Lazarus Replaces Uva as Turner Sales Chief
By JIM FORKAN -- Multichannel News, 11/18/2001 7:00:00 PM
New York — Turner Sports veteran Mark Lazarus last Thursday became president of Turner entertainment group sales and marketing within Turner Broadcasting Sales Inc.
He replaces Joe Uva, who shifts to the media-buying side after nearly 18 years with Turner.
Lazarus — who will retain his Turner Sports presidency and continue to report to Turner Broadcasting System Inc. CEO Jamie Kellner — first joined Turner Sports Sales as an account executive in 1990. He assumed the top slot at Turner Sports in fall 1999.
Lured by what he called "an irresistible opportunity," Uva will join OMD Worldwide as president and CEO. At OMD, Uva succeeds Daryl Simm, named president and CEO of Omnicom Group last year.
OMD — originally called Optimum Media Direction — is the media-buying operation of Omnicom, which includes ad agencies BBDO Worldwide and TBWA/Chiat/Day. Uva — who had headed Turner's entertainment-sales efforts since 1994 — will oversee such accounts as Chrysler Corp., McDonald's Corp., Nissan Motors and Pepsi-Cola Co. in his new job.
Lazarus — who spent time as a media buyer early in his career at Backer Spielvogel Bates Inc. — will now oversee ad sales for TBS Superstation, Turner Network Television, Cartoon Network and Turner South.
Larry Goodmanremains president of Cable News Network sales and marketing, a post held by Uva from 1990 to 1994.
Lazarus said that his holding down both jobs will be "a permanent thing." He also dismissed the notion that the prospect of a basic-cable network devoted to the National Basketball Association — which would be a joint venture of AOL Time Warner and the league — would lead to a downsizing of Turner Sports (see page 14).
"Any sports relationship would fall into Turner Sports" and thus be under his supervision, he said.
Since late 1999, Lazarus has supervised all Turner sports programming, production and acquisitions — most notably the National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) and Wimbledon tennis — as well as media sponsorship sales and promotional tie-ins for sports fare on TBS and TNT.
Sponsorship efforts for two Turner-controlled Atlanta sports venues, Philips Arena and Turner Field, are also under his purview.
Lazarus formerly ran Turner's global client solutions group, facilitating ad-sales integration across the various Turner networks and other AOL Time Warner media assets.
Despite the fact that "there is an incubation period" that can span a year or more, Lazarus said such cross-platform deals are "going to become more valuable over time."
No related content found.
Featured Company
-
Digital Rapids
Digital Rapids is the leading provider of professional hardware and software tools, technology and expertise for bringing video to wider audiences and new viewing platforms. Continuing to set new standards in quality, productivity and versatility, our solutions span the critical ..more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
