Scot Chastain, Executive Vice President, Affiliate Marketing and Development, NBC Television Network and PromaxBDA Board Chair

Scot Chastain oversees the bi-coastal NBC Affiliate Marketing groups that develop and distribute all network marketing, sales and advertising materials for the network’s 240 affiliate and owned television stations. This includes campaigns across all local station on-air and digital platforms, including primetime, news, sports, Olympics, daytime, late night and Saturday morning dayparts.

Who or what inspired your career in television marketing?

My dad ran a television station [PBS affiliate KAMU at Texas A&M University] in my hometown. I was 10 years old and watching him. I went to college [at Texas A&M] and worked my way up at NBC stations after college.

How did the experience of getting to watch your dad influence you?

With a local television station you’re directly touching the consumer. You’re informing the public. It’s still entertaining, but you’re being a market leader. With a small station, you get the chance to experience all facets of the operation—news, sports, programming. You learn how to write, how to be a leader, and how to run departments. It’s great training ground.

You’ve run hundreds of launch campaigns, from TV shows, to the NFL, to the Olympics. What’s been one of your favorite campaigns?

It’s all very exciting. Everyone one of them is different. What you’re working on now is your favorite at the time … Salt Lake [City 2002 Winter Olympics] was great because it was an all-live Olympics and it was domestic. You didn’t want to take anything for granted.

What are some of the challenges you faced?

Making sure [what we were doing] was relevant to a younger consumer. You had to crack that code and make it an appealing event, not just a sporting event. It’s always an ongoing trend to cast as wide a net as possible

How did you do that?

We made it more about the athletes and the athletes’ stories—their training, and how they got to the games. People knew them ahead of time. And we also make it into a local or regional story based on where they were training and located. An advantage to Rio is it will be in real time, so social media can feed things on a real-time basis.

How much of a role would you say social media plays in marketing?

Paid media, social media radio, digital—it’s about the right mix. Whatever it is, it’s going to depend on the property. Everything is going to be different. You don’t have the standard blueprint that you did 20 years ago when putting together a paid media campaign.

What tips would you give aspiring marketing professionals?

If you don’t have an internship, get a real job at a TV or radio station. There’s no substitute for real-life experience. Learn as much about your environment as possible. If you’re in marketing, reach out to sales. Follow the money, and get to know how the operation works, the functionalities behind it, all the different technology that makes the operation run.

What show (or shows) are you obsessed with right now and how are you consuming it?

I’m a big believer in the media ecosystem and I want to make sure I understand what’s going on throughout the year. I get exposed [to the competition] with their marketing messages, and I sample as much as I can on HBO and Showtime, ESPN, NBC and the broadcasting Big Four, plus The CW, sports channels, Bravo, Food Network.

Favorite show?

Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It’s an escape kind of show.

Tell us about a non-TV passion or hobby you have and why it’s something that interests you.

I have 14- and 12-year-old boys. I’m pretty much a lacrosse dad taking them to games and tournaments up and down California.

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