How Disney Realigned Its Ad Sales to Reach More Advertisers

Disney Advertising wants more brands to know, "You've got a friend in me." The company recently told ADWEEK it realigned the organizational structure of its ad sales to better reach midmarket advertisers, with the goal of offering more localized, consultative services and supporting growth areas around data, automation, and outcomes. For Disney, midmarket advertisers are brands outside of the major holding companies that often work with smaller and independent agencies. Some of these brands could have advertising spend anywhere from $30 million to $300 million and may be focused more regionally; however, budgets could also be significantly less. Disney announced that it was looking to reach more midmarket advertisers over the summer at Cannes Lions, and there have been murmurings of an ad sales realignment since ad sales veteran Lisa Valentino exited the company in May, later joining Best Buy as president of its advertising arm. Ultimately, the company refocused its strategy after seeing that it had an opportunity to grow share with thousands of potential midmarket clients, according to senior vice president of sales Marco Forte, and the changes were enacted to make inventory accessible and provide client support regardless of budget. "I think a big thing here is changing the perception in the marketplace that these clients might have that premium content equals premium budgets," Forte said. "A lot of people think that only large brands can afford the sophisticated tools to activate on data, invest in our audience solutions, in our clean rooms, and we're breaking down that barrier of entry." Putting together a new team With the new strategy, Disney Advertising realigned its teams by focus. This includes a team focused on holding companies, a team focused on brands (to align with the brands that the major holding companies represent), and a new team dedicated to supporting independent agencies and midmarket advertisers, which includes more than 100 team members. The independent agencies and midmarket advertiser team is broken down by region—Mid-Atlantic, East, West, South, and Midwest—to specifically service various states and regions. Meanwhile, an automation-focused group, inclusive of programmatic and self-service teams, is layered across the business to bring technology cohesion, which is especially important as many midmarket clients are focused on automated and programmatic campaigns. The automation-focused team members that support the independent/midmarket team are also based in the aforementioned regions. The strategy is about bringing companies a localized, consultative approach to programmatic capabilities and offering a human touch to optimize campaigns and provide support, according to the company. "Our goal really is to transform all of our account executives to be more analysts," Jamie Power, senior vp of addressable sales, explained. "Figure out what are the data-driven insights, what did we learn from this campaign, and how can we make it better." Expanding the marketing toolkit In addition to interacting with clients at a more regional level, Disney is looking to bring more capabilities to midmarket advertisers, including outcomes-based measurement and advanced targeting through its audience graph—offerings that midmarket advertisers may have previously thought were out of budget. "From a tooling perspective, I think that's pretty exciting for them to see," Power said. "We have always-on measurement, so every single campaign that they run, they have the ability to see, 'Is there a lift in web traffic? Is there a lift in application downloads? Is this driving the business?'" The company previously announced some of its increased advertiser connectivity at Cannes, making its BridgeID—the company's connection between its audience graph and third-party identity solutions—more accessible to advertisers. Additionally, Power told ADWEEK that the company added five more demand-side platforms to its repertoire, meaning that it is working with nearly 40 DSPs as it looks to meet advertisers how they want to transact. The company is connected with the big players in the market, such as The Trade Desk and Google's Display & Video 360, but as it's leaned into realigning its business to focus on midmarket, partners such as Viant, StackAdapt, and Nexxen have also shifted volume to accommodate for that. "We're really focused on being easy to work with, allowing buyers to buy through whatever technology they want," Power said. Aligned on results Though the strategy is still relatively new, Forte said the company is already seeing a "huge uptick" in clients, with Disney Advertising finding momentum with agencies such as Havas, Crossmedia, and Wieden+Kennedy. Additionally, the company said Stagwell's Assembly is shifting more client investment into connected TV and new automated ad formats. Forte and Power noted that midmarket advertisers aren't new to Disney. For instance, the company regularly works with independent agencies on upfront commitments for everything from addressable to linear; however, the executives said the new strategy brings a more personalized approach and even a "startup" mentality as Disney looks to get in the door with clients that previously hadn't considered the "Mouse House." "If you're a smaller brand that's just starting to hit your stride, and you're used to only running on social, and all of a sudden you're seeing yourself in the sight, sound, and motion of The Bear or an episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's pretty exciting," Power said.

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How Disney Realigned Its Ad Sales to Reach More New Advertisers

The company now has a dedicated team for midmarket advertisers, and it's already seeing a 'huge uptick' in clients

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