The newly appointed sales head for CBS Digital Media sits down with executive editor Brad Berens to talk about his new job.

Editor's Note: Yesterday at Ad:Tech in San Francisco marked Scot McLernon's first public appearance since the announcement of his new position as senior vice president of advertising for CBS Digital Media.

iMedia: Congratulations on the new gig! In some superficial ways it looks a bit like your old job: CBS, Larry Kramer, Sales... Help us see below the surface at the differences between your old role at CBS MarketWatch (before it was acquired by Dow Jones) and your new role at CBS Digital Media.

Scot McLernon: Thanks Brad, just thrilled at the opportunity, and the challenges ahead. No question that there is a certain amount of familiarity of working again within some of the CBS surroundings and with Larry. It’s as if we’re getting some of the band back together, but it really stops there. MarketWatch was very much its own self supported entity; we had the CBS name and some of its resources, but we were far from the huge company that CBS brings me. And of course we also have so many properties now, so much more reach and depth of offerings -- there are very few clients that I can’t speak to where before we had some limitations. Between News, Entertainment and Sports we reach eighteen million visitors per month, and within them almost every demographic in one way or another.

iMedia: Do you see any particularly unique opportunities and/or challenges for marketers in the combo-platter of CBS digital properties -- CBS SportsLine, CBS.com, CBSNews.com, UPN.com, as well as Infinity Broadcasting?

McLernon: We spent an entire day earlier this week looking at what we have and what we don’t have to determine what we need. Each property has done a very good job with what they’ve had. Now there is a very strong effort to bolster those offerings, and that’s where Kramer and I come in. I see this as a two tiered effort. First, there are things that are needed immediately through our own observations, already existing management and staff. We’re already addressing those and working up designs. Next comes meeting the marketers to get their thoughts on how we can align our efforts with their specific needs -- no better time than now while we have the wind at our backs and the cooperation of the very top executives within CBS. Keep in mind that previously each of these divisions have worked primarily as a separate property and entity -- we’re looking at the advantages and disadvantages of that as we build out the next phase of these sites and the sales team efforts.

iMedia: What about integrated marketing? Will marketers and media planners have the opportunity to treat CBS as a one-stop shop for broadcast and digital? Or to work within the entire Viacom umbrella? If so, what would those opportunities look like?

McLernon: As most of us in the industry know we’re going into the upfront in May, and there is a terrific opportunity as well as an advantage for the companies that have cross-media capabilities and opportunities. For example, it’s fine to have a presence within "Survivor" the show as well as within the coverage of Survivor in CBS.com, but we would also like to think through this a lot more and continue to build very specific packages for our marketers. Opportunities that take advantage of much more interactive ways in which to engage the visitors to our sites -- especially sponsored TV show endings that are available only on the web, text message voting on your branded phone that begins with a call to action on TV, with sponsored results only available on the web. Both SportsLine and CBS.com have done a terrific job of this; we just want to further the opportunities now and the tie-in’s are endless. This medium is special in so many ways and the chance for a marketer to further capitalize their large branding efforts in television by continuing that message on the web and have the consumer interact with their brand is so very valuable. I really think the opportunities we can build right now for our clients are limited only by our imaginations -- and after two months off mine is quite rested.

iMedia: What about financial coverage? On March 31, Daily Variety reported that "CBS had been a bidder for the company [MarketWatch] but pulled out when the stakes got too high." Given your deep experience in the space as well as Larry Kramer's, does CBS Digital Media plan to start a new financial portal to rival MarketWatch?

McLernon: Our priority right now is to further the ongoing efforts to bolster, tie together and take advantage of the terrific properties that we already have in Sports, Entertainment and News. We already cover financial news at CBSNews.com, and how that’s been done to date. How it will be done in the future is up to Andrew Heyward, and we’ll support him in any way we can.
 
iMedia: At the same time that you and Larry Kramer are weaving all of the CBS Digital properties into one company, Sumner Redstone is planning to split Viacom into different companies by the first quarter of 2006. On April 19, Variety described the two companies in this way: "Redstone confirmed the likely configuration of the two new entities, with [Co-chief operating officer Tom] Freston's growth company holding Paramount Pictures and home entertainment, MTV Networks, BET and Famous Music Publishing. [Co-chief operating officer Leslie] Moonves will run the value company, including CBS and UPN, TV production, TV stations, radio and outdoor, as well as Showtime, Simon & Schuster, Paramount Parks and the Famous Players movie theaters, which are now on the block."
 
CBS Digital Media will surely follow Moonves, but do you expect there to be any impact on your division from the Viacom split? If so, what sort? And is there any lack of fit being in the value half when you're on a growth mission?

McLernon: The way both Larry and Leslie described it to me when we had our discussions around my coming aboard is that we would have the opportunity to build our business in an entrepreneurial environment, while taking advantage of a huge brand with incredible resources -- and to date that’s exactly what I’m experiencing. If this split does in fact take place, then, from where I sit, it looks like we’re affected only in a positive way in that one of the most talented and powerful men in the entertainment business may have a little more time to dedicate to his half of the business, including CBS Digital Media -- so to me that can only be a good thing. We’ll also work closely with any sister companies such as the MTV properties.
 
iMedia: If last year's hot interactive marketing topic was search, so far this year's topic looks like behavioral targeting and marketing. With the diverse properties you mentioned earlier, do you have any predictions about what CBS Digital Media will do technologically to make the ads that visitors see more relevant to the interests that their earlier browsing behavior have demonstrated? Are there any particular technological strategies (a TACODA-style strategy versus an adware strategy, for example) that you have in mind? And, relatedly, are there different privacy concerns with this company and how you track consumer behavior than there were with MarketWatch.com?

McLernon: In my opinion, behavioral targeting should be much like a utility -- it should always be on in some fashion or form. It may not always be used, or seen, but non-intrusive information should constantly be gathered. Whenever possible, I’d hope that we would work to make advertising relevant and part of the visitor’s experience. As a consumer myself, my feeling is that if by gathering my browsing information a publisher can then intuitively show me an ad for a product, service or offer that I’m interested in, then that’s a better experience for me. And I personally think that should be part of our site's capabilities. We’re bombarded with messages each day -- the relevant ones that come through in a clean, well lit environment will be the ones that stand out. There’s no question that advertising today has its challenges, but how else are we going to know that an airline has low fares, a beer has a new flavor or software does new things if not for advertising? Web advertising is now living up to its promise by helping to break through the clutter and behavioral targeting has proven to be a successful part of the quiver.
 
iMedia: Last question -- what do you wish somebody would ask you in an interview like this?

McLernon: How were the two months off? They were absolutely wonderful -- every single minute of it. I absolutely love my work, but I love my family even more, and being able to take 60 days off to spend time with them was quite an opportunity. During tech's highs and lows, after the dotcom implosion, I’ve seen plenty of people taking forced sabbaticals that were stressful times for them, though many of them managed to make it productive. If under your own terms you can afford to take some “mid-career” time off I highly recommend it. Sometimes we get very caught up in what we’re doing and lose sight of the bigger picture. Or, put another way, we’re not curing cancer here: we’re just building, buying and selling media -- I’m finding out right now that it will be here for us when we get back. And, thanks to Larry and the rest of the folks at CBS, I’m back.