2011-12 Season Network Rankings: Fox Still On Top But Down, … 
HLN Set To Air Daytime Emmy Awards 
Grant Bowler Cast As Richard Burton Opposite Lindsay Lohan … 
UPDATE: Dish Network And Broadcasters Ask Courts To Decide … 
Cannes Surprise Screening: Change Of Plans On Juan Antonio … 
Kevin Hart In Talks To Join Kevin James In ‘Valet … 
Anthony Hopkins Up For ‘Red 2′ Villain; Can … 
Cannes Conflicted Over ‘The Paperboy’ As … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘American Idol’ Posts … 
Ghost Of 2004 Hovers Over L.A. Screenings As Int’l … 
On The Road To Awards Season? Kerouac Book Finally Makes It … 
Michael Bay’s Name Pushed Paramount To Settle Injured … 
Several More New Series In Recasting Mode; Returning Ones … 
‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ Moving To March 2013 To … 
Directors Fortnight Says It Must “Police … 
‘Chronicle’ Helmer Josh Trank Takes On … 
Will ‘Pan Am’ Take Flight With Amazon? 
TOLDJA! ICM Management Buyout Complete 
DESPERATE: HuffPo & Oprah Team Up Now 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Great Gatsby’ 
How Did Women Pilot Writers Fare For 2012? 
UPDATED With More Details: I’ve just confirmed the name with Disney. Drumroll, please: it’s MT Carney, the Scottish-born co-founder and owner of Naked Communications, a NYC-based media planning and strategy that specializes in viewing the new marketing landscape from a global perspective, and former Ogilvy worldwide planning director from 2003-2006. Clients at her Naked company (whose motto is “The Agency Model Stripped Naked”) 
included Coca-Cola, Nokia, and NBC. Her appointment follows an exhaustive 5-months-long search and was going to be announced Thursday when Disney Studios boss Rich Ross has scheduled a dog-and-pony show for the press for him and perhaps his No. 2 Sean Bailey to discuss Disney’s movie plans under the new regime. (Even though it has not greenlighted a movie yet.) But back to Carney, who according to the latest plans won’t appear at Thursday’s presentation to the media.
Much has been made of the fact that Ross wanted to hire a marketing boss outside of the movie business. That caused a ton of grumbling within Hollywood where movie marketing has always been seen as a specialized skill set carried out by an elite clique of veterans. Many marketers called me to complain Ross is arrogant on the subject. But one of my Disney sources insists that “Rich looked both inside and outside the biz, and spoke to movie marketing and non-movie marketing people.”
What Ross wanted was “somebody who could handle the strategy of releasing films as well as home entertainment in order to ensure very strong marketing throughout the life of the product.”
I’ve learned Ross and his headhunter, the NY- and LA-based executive search firm ML Search, spoke to inside Hollywood candidates, but many were already under contract, as well as outsiders at companies including Microsoft and Burger King. (Hmm, years ago, Disney hired Burger King guy John Cywinski, and Warners hired Brad Ball from MacDonalds. Both didn’t last.) Finally, Ross whittled down the candidates to a group of finalists who went before a “committee” (more like a gauntlet) of Disney executives and creatives like DreamWorks CEO Stacey Snider and Disney mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Sean Bailey, the newly named head of production at the Disney movie studios. (Marvel’s Kevin Feig and Pixar’s Jon Lasseter were not part of the panel, though Jon had input as he does in most everything.)
Carney stood out because “she was someone who Rich felt understood strategy and creative,” a source tells me. “Also, she’s Scottish and worked in the UK and U.S., so she understood the global marketplace as well as domestic.”
Carney is known for giving provocative speeches and pitches with the theme that ”it’s time to re-think how products, services and brands are connected to their consumers”. Her view is that many traditional ad agencies are unable to adapt with the changing landscape of marketing and communications. One account I read said her firm, Naked, has “positioned itself as a pure (or nearly pure) strategy group, not touching the creative or media (in most cases.) Naked works both directly with clients and as an adjunct to some well known agencies to fill those gaps particular to specific brands, audiences and situations.”
Her phraseology includes “Mapping The Customer Journey”, “Four-Dimensional Storytelling”, and “Fleet Of Foot, Pure Of Heart”. She is described in the ad press as “bright and personable”, also “tremendously insightful”, with a heavy Scottish accent.
Her job at Disney primarily will consist of “balancing multiple clients” who put movies into the Disney pipeline — Pixar, Bruckheimer, DreamWorks (not until 2011), and Marvel (in 2012). Ross feels he already inherited a strong marketing team – after all, 3D Alice In Wonderland is closing in on $1 billion worldwide grosses – so didn’t need that kind of redundancy in Carney. ”She’s smart and thinks broadly,” a source tells me. “She also loves movies.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
I’m struck by the negativity of the comments on this story. “Movie marketing is a specialized skill” is just code for, “We’re so full of ourselves, we’re sure no one else can do what we do.” OK, some non-movie marketers have failed when it comes to selling pictures. So have lots of people with actual motion picture experience. And Arthur Cohen, as I recall, had a long and tremendously successful run at Paramount, after a background selling cosmetics. So give the girl a chance. The media world really is changing; maybe it’s time for a fresh approach. Are we so full of schadenfreude that we’re already saying shit like, “Give her a year, she’s toast?”
and don’t forget Bob Levin – he can from DDB Needham Chicago.
