Scripps Creates Consumer Engagement VP

Frank Friedman, president of local investment for Publicis Media in New York, will join E.W. Scripps in June in the newly created role of vice president of consumer engagement for local media.
Friedman has three decades of advertising industry experience, having spent nearly 15 years in executive management positions at the Publicis Groupe of agencies. At Zenith, he led the local investment team as executive vice president, stewarding the adoption of comScore in all 140 diary markets.

In his time as CEO of ZenithOptimedia Canada, the agency developed the first fully transparent automated trading desk in the country.
Most recently at Publicis Media, Friedman has led the industry charge toward local automation, developing more efficient workflow solutions to help spot television gain a larger share of brands’ advertising dollars while competing for digital dollars with less friction, greater transparency and stronger brand safety.

In his new role, Friedman will be responsible for overseeing and growing Scripps’ portfolio of local media brands by bringing a consumer and advertiser lens to local market strategic plans and executions. He will manage teams including analytics and insights, marketing and creative. He also will lead Scripps’ involvement in the testing and implementation of the growing automated advertising marketplace.

Friedman said joining Scripps will let him continue his work to rally the industry and advocate for local advertising.

“I am an advocate and a passionate defender of local media and its role in informing and entertaining local consumers across platforms,” Friedman said. “I am encouraged by the developments in local media measurement as the industry dives deeper into the set-top box with ComScore and Nielsen. There is still work to do, but we are making progress. Local automation will create valuable process efficiencies for the buy/sell side as local media competes for a stronger share of the overall budget allocation.

Brian Lawlor, president of local media for Scripps, said he created the new role to help guide local media operations through the changing consumer landscape, as audiences increasingly seek out news and entertainment on virtual home assistants, over-the-top platforms and other emerging technologies.

“Frank is bringing to Scripps an accomplished career in advertising, audience measurement and consumer understanding that will help us enhance our Local Media performance,” Lawlor said. “We look forward to leveraging his expertise in audience engagement and measurement to help us form deeper connections between our content and local consumers and advertisers. Frank will continue to be actively involved in the advancement of automated buying, with Scripps working with multiple advertisers, agencies and platforms to streamline the processes necessary to bring important national dollars back to local broadcasting.”  

A native of Portland, Ore., Friedman got his agency start at Wieden+Kennedy working on Nike. He also has worked client side, with executive media appointments at Louisiana-Pacific and Circuit City.