CREATIVE WAYS TO INDUSTRY ACHIEVEMENT

Count recently named vCreative CEO Mary DelGrande and Xperi Corp. SVP/Broadcast and Digital Audio Joe D’Angelo among those who will be attending a radio industry gathering at the 2023 NAB Show, where ideas, inspiration, thought leadership, and tasty libations collide.

Outside of that “Cocktails and Conversations” event, however, DelGrande will be squarely focused on ensuring the broadcast radio — and television — industries have the latest intelligence from the multi-platform workflow software company she has been leading as Chief Executive Officer since February 1, rising from SVP of sales.

One of DelGrande’s first major announcements since taking on the CEO post at vCreative is a contract with Yamanair, the creative service for radio. What does this bring to vCreative’s clients, and what might it presage for the year ahead?

“We were very excited to partner with Yamanair because it will streamline operations for our mutual clients,” DelGrande says. They’ll now have the option of Yamanair content automatically creating a spot in their products. “What this integration means is ‘no re-entries needed,’ resulting in immediate and impactful efficiency in their creative process. For vCreative this is another example of how we’re always looking to partner with other vendors to help our industry become more efficient.”

Efficiency appears to be a hallmark of what vCreative has been striving for since its founding by Jinny and John Laderer, who have now moved on from the business. Going forward into 2023, are there other initiatives DelGrande feels can be brought further into the industry? Do they include the television side of the business?

“Yes, and I’m thrilled you brought up TV,” she says. “Our vPro product, the next-generation platform to vPPO, manages creative for all ad types, including video, streaming, and OTT. This allows us to approach any media company looking for a media-centric workflow solution.”

When vCreative began talking to television stations, they discovered that many were using generic project management systems that don’t have a media focus or media understanding. “We’ve had a few clients come over and they love it because we are a mediabased company with media-based solutions,” DelGrande says. “It’s a great opportunity for us to get into TV.”

Digital versus traditional promotions is also a hot topic for vCreative’s customers, and having a digital component in any platforms where it makes sense “is critical moving forward as well,” DelGrande says.

With consumer consumption of audio and video content shifting to digital by the day and by the hour, the digital capabilities within vCreative products and integrations are key for DelGrande. QUU is integrated with vPPO, and vCreative is looking to expand that partnership to vPromotions, for digital contesting,to start.

The vCreative technology and product leadership teams will be out on the NAB Show floor, identifying opportunities to bring more digital capabilities to its products. As digital technology has taken center stage at the NAB Show, the biggest thing DelGrande is looking forward to while in Las Vegas is being able to walk the floor, see the companies, and figure out if there are integration opportunities, as well as talk to clients to identify their “pain points” and explore where vCreative can help.

“Companies are looking for partners and solutions to reduce multiple points of entry, especially

Mary DelGrande spent nearly two decades in a key sales role at Premiere Networks. Is there one thing in particular from that experience that drives her leadership and goals in her current role?

“You treat people the way you want to be treated,” she says. “People that you work with or you want to be led by, you want to like them and you want to trust them. That comes from being authentic, passionate, accountable, and trustworthy.”

The other takeaway for DelGrande? “Through negotiating and managing many group deals for Mediabase and the Futuri products, I gained a better understanding of the efficiencies from a pricing and sharing of resources perspective, which helped me grow into the businesswoman I am today.” for their sales teams,” DelGrande says. “Therefore, offering solutions where the technologies talk to one another is more important than ever, and vCreative will continue to seek out opportunities to achieve that goal.”

Potential Game Changers

The 2023 NAB Show is expecting upward of 70,000 attendees and is looking to be a big conference for broadcast technology and cool gadgetry of use to radio and TV. Does anything particular stand out to Xperi’s D’Angelo that he’s ready to learn more about, or is this a full-on exploratory mission?

He says, “I’m very excited to introduce our analytics coming out of DTS AutoStage” — giving Xperi an opportunity to engage with the industry and demonstrate what the company has been developing over the last year. Understanding the industry’s needs and how they are changing is also key to what D’Angelo hopes to gain from the conference.

DTS AutoStage is a hybrid radio platform, combining over-the-air broadcast radio with IP-delivered metadata and/or content enhancements. “It’s not an app,” D’Angelo stresses. “It’s the native radio in the car, but it is radio that takes advantage of IP-delivered content much like a Spotify or a Pandora, with rich metadata associated with their audio services.”

Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, and Tesla all have DTS AutoStage, and, as a built-in feature, there are no additional data costs for its use.

D’Angelo in late March enjoyed a business trip to Prague, where he attended Radiodays Europe. As Xperi Corp. has been heavily involved in DAB+, European growth of the digital radio platform is exciting to D’Angelo and his team.

Given Xperi Corp.’s continued desire to grow HD Radio, and the excitement surrounding the DTS AutoStage, where does AM fit in … if at all? “We have a fairly large team that is constantly looking at innovating around broadcast radio, adding new services and providing the tools necessary for broadcasters to compete against ‘Big Tech,’” D’Angelo says. “Most recently, we are layering in personalization and recommendation to broadcast radio, something we do every day on our video platforms. We are adding that same functionality to radio.”