As upfront week winds down, Adweek is sitting down for postmortems with all the presenting ad sales chiefs, including NBCUniversal’s Mark Marshall, Fox’s Marianne Gambelli and TelevisaUnivision’s Donna Speciale. Now, it’s time for Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of advertising sales and partnerships.
Disney brought several big names to its Tuesday upfront event at the North Javits Center, including Kim Kardashian, Kevin Feige and Angel Reese. But like with most of the events throughout the week, the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike complicated things, leaving many entertainers, including the company’s annual upfront roaster, Jimmy Kimmel, out of the presentation.
Despite any added difficulties, Ferro had nothing but compliments about the company’s new venue, confirming to Adweek that Disney would hold its upfront presentation at the North Javits Center for two more years, and that next year’s presentation is already locked in for May 14, 2024.
Ferro chatted with Adweek about the importance of bringing in big stars despite the strike, challenging marketers around DEI and what it’s like closing things out without Kimmel.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Adweek: You made it through upfront week. Looking back on the event, what are you proudest of?
Ferro: I think the event turned out as great as I envisioned it to turn out. The venue was fantastic. It really suited us in terms of what we hope to do, which is show the depth and breadth of Disney in terms of how it comes to life on that stage. We had an extraordinary lineup of talent and athletes and content on the stage across all of our platforms, which really conveyed the show must go on when you’re Disney. And so regardless of whatever challenges and dynamics we have to contend with, we always want to make sure that we’re delivering what people expect, and I feel like most, if not all of our clients who were there, gave us that feedback. They felt it was one of the strongest events this week that was very clear on its messaging, very clear on the value proposition being anchored in the best of sports and streaming and live entertainment, making sure that clients understood that interoperability was at the core of how we think about doing business together so that they can plan, buy and measure across our portfolio.