Michael Valentino is in the bridge business. He”™s building bridges between the worlds of media and promotion, between concerts and cereal boxes and, in the offing, between generations. He specializes in radio promotions, the kind that can find your FM morning crew broadcasting from London.
Valentino”™s bridges are metaphorical, but the results are very real ”“ the sort of ideas that attract clients like the Country Music Awards, Kraft Inc. and BMW, which used Valentino”™s White Plains-based TMPG Media Innovation to bridge the worlds of A-list Hollywood directors and the showroom floor.
Valentino”™s work on the BMW film series won 15-year-old TMPG the Promotion Marketing Association”™s 2002 Super Reggie Award as tops in the industry. The BMW short films included works by celluloid masters John Frankenheimer and Ang Lee.
If your perception of advertising is an old Alka Seltzer ad ”“ “I can”™t believe I ate the whole thing” ”“ a conversation with Valentino is an eye-opener. While you were snoozing, the world took off like a rocket ship. And in the command module, Valentino as president and CEO of TMPG is charting a new course in the ever-changing come-on between consumers and those with something to sell.
“A lot of companies are looking to appeal to you in ways other than smashing you over the head,” says Valentino.
Valentino, 52, produces a box of Honey Comb breakfast cereal to make a point. The cereal boxes of his youth promised lick ”™em tattoos of Mr. Peabody and a toy car that looked a thousand times better on the box than you could ever hope to assemble. It was as if the entire burden of selling the product had fallen on the scrawny shoulders of some sappy bird who was cuckoo for Coco Puffs. The Honey Comb box of 2007 features Aly and AJ, a pair of pop princesses who are going to perform a concert exclusively for Honey Comb eaters. How cool is that? A lot cooler than that crappy race car, you can bet.
Aly and AJ are the telegenic faces of what Valentino calls “nontraditional uses of media.” They are cute high school rockers, but they are also part of the Walt Disney entertainment leviathan; Valentino refers to them as “extremely professional ”“ this is a big-time show.” Indeed, the blue-smoke-and-stage-lights photo on the back of the Honey Comb box looks a lot more like a Fleetwood-Mac concert than something cooked up in a neighborhood garage.
Valentino believes the way to move a product is to run a promotion to meet Rachel Ray, or to offer a private movie screening hosted by the afternoon radio drive team. If you”™ve noticed how casually on-air personalities drift into promotions these days, that”™s Valentino at work. “We coach them to be part of the brand,” he says and offers an example: A British Airways campaign forsook traditional spots in favor of jetting a couple of radio disc jockeys to London for a series of shows. “We married an interesting campaign with on-air personalities in an ad lib and credible way,” he explains, noting this model, which has become familiar to anyone with a car radio, is proven to increase sales.
“We”™ve broken the mold,” Valentino says of modern marketing and advertising. “Now, it”™s more free-form, such as an 18-minute online audio-video promoting the TriBeCa Film Festival.” In this brave new world, American Express produced the spot and it”™s done in the manner of a New York City walking tour ”“ it was hosted, in fact, by Barry Lewis, who does New York City walking tours for PBS. “American Express is providing this service without beating you over the head with it,” Valentino says of the walking tour movie. He noted the film also targeted vendors and restaurants where the American Express card is welcome.
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“We bridge media and promotion,” he says.
Valentino”™s wife is Suzy. Their children are Michael, 17; Caroline, 16; Katherine, 14; and Nick, 12. Valentino could well be the only parent among his kids”™ coterie who knows of Aly and AJ. He has even seen them perform and gives an approving thumbs up to their brand of rock. “It was an awesome show,” he says, dipping into ”™tween argot. “Very theatrical. Very professional.”
But when he is not working, Valentino”™s taste gravitates more to what the boomer generation calls “the good stuff.” He has seen Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in concert and is gearing up to see Neil Young solo. He has seen Sting and also ”“ talk about a bridge builder ”“ the hugely popular Tony Bennett. One show he has not seen: the Boss. “I”™ve gotten tickets for people to see him, but I”™ve never seen him live,” he says. There is no regret in his voice, no Springsteen-inspired wail; but you might expect such limited disappointment from a man with a Cheryl Crowe-autographed electric guitar on his office wall. The Goo Goo Dolls ”“ not quite the Beatles, but certainly bigger than Death Cab for Cutie ”“ autographed the same guitar. He also enjoys classical music.
Entertainers like Tony Bennett and Cheryl Crowe stay on top via quality and Valentino ascribes to the same philosophy in business. “You have to have a good product and give someone the opportunity to test that product,” he says. “But the product has to be good. The key is letting me into your world for a few seconds in a way that”™s not threatening and not preachy.”
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