketing & Programming. She began her career at the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), where she served as the International Games preparation liaison and lived in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, for the Pan American Games from 1994-1995.

For three consecutive years, Storms was named to SportsBusiness Journal’s “Forty Under 40” list, earning her an induction into the award’s Hall of Fame. In 2008, Storms was named one of the “Marketers of the New Generation” by Brandweek.

Storms is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree. Throughout her career, Storms has been a frequent guest speaker on Sports Marketing at the Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Moderated By:

STEPHANIE GOSK
Investigative Reporter
NBC News

Stephanie Gosk is a correspondent for the Investigations Unit at NBC News. Her reports appear on all NBC News and MSNBC programs and platforms, including “TODAY,” “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and NBCNews.com. Gosk joined NBC News in September 2006.

During her tenure with NBC News, Gosk has reported on the Orlando nightclub shooting, protest in Chicago, trial of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the Flint water crisis, the NY prison escapees and an investigation into the safety of crumb artificial turf.

Until September of 2012, Gosk was based out of NBC News’ London bureau, where she covered the death of Osama Bin Laden from Pakistan and the Arab Spring from Libya and Egypt in 2011. She reported about LGBT issues in Russia during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and security risks during the 2012 London Summer Olympics, among other stories.

Prior to joining NBC News, Gosk served as a correspondent in London and as a producer in Boston for ABC News. While at ABC, she traveled to Iraq and worked alone to shoot, produce and report pieces for “Good Morning America” and “World News Tonight” while embedded with the United States military.  She also produced Boston-area coverage of the September 11th attacks and the Boston Catholic priest scandal, as well as various news events around the country and the globe, including the death of Pope John Paul and Hurricane Katrina.
 
Gosk began her career as a desk assistant and off-air producer for ABC News in New York City. She field produced major breaking news stories, including the 2000 presidential election.
 
Gosk earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University. After college, Gosk traveled to the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps volunteer. She lives in New York City with partner Jenna Wolfe and their daughters. Gosk is on Twitter @StephGosk

This event is exclusive to Media Council members and other invited guests. To find out more about Media Council membership, contact mediacouncil@paleycenter.org.