Amy Tunick is an integrated marketing executive and team leader known for developing and executing multi-channel advertising campaigns and leading operations for creative profit centers. She has two decades of agency, brand, and media experience, with a focus on branded content, talent, experiential and partnerships.
Amy is currently driving exponential growth while overseeing operations, production strategy and best-in-class client services for Fortune 100 and 500 advertisers at WarnerMedia (owned by AT&T) in her role as VP, Operations & Activation, Sales Marketing Solutions. She enjoys wearing multiple hats — she leads a team of 15+ who execute custom cross-platform campaigns for domestic and global advertisers of CNN; she oversees operations and financials for Courageous, CNN’s brand studio, as well as the broader News ad sales marketing team; she leads B2B and B2C event marketing for the News division and produced CNN’s upfront event from 2018-2020. In 2020, she also led production strategy for Courageous, ensuring that 80+ video shoots adhered to COVID health and safety guidelines. Amy is a versatile, hands-on leader with a deep understanding of all facets of the marketing, media and advertising industries.
Prior to WarnerMedia, Amy spent 14+ years at Grey Group, a WPP company, where she was President of Grey Activation & PR. She led a team of 40+ to develop and implement integrated brand-building campaigns via pop culture (experiential, partnerships, promotions, influencers, branded content), while building a profit center for Grey. Amy’s team contributed to 30 Cannes Lions wins (i.e., Canon, Volvo, the National Park Service, the American Egg Board, States United to Prevent Gun Violence). Amy has negotiated countless entertainment, talent and cause partnerships with the Hollywood, Digital and Content communities on behalf of brand clients.
Before joining Grey, Amy worked in the famed mailroom agent trainee program at the William Morris Agency. She lives in Westchester with her husband and two kids.
What video/TV piece inspired you recently?
I recently watched a video from General Mills’ Nature Valley in support of the brand’s partnership with the National Park Foundation. It features Daveed Diggs from Hamilton and has so many stand out elements. First, the star power of a beloved celebrity performing a popular, catchy retro song (“I Will Walk 500 Miles” by The Proclaimers) is sure to grab viewers’ attention. The clever and wholesome twist on the lyrics will appeal to consumers across generations. Also, the corporate social responsibility effort and brand purpose message within the piece is powerful and inspiring. Finally, my personal connection to the National Park Foundation is that they were my client for many years while I worked at Grey, and we launched the #findyourpark campaign that’s still in market today. I feel proud of my former clients when I watch this video because I know how hard they worked to get it done, and I believe it will effectively drive awareness of our precious national parks among millennials and Gen Z.
What is most exciting for you at the moment within your industry?
I am inspired by the constant evolution of the marketing and media industries and am grateful to work at the intersection of creativity, culture, marketing, media, entertainment, news and technology. There are several memes floating around right now that visualize the many players in these intersecting industries, such as the one with bubbles of various sizes listing each company’s value and linking to other bubbles that represent its assets/properties. It is eyebrow-raising to see how much things have evolved in just the past five years. This global pandemic we’re all still facing today has accelerated the push to streaming and the idea that content and creativity can come from anywhere – in-house, through media/publisher partners, from traditional large agencies or from newer/smaller indie shops. I think these changes will ultimately help some advertisers understand the power of integrated marketing and that’s exciting. One good idea can and should live across many powerful channels. There are many brands, including many Fortune 100 and 500 advertisers, that are still planning their creative and media campaigns in silos. We all need to adapt to the changes and realities of the industry for continued growth and success.
What is one thing the Telly Awards Community should know about you?
I am a versatile generalist, a Jane-of-all-trades, and a right/left brain executive who equally enjoys flexing my creative and analytical muscles. I love leading teams, mentoring people, and juggling macro and micro decisions daily. I’m also nurturing my new pandemic obsessions – midnight baking and daily nature walks.
What is a piece of work you are most proud to have worked on?
This goes back a decade, but it was a game changer in so many ways. I was one of the key players on the Canon “Project Imagination” campaign, which we launched with Ron Howard in 2011 and evolved for several iterations until 2015. This campaign scored a Cannes Lion and demonstrated the power of different disciplines and channels coming together around a single, simple idea: what if consumer photos could inspire a Hollywood film? I worked with fabulous creatives, negotiated all the talent partnerships, oversaw execution of two global film premieres at the American Museum of National History and Lincoln Center, and most importantly, drove year on year results for Canon’s camera business, leading to increased brand awareness and sales growth. The “Project Imagination” team of agency partners and clients is still in touch to this day and we’ll always be proud of this collaboration.
How has your work changed this year as a result of the unpredictable 2020 landscape?
Our team at WarnerMedia was challenged in 2020 in so many ways. As head of operations for Courageous Studios, CNN and HLN’s brand studio, I stepped in to play a much larger role with our branded content production team. When the pandemic began, I was promptly educated in the world of video production. It was essential that we adapted our film processes to ensure there was no disruption on our current projects and to feel 100% confident that we could maintain the highest safety standards for our crew and talent. I oversaw the development of our COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines and later implemented those guidelines across our team for national and global productions. We all had to quickly learn the ins and outs of remote shoots and then continually evolve that process, utilizing more and more sophisticated software and equipment to get the highest quality output. I’m proud to say that despite the challenges that we all faced, Courageous successfully filmed over 80 shoots in the field last year by remaining nimble and adjusting to the changing environment, rules and regulations. I learned a lot this year, to say the least!
