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Starcom chief broadcast investment officer John Muszynski is passionate about his job. How passionate? A few years ago, he was attending a party at the home of an ad rep for one of the networks on which Muszynski's client, Kellogg, spends a lot of money promoting its cereals. As some of the guests filtered into the kitchen, Muszynski wondered whether his host was a Kellogg supporter and peaked in the pantry to see what cereal the family was buying. When he found, to his surprise, that none of the cereal was a Kellogg brand, he proceeded to dump each of the boxes in the trash container.
"I felt that if my client was spending money to promote its brands on his network, the least he could have been doing was supporting those brands," Muszynski says. He does not recall his host's reaction at the time, but says he thinks they laughed about it afterward.
"I don't think he was really surprised," Muszynski says.
"When I worked on the Kellogg account, I felt I was employed by Kellogg," Muszynski says. "Yes, my check is signed by Starcom, but I am very passionate about our clients' business. That's one thing that sets me apart from other buyers-my passion."
And Muszynski's passion for supporting the products that he buys TV ad time for, filters into his own home. "I don't allow my kids to eat cereal other than Kellogg," he says. "The crackers we eat are Keebler. I drive a GM car. My kids only have Nintendo video games. They will never have SEGA."
Muszynski has a reputation as a direct, tough, no-nonsense negotiator, who is also fair, open-minded, and constructively candid. And he sees himself as someone who does not just fulfill the buying specs for clients but as someone who does whatever has to be done to "move the clients' business ahead."
"My title doesn't say buyer, because we are not buyers," Muszynski...