Nickelodeon Marketing Ups Tanki and Tracy

NEW YORK, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Nickelodeon has named Frank Tanki the Vice President, Brand Marketing, and Jennifer Tracy as Vice President, Digital Promotions Marketing. The announcement was made today by Pam Kaufman, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Worldwide Partnerships, Nickelodeon.

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"Frank's understanding of the Nickelodeon brand and network properties has made him a integral asset to our marketing team," said Kaufman. "He has excelled in the promotional campaigns for huge network events such as SpongeBob's Best Day Ever and The Naked Brothers Band, and I'm confident he will continue to forward Nickelodeon's brand recognition in this new position."

"Jennifer has excelled in her work in the promotions marketing team. Under her leadership, she executed more than 170 promotions that helped the Nickelodeon Digital Sales team achieve tremendous growth in 2006," Kaufman added. "As Nickelodeon continues to introduce new content for a variety of platforms, Jennifer will be crucial in helping to fuel our momentum in the digital space."

Tanki will report directly to Kaufman while Tracy will report to Brenda Freeman, Senior Vice President of Promotions Marketing for Nickelodeon. Freeman and the Promotions Marketing group are part of Kaufman's overall team which handles marketing and worldwide partnerships for Nickelodeon.

As Vice President, Tanki will direct the brand management of Nickelodeon brands and hit properties including SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Naked Brothers Band, and Just Jordan. Tanki will also oversee all network advertising and will be responsible for implementing long-term strategic marketing initiatives to support TV show launches, network events, consumer product programs, and third-party promotions and partnerships. He will provide strategic direction for the development and execution of the network's consumer marketing efforts, educational outreach, and on- and off- air events in his new role. Tanki will also be responsible for the strategic direction and planning for promotions marketing of various on- and off-air programs, including the Nickelodeon Upfront and ad trade campaigns.

In her new role as Vice President, Tracy will be responsible for the promotions marketing strategies for Nick.com, NickJr.com, ParentsConnect.com and GoCityKids.com. She will also help coordinate advertiser promotional strategies across the MTVN Kids and Family Group digital portfolio, which include Neopets.com, AddictingGames.com and Shockwave, enabling advertisers to take advantage of the strengths of each site and the reach of the entire portfolio. Tracy will be responsible for developing new sponsorship strategies, launching innovative online marketing programs for advertisers, and determining marketing opportunities for new and existing network applications such as Nicktropolis and TurboNick, as well as gaming and broadband opportunities across the MTVN Kids and Family Group portfolio of sites.

Tanki began his career at Nickelodeon as a project manager for The Rugrats Movie where he managed marketing plans and coordinated efforts with all Nickelodeon divisions maintaining consistency between studio and network. Tanki then moved on for a stint as Director, Promotions Marketing for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim where he developed and directed integrated promotions for the network, and contributed to a significant increase in ad sales from movie studios, video game companies, toy companies and sport leagues. He then came back to Nickelodeon as Senior Director, Nickelodeon Brand Marketing, where he led a series of successful campaigns including the off-air marketing for SpongeBob SquarePants' "Best Day Ever," the network's all day marathon which earned its most-watched and highest-rated total programming day in history. He also directed successful marketing campaigns for SpongeBob SquarePants' "Lost in Time," Avatar: The Last Airbender's "Secret of the Fire Nation," and Zoey 101's "Spring Break-Up." Tanki maintains a bachelor's degree from Boston College and a Masters in Business Administration from the Bernard M. Baruch College Executive MBA program.

Formerly the Senior Director, Nickelodeon Promotions Marketing, Tracy worked with Digital Ad Sales and New Business to create strategic programs for a variety of clients including Nissan, Wal-Mart and Kraft. In this position, Tracy worked to help drive ad sales growth and to develop custom marketing, digital and convergent promotions for events such as Nickelodeon's Annual Kids' Choice Awards, working with such partners like Hasbro. Prior to Nickelodeon, Tracy held the position of Director, Sales Operations for Bolt, Inc. where she developed online youth marketing programs for their strategic partners, and directed sponsorship product strategy with companies such as Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, AT&T Wireless, Boost mobile, Nokia, and Virgin Mobile, among others. Tracy has a bachelor's degree from Davidson College and a Masters from St. John's College Graduate Institute.

Nickelodeon, in its 27th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in almost 92 million households and has been the number-one- rated basic cable network for almost 12 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc.