ESPN Senior VP/Marketing Judy Fearing, one of
BRANDWEEK's Marketers of the Year, is profiled by Terry
Lefton in its special SUPERBRANDS issue. Lefton: "At a time
of an unending variety of sports programming (women's roller
hockey, anyone?) and a plethora of regional and national
sports networks, ESPN in 18 years has built not only the
most consistently fun, smart, edgy, even clubby, destination
among sports media, but quite possibly the strongest brand
of any TV network." Lefton adds that Fearing's management
of the ESPN brand "has stood out for its consistency and
creativity, at levels that dwarf incumbents like the
broadcast networks or CNN." In a year when women and sports
"have come to the forefront," Lefton notes that "it is
important to celebrate the impact of Fearing as a woman
operating in the two very masculine worlds of sports and
TV." She brought to ESPN "both the marketing discipline and
mathematical precision born and honed on brand marketing
labs like PepsiCo and Nabisco." Fearing: "When people have
big ideas they are encouraged to exploit them. Risk isn't a
bad word around here. ... This is different from packaged
goods in that we are introducing a new product almost every
day" (SUPERBRANDS, 10/20 issue).
