The “Univision Agency” will oversee a media inventory of more than $500 million across all of Univision’s broadcast, cable and radio properties. It will be charged with all cross-channel promotions as well as research and creative services for clients and internal divisions.
As part of the move, Univision has established a new centralized team that will be part of Univision Networks. Leading the Univision Agency is newly promoted SVP Joni Fernandez, reporting to Jessica Rodriguez, EVP of Program Scheduling & Promotions, who has spearheaded this effort over the past few months.
“We have created a first-of-its kind Agency to instill one voice and one vision for Univision, UniMás, Galavisión, and all of our media properties – something no other media company has done,” said Univision President and CEO Randy Falco. “Forming the Univision Agency is a strategic step towards developing a promotional and creative vision that will set the standard in our industry.”
More specific Univision Agency responsibilities include:
• Creating consistent messaging during commercial breaks across all platforms for Univision networks and properties;
• Prioritizing all promotional inventory;
• Developing research and creative for clients and partners;
• Supporting and collaborating creatively across divisions and teams to define and execute cross-platform initiatives;
• Elevating promotional and creative efforts while increasing efficiencies and maximizing inventory;
To meet these goals, the Univision Agency brand managers will be responsible for the strategy and execution as they relate to the company’s core genre-specific verticals, i.e. novelas, sports, news, and entertainment, across each Univision brand and all their various platforms.
Media planning will be lead by Silvia Garcia, whose responsibilities will include oversight of strategic planning, campaign management and prioritization, supporting traffic and master control divisions, overseeing break architecture, and managing messaging strategy for secondary events and radio.
RBR-TVBR observation: Univision is large enough to make this work and the pitch may also be to eliminate the “middleman” of media agency (and even creative agency in some cases) expenses. If that’s the case, existing relationships with advertisers and their agencies will be put to the test. The risk that the Univision Agency may come across is media agencies steering their clients away for the fear of losing billable business. Remember, this is the core of what they do and if Univision does it for them…
