Commenting on President of Digital at Time, Inc. Kirk McDonald's tie, Wenda Harris Millard, President & COO, Medialink, asked if it was just his tie or a symptom of the downturn. McDonald
explained that he spends as much time with Time's brass, the CFO and CEO, as he does with anyone, so the tie is part of the uniform.
Millard sees this as a good sign for the head of digital,
"For so many years digital was really apart from and not a part of," she said.
When Millard brought up NBC chief Jeff Zucker famous quip about going from traditional dollars to digital
pennies, George Kliavkoff, now Executive VP & Deputy Group Head, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, but formerly heading digital at NBC, had to laugh
Kliavkoff said, "If you were the
head of digital for NBC at the time, it wasn't a great quote. But he's actually come around to saying dimes." The more alliterative dimes is an indication that Kliavkoff did his job well.
Whether it was a miraculous turnaround on the order of Christ turning water into wine or just a miscalculation on Zucker's part is open for debate.
"Ten-X growth," McDonald joked.
