Media All-Stars 2009
Nov 15, 2009
JACKIE KULESZA
Dossier:Starcom USA, Senior VP, Broadcast Activation Director
Clients: Allstate, Bank of America, Hallmark Gold Crown, Nintendo and Kellogg’s
Years in Biz: Joined Starcom in January, 1995
Signature Achievement: Showcased Hallmark’s recordable cards in ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition sixth season
What the Boss Says...Chris Boothe says, “She’s nimble and daring, and she never limits herself to just what she’s supposed to be doing. She’s always out ahead, carrying the torch.”
By Anthony Crupi
In an era of unwieldy titles, Jackie Kulesza may be one of the few agency executives who isn’t dragging a freight train of modifiers in her wake. While overstuffed job descriptions have become the norm, Kulesza’s title befits her forthright manner.
As senior vp, broadcast activation director of the Chicago-based media agency Starcom, Kulesza, 37, places billions of national TV dollars for a roster that includes Allstate, Bank of America, Hallmark Gold Crown, Nintendo and Kellogg’s. Much as she loves the art of the deal—ad sales execs say the mental toughness the media buyer brings to the table is matched only by her equanimity—Kulesza is less concerned with the immediacy of price than in ensuring that her clients’ messages find their way to the right screen, and at the right time.
Take, for example, an integration Kulesza engineered for Hallmark a year ago. As the client was readying the launch of a new line of recordable greeting cards, Kulesza worked out a deal to showcase the novelty offering in the sixth season of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Midway through the Dec. 7, 2008, episode of Extreme Makeover, Hallmark played a part in helping a group of young music students stay in touch with their teacher who suffers from a rare heart condition. Dipping into a box of recordable cards donated by Hallmark, each student created their own greeting, wishing her well and letting her know that she was missed.
“When Ty Pennington and his team begin fixing their house, the family is sent out to Niagara Falls for a vacation,” Kulesza says. “We delivered the cards to them, and she got all choked up. It was a nice moment, and because the integration ran during the holiday season, it hit their sweet spot.”
Which isn’t to suggest that Kulesza is a big softie. Those seated at the other side of the table say the buyer is one of the toughest deal makers in the business. “Jackie is a formidable negotiator, and she’s emerged as one of the agency’s best strategic thinkers,” says Linda Yaccarino, executive vp/COO of Turner Entertainment ad sales/marketing. “She’s tough as nails but fair. Price is critical, but you’re not going to walk away thinking she tried to CPM you to death.”
Besides providing Extreme Makeover with one of its signature Kleenex-depleting moments, the Hallmark integration stands as a prime example of how Kulesza continues to help her clients bust through the cluttered TV space.
This year, Kulesza and her team joined forces with Nickelodeon, taking the wraps off a cooperative research effort on how the recession has affected family spending patterns and consumer-brand relationships. Chief among the study’s findings was the assertion that consumers were beginning to question their long-standing brand loyalties. The joint study also suggested that the drain on dollars has had an impact on media consumption. For example, there has been a significant uptick in co-viewing habits, as reduced entertainment budgets have encouraged parents and kids to watch more television together.
“One of the takeaways is that kids TV is particularly efficient because, for the most part, all the ads are targeted to them. So everything in the pod is relevant,” Kulesza says. “The trouble is, marketers see that there’s more co-viewing and they want to target the parents with their ads for phones and washing machines. And when that happens, as much as you’re bringing in nonendemic business, you’re making the pods less relevant to the kids.”
Shortly after the study wrapped, Nickelodeon began discussing the findings with its clients, which in turn allowed the network to help sponsors fine-tune their messaging. (Starcom and Nick have been crunching the numbers for the last few years; in 2007, Kulesza helped develop a minute-by-minute ratings research initiative that formalized the industry’s currency debate.)
Few buyers have been as proactive in their push for greater accountability. When C3 ratings were established as the coin of the realm, Kulesza characterized the new metric as a stop-gap measure. (At the time, Starcom had already cut a number of deals based on Nielsen minute-by-minute ratings, a far more granular measure than C3.)
Starcom’s quest for heightened accountability was frustrated by the never-ending upfront stare down of 2009. As haggling over price became the primary concern in the summer bazaar, loftier issues were tabled. “We pushed on better data, but we didn’t get very far this time around,” Kulesza says, and even at a remove of a few months, her voice still betrays a note of aggravation. “Having said that, I think conditions are ripe for another debate in 2010.”
Chris Boothe, president and chief activation officer, Starcom, says he expects Kulesza will be “relentless” as she works to elevate the industry standard. “Her desire to continually reinvent herself is what makes Jackie such a terrific leader,” Boothe says. “She’s nimble and daring, and she never limits herself to just what she’s supposed to be doing. She’s always out ahead, carrying the torch.”
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