Agreed. And I think your translation of the “code” should be amended to read: “We’re so full of ourselves, we’re sure no one else can do what we do, especially a female.”
Great point… good post. But can we stop calling her a “girl?” She’s a grown woman.
Don’t see anything negative about calling her a “girl,” anymore than calling a man a “guy.” Lighten up.
Girl and guy is a false equivalency… girl and boy is equivalent… no one calls a marketing executive a “boy.”
Oh, brother! (oops, I mean, Oh, sister!)
My thoughts exactly! Well Said.
Why would you acquire a moniker like “Empty”.
First of all Whisky — crawl back into your cave. When Nina Jacobson was head of production the best movies were made at Disney. Yeah, she’s a girl you moron.
And having worked most of my career within the studio marketing system, this hiring makes sense. The folks over in marketing could use a little shake up because quite frankly, although they have had some success, the process to getting their materials made, are both archaic and egotistical. Upper management has been allowed to flourish in their bullish ways for too long and the real talent beneath them can now maybe have a voice. The landscape is not changing – it’s changed. And hiring someone who can maybe step out of the traditional rut is refreshing.
Its interesting to see the people that post who clearly have movie experience vs. the people who have never been in the industry. Point being, anyone who markets movies for a living, can market toilet paper, soft drinks, cars, TV shows etc. Any packaged good. Why? Because each film is new product or brand that requires it’s own set of creative, target demos, budgets and overall strategy. So that’s coming up with a marketing plan for a new product every few months or less if you are dealing with a full slate. The packaged goods guys are marketing one new car model (or 2) for the whole year. Wow that sounds painful but also it requires a different skill set and way of thinking.
One example of what I’m saying is that, media buying agencies who win new movie accts, without experience buying for movies, 9x out of 10 fail because of how different it is dealing with a movie acct. It’s a monster and those who aren’t used to it will be swallowed by it. This new hire has to not only has a studio head as their boss but now you have “clients” or filmmakers to content with (they’ll act like bosses), who are a tad more difficult than the Marketing Manager at Coca Cola.
Not saying she’ll definitely fail but unless she keeps or hires a team with move marketing background, the odds are low that she’ll succeed. Out of the box only means so much, when TV commercials still drive awareness amongst the general movie going audience. You’ll always need posters, trailers, outdoor, TV, radio (sometimes) and the internet (print is worthless), to open movies. That won’t ever change drastically, no matter if the agency model has clothes on or not.
Good, insightful post. Why BUY her kind of talent(?) when you can RENT it as needed.
i don’t even know where to begin, so let’s begin with Mike Levine. Yes, he’s part of the mafia. No, he doesnt find out of the box candidates, in fact, he keeps recruiting the same drivel over and over again. Ross’ first mistake was using him to recruit this position. And, It’s dangerous for Ross to have made this hire, especially when he is over his head to begin with. What he needed was a solid marketer from the entertainment space – there are many to choose from who are on the street- who he could’ve leaned on and learned from. I agree, 12 months and she’ll be naked again and run outta town like the brad ball, john cywinski and alan cohen’s of the world.
She is categorized as “highly polarizing” in the industry. Some people think she’s great and others think she’s a disingenuous, talentless parvenue with no talent (except in seduction – she got the job at Naked by sleeping with John Harlow). By the way she didn’t found Naked – it was founded in the UK in 2000 – she was hired to launch the NY office in 2006.
I worked for her at Naked for 2 yrs. MT is one of the greatest marketing minds I’ve ever encountered. She has made a career of challenging the severely flawed status quo of the industry. Naked has had a huge impact on the way that some of the largest advertisers in the world allocate their resources. The people that criticize her are usually the ones who have the most to lose by her pulling back curtain.
How is it in 2010 that the only way that men can rationalize a woman’s success is to say that we slept our way to the top? MT got to where she is by being the smartest person in the room.
Not to confuse you with reality but she began dating John Harlow years after becoming a partner at Naked. John may be one of the original founders of the company but by the time their relationship started she was much more valuable to the company than he was. Their relationship had nothing to do with acquisition of power but if it had been John would have been the one benefiting not her.
Get your facts straight and maybe your misogynistic attacks will take better hold next time.
To set the facts straight:
- She has not made a career challenging the status quo, she has made a career being part of it … until she started singing karaoke to the Naked songbook.
- Naked certainly made a big impact since their launch in 2000 … MT has done little in the way of thought leadership since her hiring in 2006.
- Sorry to say, she and John Harlow *were* in a relationship (albeit merely sexual) at the time of her hiring. They got engaged about a year later, after John had left his wife. Not sure if they are still engaged (hey, you tell me!)
- As for their relative value, I believe John subsequently had some issues with alcohol, not unrelated to their relationship. (If that’s what you were referring to). Don’t forget the whole company was his idea though.
