Anyone who’s been connected to network ad sales for the past decade tells exactly the same story about Jimmy Burnette, Fox’s distinguished ad sales executive who is retiring at the end of this week.
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| Jimmy Burnette earned a reputation for attention
to detail and his creativity in sports ad sales. |
The story takes place in a nondescript Hollywood bar, within walking distance of the Fox lot. Burnette, Fox’s executive vice president of sports strategy and marketing, is sipping his beer, filled the way he likes it: over ice.
Eventually, whoever happens to be with Burnette will beg him to belt out the Irish folk song “Danny Boy.”
Burnette will demur. He will say no. But everyone in the bar knows he will, eventually, belt it out.
Soon enough, the first verse comes barreling out: “Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling.”
“No one can sing ‘Danny Boy’ like Jimmy,” said Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch.
There literally are hundreds of stories that can be told about the prominent ad sales executive, but his renditions of “Danny Boy” best illustrate what Burnette means to the industry. One of the most well-liked executives in the business — ad buyers genuinely seem to be fond of him despite his reputation as a hard-nosed negotiator — Burnette has spent his career figuring out what he needs to do to make advertisers happy.
And if his clients wanted to hear Burnette’s rendition of “Danny Boy,” so be it. That’s what he’ll do. But he would make them beg for it.
While each of the ad buyers talked to for this story brought up, unprompted, Burnette’s penchant for singing “Danny Boy,” they also spoke with reverence about dealing with someone who essentially helped create the ad sales model seen on TV today.
Burnette seems almost embarrassed by such accolades, describing his “innovations” simply as ways to help advertisers. Nursing a pint at Langan’s, one of his favorite watering holes in Manhattan, Burnette said the sponsorships he liked best were the simple ones.
“We sold a sponsorship to the scoreboard scroll to Budweiser,” he said. “Rather than just putting the Budweiser logo on the scroll, we added their tag line, ‘The King of Beers.’”
Burnette said advertisers especially appreciate small gestures like that, which is one of the reasons why they universally credit the 65-year-old executive with inventing all of the unique sponsorship opportunities that are part of sports broadcasts today. Something as ubiquitous as selling halftime sponsorships was once an innovative idea, one that came from the mind of Burnette.
Tom McGovern, OMD/Optimum Sports’ director of sports media, also credited Burnette with creating inventory before kickoff, which is standard across all NFL telecasts today.
Burnette launched the prekick spot several years ago when McGovern had Pizza Hut as a client. The ad buyer was frustrated that Domino’s had positions during halftime. Burnette came up with the idea of running a spot just before kickoff.
“It was a call to action to order a pizza as the game started,” McGovern said. “We were happy. He was happy.”
Burnette, who was the first to give automakers category exclusivity by quarter for NBA games, laughed about the lengths he would go to then to try to get around that exclusivity with others.
“There would always be a way,” he said. “We just had to try and figure out how to get it done.”
“His strategy for creating multiple exclusives for NBA games should get him into the advertising hall of fame,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern. “The fact that he was able to do that is one of the reasons we were able to raise the bar for rights fees payments.”
Burnette also was the brains behind the “Budweiser” frame that opened all of NBC’s AFC telecasts.
“No one paid attention to the details like Jimmy did,” Ponturo said. “He knew what other advertisers were doing on other networks and knew how to maximize his network to get more than his fair share.”
That creativity was one of the reasons Fox brought Burnette over from sports marketing company Dorna USA in 1994. Fox had just picked up the rights to the NFC, and Fox Chairman David Hill, acting on a recommendation from Stern, made Burnette one of his first hires.
The ensuing years have resulted in one of the most ad-friendly environments with any media company. Both Burnette and Fox were willing to try new things to keep advertisers happy.
Throughout his career at Fox, Burnette worked under Fox network sales president Jon Nesvig. Fox announced a reorganization last year, when Burnette’s retirement was anticipated. His responsibilities will be taken over by Neil Mulcahy, executive vice president of sports sales, and the rest of the sports sales staff.
“Jimmy really found his match when he got together with Fox,” McGovern said. “That was when he really found a broadcaster who would foster his creativity in ad sales.”
Throughout his career, Burnette had gained a reputation for displaying creativity, from a 10-year stint at NBC from 1982-92, and starting with a 16-year career with ABC, 1966-1982. He has overseen sales for 10 Super Bowls.
“When NBC originally had the AFC, Jimmy would come out and sell enhancements for the NFL before they were disallowed,” said Larry Novenstern, executive vice president for media buying agency Optimedia. “He really is one of the pioneers in taking a sport and making it more accessible.”
Novenstern is indebted to Burnette, who sold the Fox halftime sponsorship to Visa in 1999 when Dockers backed out. It is a slot Visa still occupies. “He didn’t have to do that deal,” Novenstern said.
A New York City native, Burnette will continue to live in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. He’s looking to enjoy retirement, with no plans, at least at the outset.
“Jimmy always understood the big picture,” Ponturo said. “He knew little wins for the advertiser would generate big overall wins for his network.”
When these executives speak of Burnette, however, the conversation always comes back to his personality, which treats everybody the same.
“It’s a matter of respect,” McGovern said. “It’s not all about beating up the other side.”
Novenstern remembers Burnette walking him around Fenway Park in 1986, “guiding me through all the land mines.”
“It doesn’t matter how high up the corporate ladder someone is. Jimmy always took the time to tell you something or teach you something,” Novenstern said. “He always brought insight to the table.”
