Arnie Semsky

Arnie Semsky Consulting Group

In 1999, Arnie Semsky created his own strategic marketing and media consultancy. He previously served, for twenty years, as Executive Vice-President, Worldwide Media Director and Board Member of the BBDO Worldwide unit of the Omnicom Group. Prior to that he was VP, National TV for Grey Advertising. Mr. Semsky was a senior advisor for ESPN and the ESPN/ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales unit from 1999 to 2009. He also served on the Board of Directors of 24/7 Real Media from the time it went public to its sale to WPP. He was a founding member of the John A. Reisenbach Foundation for a Better and Safer New York.

Arnie joined BBDO New York in 1979 as Vice President and Associate Director of Network Programming, becoming Senior Vice President and Media Director the same year. He was elected Executive Vice President in 1982. Four years later he was promoted to Director of Media and Programming Services of BBDO Worldwide. In 1991, he was elected to the BBDO Worldwide Board of Directors.

Arnie’s passion has always been for the big idea - the strategic media solution that “has never been done before”. He is credited with such visionary moves as recommending to Pepsi that they become a charter advertiser on MTV, creating in 1981, a wave of industry involvement in the new medium of cable television. In 1986, Arnie convinced Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. to accept a Gillette TV buy that encompassed Australia’s Channel 10, the pan European Sky Channel and the upstart Fox Broadcasting Co. in the US. This was the world’s first global TV buy. In 1989, Arnie helped create The Media Partnership (TMP), the first joint venture between four competing agency networks for the purpose of media buying in Europe. His innovative plan for PentaCom, a dedicated full service media planning and buying resource for Chrysler, has since become the model for the way many major advertisers have consolidated their media efforts. He also created the BBDO Techsetter Hotline, making BBDO the first of the major ad agencies to have a website. The hotline has been used to collect information on the attitudes, opinion and purchasing habits of the early adopters of technology.

Arnie Semsky has, in addition to the big ideas he is known for, many other accomplishments that have left their mark on the advertising industry. Shortly after becoming NY Media Director, Arnie re-engineered the functionality of the media process by creating, for many clients, media generalists who had overall client media responsibility, eliminating the common split between planning and buying. Specialists in areas like program development, special markets, non-traditional media and new technologies support these generalists. This concept enables agencies to provide clients with a full range of media resources, from strategy to implementation, led by a senior media strategist who works closely with the agency’s account and creative teams.

In the early 1980’s Arnie resurrected the GE Theater, giving GE full control of two-hour blocks of primetime television in which to showcase the diversity of GE and the “We Bring Good Things to Life” campaign. For his work with Pepsi on MTV’s Rock the Vote, Arnie won the broadcasting industry’s prestigious Peabody award. In 1992, BBDO awarded him the agency’s highest honor - the Dillon Award, bestowed annually on the staff member who best exemplifies the qualities of former Chairman Tom Dillon.

Arnie Semsky is a member of numerous professional organizations and has received many industry honors. He served on the 4A’s Media Policy Council, and as the chairman of the Radio Advertising Bureau’s Media Directors Advisory Council and was on the Board of Directors of the Audit Bureau of Circulation for seven years.

Arnie currently works with UCLA’s Anderson School on a variety of projects with their MBA students and is involved with the mentor program of the Hollywood Radio and TV Society.