Walmart CMO Stephen Quinn Named Chair of Association of National Advertisers' Alliance for Family Entertainment

NEW YORK, Dec. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Stephen Quinn, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Walmart, has been named chairman of the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) Alliance for Family Entertainment (AFE); it was announced today by Bob Liodice, ANA president and CEO.

Quinn assumes the leadership of a coalition of national marketers that has achieved considerable success in the past 15 years developing and supporting quality programming about modern American family life across all content distribution platforms.  

Under Quinn's leadership, the group will focus on three key initiatives: increased ad supported programming, innovative research, and conferences/training. The AFE will provide marketers with content opportunities, extensive proprietary research about families, best practice training and knowledge deployment.   Quinn will also establish an expanded executive committee representing the entire family programming ecosystem, including top executives from advertising, media, production, distribution and research firms.

"We are delighted that Stephen will be leading this influential group.  He has a deep understanding of family and the demand by consumers for more content options," said Liodice.  "We know that under his leadership the AFE will increase awareness and expand partnerships.  It is vitally important for ANA members with family brands. "

"The advertising community has consistently demonstrated that it will support family content because it's good for business," said Quinn. "Family brands need smart, sophisticated family content to succeed. Yet there continues to be an insufficient supply of programming to meet family advertising needs.  The AFE hopes to change that.  I am committed to this initiative and will be reaching out to my colleagues in the coming weeks to share our vision."

"Stephen's support has been instrumental in the success of recent AFE initiatives.  With his new role,  I  look forward to working together to continue to find, nurture, develop and support high-quality content that the entire family—our consumers—can enjoy on all platforms," said Gail Tifford, Unilever senior director of media, North America, and AFE board member.

Recent research finds that virtually all moms—98 percent—go out of their way to locate family programming and that only 20 percent of content is appropriate for their children to watch.

Families remain the largest viewing group, accounting for 58 percent of all viewers.  For family brands, context matters.  Advertising effectiveness can rise more than 30 percent when seen in appropriate family programming.  Crucially, 65 percent of viewers hold advertisers accountable for the programming in which their ads run.

Since it began in 1998, the AFE has helped bring to air more than 20 TV hits, including Gilmore Girls, Chuck and Friday Night Lights, promoted broadcast network family shows across group members' proprietary social channels, and worked with television executives to discover and add more family programming into the development pipeline.  Earlier this year the group expanded its efforts into the digital arena with a groundbreaking content partnership with YouTube.  It also created the hugely successful annual Search for America's Newest Scriptwriter contest, the nation's only competition for non-union storytellers, in a revolutionary new model between brands and content creators with Will Smith, James Lassiter and their production company Overbrook Entertainment.

About the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment
The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) provides leadership that advances marketing excellence and shapes the future of the industry. Founded in 1910, ANA's membership includes more than 565 companies with 10,000 brands that collectively spend over $250 billion in marketing and advertising. The ANA pursues "collaborative mastery" that advances the interests of marketers and promotes and protects the well-being of the marketing community. For more information, visit www.ana.net, follow us on Twitter, or join us on Facebook.

The Alliance for Family Entertainment is a group of national advertisers supported by the ANA that represents 37 percent of all U.S. television advertising dollars. Its mission is to find, nurture, develop, and support high-quality content the entire family can enjoy on multiple distribution platforms.

Patty Kerr for ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment
[email protected]  (310) 344-4487

SOURCE Association of National Advertisers' Alliance for Family Entertainment