• by David Kaplan , January 7, 2005

Eleo Hensleigh, executive vice president for worldwide brand strategy at Disney-ABC Cable Networks Group, has been promoted to the newly created position of chief marketing officer and executive vice president for marketing & brand strategies at the Disney-ABC Television Group. The move comes just weeks after Viacom elevated CBS marketing chief George Schweitzer to head of a new centralized Viacom TV marketing unit, signaling that a new network marketing war may be afoot.

In her new role, Hensleigh is charged with managing marketing and brand strategy initiatives, research departments and synergy efforts for the group, which includes the ABC Television Network (ABC Daytime, ABC News, ABC Primetime, ABC Latenight, and ABC Affiliate Marketing) and the entertainment cable television networks under the Disney-ABC Cable Networks Group banner, including Disney Channel Worldwide, Toon Disney, ABC Family and SOAPnet, as well as Walt Disney Television Animation.

As head of worldwide brand strategy for the Disney-ABC Cable Networks Group, Hensleigh was responsible for developing and managing the brand strategy for each of the Disney-ABC Cable Networks Group's domestic basic cable channels -- ABC Family, Disney Channel, SOAPnet and Toon Disney -- and its international channels, including wholly-owned and developing networks, plus the Saturday morning daypart, ABC Kids, on the ABC Television Network in the United States.

In addition Hensleigh managed all consumer research and oversaw the strategic marketing of television properties off-channel and across multiple divisions of Walt Disney Co.

She is credited with spearheading the creation and launch of Jetix, a new worldwide kids television brand for The Walt Disney Company. The brand is a channel name in Europe and Latin America (formerly FOX Kids) and a programming block on two platforms, ABC Family and Toon Disney, in the United States.

Before joining Disney in August 1996, Hensleigh was creative director and senior vice president for marketing and promotion at FX Networks.

Prior to joining FX, Hensleigh was vice president and creative director for on-air promotion at Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, where she supervised all development and production of on-air image and tune-in promotion.