December 12, 2007

Viacom's Brand Warriors

Name: Christina Norman
Title: President, MTV

Name: Cyma Zarghami
Title: President, Nickelodeon

Why Them? When it comes to pervasive brands, there’s no arguing that MTV and Nickelodeon are about as ensconced as they come. Norman remains one of Judy McGrath’s most trusted top guns and continues to flourish amid the restructuring and the unfortunate shelving of the Urge music service. Norman’s vision of MTV as a multi-distribution behemoth bodes well with its early-adopter core audience. She’s constantly looking for ways to refresh existing programming – like the reinvention of the MTV Video Music Awards this year – and ably integrate new family members such as gaming site Xfire and mtvU acquisition College Media Network. Though Zarghami’s Nickelodeon faces relentless competition from the Disney machine, the network remains a premier kids brand, and she clearly intends to keep it that way. With help from former EVP/GM digital TV Tom Ascheim (who recently departed for Newsweek), Zargharmi not only bolstered programming on the flagship network and Internet, but oversaw the recent split of preschool destination Noggin and tween/teen-centric The N into two 24/7 networks. Looks like the other tween-targeted networks are in for a cat fight.  CAO


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