By Jodi Duckett
From an office in the heart of Manhattan, on the 12th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza overlooking the famous ice skating rink, Ellen Stone ’87 and her staff develop strategies to whip up buzz for the popular television shows created by the networks Bravo, Oxygen and Universal Kids.
Bravo unleashed the singular and sensational “Real Housewives” onto the world and has other reality TV hits such as “Below Deck” and “Top Chef.” True crime buffs flock to Oxygen, with shows such as “License to Kill” and the new “Injustice with Nancy Grace.” And kids love shows like “Where’s Waldo?” and “American Ninja Warrior Junior” on Universal Kids.
As executive vice president of marketing, Stone thinks in terms of multi-platform and multi-format—TV, print, social media, games, events and advertising.
Her team created a frozen food line partnering “Top Chef” and Healthy Choice, a custom float featuring more than a dozen Bravo stars such as Andy Cohen in the New York City Pride March and BravoCon, an immersive fan experience to bring Bravoholics together with their favorite Bravolebrities (November 2019).
“My job is to get as many people invested in these shows as possible,” Stone says. “I have to understand who our audience is and what they care about most in order to marry their interests with our brand and original series. The opportunities, technologies and platforms in the marketing landscape are changing constantly, and I have to always look for new opportunities that allow me to reach a large yet targeted audience with our messaging.”