• Broadcasting & Cable, Tuesday, May 12, 2009 10:15 AM

WCBS New York is reaching out to print advertisers that typically have not advertised on television. General Manager Peter Dunn has retooled the station's creative services department, so that it can pre-produce spots from ads that appear in the newspaper, on the Web, even on signs at hockey games. Salespeople bring the spec commercials on their sales calls, and tell prospective customers that all they have to do is sign up.

Known as "Print to Motion," WCBS managers see the new initiative as the creation of an in-house agency-capable of creating not only spots, but Web sites and business cards.

The print-to-broadcast spec spots may not win creative awards, but the typical viewer would never know they were produced at the station, says Bruce Erik Brauer, vice president of creative services. Other CBS TV stations are taking note of the sales boost that the pre-produced ads offer--and have started employing the model at their own stations.

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