5 Things We Learned from Adweek's Bonnie Hammer Profile
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5 Things We Learned from AdWeek's Bonnie Hammer Profile 04.21.2014 ​AdWeek published a lengthy profile of the normally press-shy NBCU Cable Entertainment boss Bonnie Hammer on Monday, and it's packed with insight into the direction the executive has been moving her properties in the year since she being elevated to her current gig. If there's one thing that AdWeek's Sam Thielman stresses over and over again, it's Hammer's laser-focus on the brand identity of each of the properties under her command, and how those clearer identities have made the properties more lucrative for the company. Hammer oversees USA, SyFy, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, G4, and Sprout, among other networks. "She's given Syfy a real identity and an audience, and she's done the same for USA," NBCU Vice Chairman Ron Meyer told the magazine. "It could have been a potpourri of miscellaneous shows that had nothing in common." The entire piece is worth a read. But our five key takeaways: 1. Hammer knows Oxygen needs fixing. And she's on it. Her team realized there was a problem when they did some research that showed Oxygen's viewers were all over the demographic map. Some shows drew 12-year olds, while others skewed 55-plus. "From an ad-sales perspective, it was hard to sell," Hammer told AdWeek. So her team is forging a new brand identity for the female-centic network: aspirational twenty-somethings, just out of school or starting their adult lives. This group has some discretionary money, but not a lot, and are less secure in their positions. "They're a bit more authentic and real because they're coming out of the millennial world," she says. 2. Everyone at NBCU Cable Entertainment is in the same boat. Rule Number One in Hammer World: Thou Shalt Not Compete With Another NBCU Network. "Frankly, we're judged as a portfolio, and if you lose because you're fighting for the same project and you both fail, we all get dinged," Hammer told AdWeek. Network heads were summoned to an offsite meeting last year where they were each given a half hour or so to talk about their vision for their property and how it stood apart from, and complimented, the others. 3. She has an eye for detail. AdWeek mentions a story about Hammer giving USA's marketing department a hard time about the color of an actress' dress. "I made them nuts!" she's quoted as saying. 4. NBCU Cable Entertainment has a five-year plan. Her team has crafted a five-year blueprint across the networks and the entire portfolio that will drive a new combined upfront presentation at the end of the broadcast week. "The whole [of these cable networks] is far greater than the sum of its parts," Hammer told AdWeek. "And the only way to show it is to make sure we show the whole thing put together." 5. USA makes a ridiculous amount of money. USA, the "crown jewel" of Hammer's portfolio, and the place where she really made a name for herself, has generated pure profit of upwards of $1 billion since 2012. Read More: AdWeek Brief Take: Hammer has reorganized NBCU Cable Entertainment into a more battle-ready organization ready to fight and win in an increasingly competitive TV industry by knowing exactly who and what they are-and aren't..