[September 27, 2018]

Winners of the 2018 Excellence in Local Media Marketing and TVB NEXT Awards Announced at TVB Forward Conference

TVB, the not-for-profit trade association of America's local broadcast television industry, today announced the winners of this year's TVB Excellence Awards and TVB NEXT Awards at Forward 2018 - Local Broadcast Television's Annual Conference in New York City. The prestigious TVB Excellence Award recognizes recipients for their creativity in producing a collaborative multiplatform advertising campaign that generated results and value for their client over the past year. The TVB NEXT Awards honor tomorrow's leaders in media buying, planning and sales.

Steve Lanzano, President and CEO of TVB stated, "Local broadcast television continues to be the clear and dominant media channel for advertisers, brand managers and political campaigns to reach and influence consumers and voters, even as viewers have access to more options to consume content. Our industry offers a highly compelling value proposition for viewers to access local and national entertainment and news content and is the most trusted of all media channels. These factors enable local broadcasters to deliver by far the best outcomes for businesses and political campaigns on their advertising spend.

"It is my honor to acknowledge Cordillera Communications' WLEX-TV, E.W. Scripps' WCPO-TV and political media agency GMBB as the winners of TVB's annual Excellence Awards. This year's award recipients leveraged local broadcasters' combined on-air and digital capabilities to create multiplatform marketing campaigns that delivered an excellent return on investment for advertisers and political candidates.

"In addition, TVB and our NEXT program sponsor WideOrbit are proud to announce Nathan Fishell, Tamer Mahmoud and Paige Powell as the winners of the second annual TVB NEXT Awards. All of the 2018 winners demonstrate forward thinking excellence that ensures their employers and clients benefit from local broadcast television's leadership in delivering quality information, entertainment and marketing value. The winners and all of the TVB NEXT program attendees represent the future of our industry in media buying, planning and sales. With them leading the way, it is clear that local broadcast television has a very bright future."

2018 TVB Excellence and NEXT Award winners are:

TVB Excellence Awards (Stations, Advertisers and Media Agency):

TVB Excellence Award winners are chosen based on the creativity of their on-air and digital advertising, as well as the overall effectiveness of the campaign in addressing objectives, meeting challenges and delivering results.

Home improvement category winner, Cordillera Communication's NBC affiliate WLEX-TV, serving Lexington, KY (DMA #63) collaborated with Bryant Heating and Cooling ("Bryant") to develop a multiplatform campaign to elevate demand for its broad range of products and services, particularly during the off-season. To help Bryant increase brand awareness and reach target customers, WLEX-TV paired a robust weekly schedule of local television spots with a unique digital campaign that featured digital video and banner ads on the station's website and mobile weather app. The spots highlighted the company's commitment to meeting local homeowners' indoor comfort needs through its high quality service offerings delivered by Bryant's experienced team of professional technicians. Since partnering with WLEX-TV, Bryant's profitability has increased 239% year-over-year reflecting the tremendous success of the multiplatform campaign in delivering positive results.

Healthcare category winner, E.W. Scripps Company's ABC affiliate WCPO-TV, serving Cincinnati, OH (DMA #35) teamed up with Horizon Weight Loss ("Horizon") to help increase new patient visits after sales dramatically declined while working with a digital-only media agency. Following an extensive review of Horizon's online presence, messaging, product offerings and competitive environment, WCPO-TV created a customized sales strategy with an emphasis on providing personalized, one-on-one new patient consultations. The unique multiplatform advertising campaign aired during WCPO-TV's early morning news and daytime programming and featured patients' personal experiences working with Horizon's staff as well as the results achieved through their tailored programs. Television spots were complemented by digital and social media, including patient testimonials. The campaign delivered revenue-generating results for Horizon, with sales doubling within a few months and continuing to grow throughout the traditionally slower summer period.

For the political category, political media agency GMMB won the Excellence award for its Nevada Democratic Gubernatorial Primary Election campaign on behalf of candidate Steve Sisolak. The goal of the campaign was to define the candidate's agenda, amplify deciding issues in Nevada, increase turnout among registered Democrats and get-out-the-vote on primary election day. Facing a highly competitive race, prior to the campaign launch Steve Sisolak was polling one percentage point behind his opponent. As a result, GMMB developed a multiplatform schedule focused on reaching likely primary voters primarily through broadcast television, in addition to select strategic digital buys. After spending roughly 76% of the total media budget on local broadcast TV stations, Steve Sisolak won the Democratic primary election, beating his opponent by ten percentage points. He will go on to compete against Republican candidate Adam Laxalt in November's general election in what is expected to one of most competitive gubernatorial races this election season.

The TVB Excellence finalists can be viewed on the TVB website here.

TVB NEXT Awards (Media Buying, Planning and Sales):

TVB NEXT Award honorees are recommended by senior executives and chosen based on their responses to questions focused on the future of localism, their respective roles in an automated TV environment, opportunities and challenges facing the evolving TV ecosystem and leadership. The 2018 TVB NEXTers were invited to attend Forward 2018 alongside C-Suite executives and participate in a day of collaborative presentations and discussion regarding the latest trends and technologies powering the future growth of local broadcast television, as well as the challenges and opportunities facing ad buyers, planners and sellers.

"NEXT gives up-and-coming media leaders access to industry thought leaders, insights into innovation, a leg up on career advancement, and a voice in the bigger discussion," said Bruce Roberts, President of WideOrbit, the 2018 sponsor of the TVB NEXT program. "It would be an incredible oversight to fail to open a conversation with the next generation on the impact of technology on content consumption -- and in particular on how they think about TV. That's why we've sponsored NEXT every year since it started, because we believe in its importance to broadcasting's future. If the industry is to grow and change and thrive, we must also listen."

Media buying category NEXT Award honoree, Tamer Mahmoud of Initiative said when commenting on the future of local marketing, "In the next 5 years, localism will grow in importance. Brands will rely more on consumer data as the foundations of their campaigns. The uniqueness of each individual consumer and market is a benefit for local TV."

Media planning category NEXT Award honoree, Paige Powell of Havas Media said when commenting on the future of the industry, "The video ecosystem is evolving because consumers demand it. Automation should be celebrated as a way for us to become smarter and more efficient in our media strategy and execution, ensuring the highest quality of inventory at scale for our campaigns."

Media sales category NEXT Award honoree, Nathan Fishell of Hearst Television owned NBC affiliate WLWT-TV in Cincinnati, OH said when commenting on the future of localism, "Integrating local advertisers into stations' apps, graphics, social media and promos provides consumers with exposure to trustworthy local businesses, creating more meaningful relationships and driving sales. When clients win, we win!"

The 2018 TVB NEXT honorees can be viewed on the TVB website here.

Additional Awards Presented at TVB Forward 2018 Conference:

About TVB

TVB is the not-for-profit trade association representing America's $21 billion local broadcast television industry. Its members include over 800 individual television stations, television broadcast groups, advertising sales reps, syndicators, international broadcasters and associate members. TVB actively promotes local media marketing solutions to the advertising community and works to develop advertising dollars for the medium's multiple platforms, including on-air, online and mobile. TVB provides a diverse variety of tools and resources, including its website, to support its members and to help advertisers make the best use of local ad dollars.

About WideOrbit

WideOrbit (wideorbit.com) is the program sponsor of the TVB NEXT Awards. It is the technology platform for media companies to connect audiences and ads, everywhere. WideOrbit's mission is to simplify media buying and selling by focusing on innovation, customer delight, and value creation. Customers include NBCUniversal, Tribune, Entercom, Raycom (News - Alert), and TEGNA.

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