So, sorry formernakedlady, in this new social world the facts will out. Not that anyone really gives a sh-t.
Both sides have it wrong here. First of all, movie marketers don’t know what the hell they are doing. They have RIDICULOUS amounts of money to play with and so they’re able to beat people over the head with tens-of-millions of dollars worth of TV, outdoor, etc.
They all constantly try to come up with something innovative, but it all fails save for something occasionally that accidentally connects with the public. Sometimes it works (Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity) but most of the time it doesn’t (Snakes on a Plane, Cloverfield). And when a campaign finishes, they really have no idea what worked and what didn’t. They don’t set up any ability to track and recap. If a film does badly, Marketing blames it on the movie, and Filmmakers/Production blames it on marketing. If it does well, Marketing congratulates themselves (If the Disney team is so great that Alice opened to $116, why will Prince of Persia and Sorcerer’s Apprentice not open similarly?)
So I think Hollywood could use someone that knows something about real marketing.
I don’t know if MT Carney is it or not. But she will fail anyway, because Rich Ross is obsessed with social media and the Internet because he thinks it’s some inexpensive panacea to reach anyone and everyone — especially the young and hip, which aren’t even Disney consumers! — but this is not the case.
Every successful Internet campaign has been more or less random, just like any viral marketing.
Rich Ross will push her in this direction, and apparently it’s part of her background, but it will doom any film where they focus too many resources on making the Internet open a movie.
I was shocked when they fired Gallagher. He was good with filmmakers and he was a real company guy…not an easy balance. Most important, he opened movies. Not all of them, but all the ones that had any hope at all.
If I could I would hire him in a minute. He’s a big marketing talent that will make someone a lot of money (if that is what you care about)
The difference between “regular” advertising and “entertainment” advertising is Coke, or Nike, or Apple don’t have to contend with tyrannical producers and directors, feckless talent, or legacy hires at the studios. I’ve watched dozens of well thought out, innovative campaigns approved at the VP level, only to be torpedoed from above by someone out to prove they’re relevant and useful. Or have the producer or director bigfoot their way into the process at the eleventh hour and scuttle months of work.
They talk about “branding” until they’re blue in the face, and yet few if any films even have the same logo on the poster, trailer or website because it’s usually such a clusterf*ck by the time the film is released.
Most people outside of Hollywood look at those who market movies as clueless buffoons. I once spent an afternoon chatting with John Hughes–an ex ad guy– who went on and on about how bad the studios were at marketing. MT, has the background to do a good job, if they let her.
I always likened marketing movies to “selling soup to people who don’t know they’re hungry yet”; meaning, you have a limited window to gain awareness, get your message across succinctly and distinctly, open the movie and then move on to the next movie/message. In the same way you want a ravenous pothead to think of your fast food brand FIRST when he has the munchies, you want consumers to see the newest tentpole release on opening weekend and have it be their first choice as well. I always felt that entertainment advertising was the same as selling any other brand; I could sell “Austin Powers” — or L’oreal or Tide. It’s a consumable, consumer product, just like any other.
Boy, was I wrong! When I moved out of Hollywood, nobody would hire me. Employers saw my two decades worth of experience as ‘niche’. I couldn’t find work in retail or tech sectors when I moved up north. I was “too specialized.”
So, take from that what you want: either, this IS a special skillset that can only be learned by doing — or it’s just like any other kind of marketing. You can’t have it both ways.
I may not be an expert, but I have worked in this business for 20 years and have done virtually everything there is to do in Movie Marketing. Jim was a class act who really cared, had talent and experience, which is rare. To let him go without giving him a chance and hiring someone else regardless of outside or inside this business seems arrogant to me, but I could be wrong.
Do not criticize her before she has had a chance to do a damn thing, she might be awesome. Criticize the decision making at the top which is reactionary and has no better vision than this, role the dice on something that looks different. We have all seen this exact same situation many times before and the odds are still out. Lets let her have her chance.
You guys crack me up. You’re hysterical. Come out of your dark, dank little movie industry basements. Look up, see the light. Breathe the fresh air. Look around. Feeling better already? See what a little open-mindedness can do?
No, I didn’t think so. Crawl back in and keep grumbling. Meanwhile, MT will be busy making your jobs and your lazy, sorry, back-biting asses redundant.
MT, I mean Highrise, how great a marketer is someone who doesn’t realize that the initials they’ve chosen as their own moniker are pronounced as the word “EMPTY”?
Welcome to studio marketing, MT. Not quite the welcome you envisioned, is it?
First two things to do as you settle in… develop alligator skin and disband the marketing council. Oh, and meetings-free-Fridays would be most appreciated so “cast members” can actually get some work done.
Best of luck.
Oh….BTW MT….if you don’t want to spend stupid money…lock the AV materials with enough time to finish them on straight time….you could save tens of millions of dollars…..
Good lord people! Give the woman a chance! And don’t wish ill will upon others or it might just happen to you. What comes around goes around. And with all the hate I’m reading, a lot of you need to find something more important to focus on besides the job! It’s movie marketing, not brain surgery. We’re NOT in the business of saving lives here…
Now can anyone help me add even more cliches to this post???