About

My World Championship now a distant memory, I stand humbled before you and offer this semblance of a blog.

I work at Viacom as its Executive Vice President of Marketing Strategy & Engagement.  I lead the company’s marketing, consumer intelligence, business development, creative strategy and innovation teams.  I also serve as the Chairman of the Viacom Marketing Council.

Before that, I founded and ran Scratch, a division of Viacom that drives innovation by channeling the power of networks such as MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon in new ways. It was often called a creative agency inside a giant media company. Others called it a strategic consultancy.  Either way, it continues to thrive and I’m proud of what they’re doing.

I joined Viacom in 2004 as the first Head of Programming for MTV’s college network mtvU.  We went on to win multiple Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. I oversaw the development, production and programming of original series, branded entertainment, music, events and user-generated content for on-air, online and mobile. In 2008, I became Senior Vice President of MTV 360 Production and Development, working across MTV, MTV2 and mtvU.

Prior, I ran Plant Film, a Los Angeles based production company, where my partners included Fox Television Studios, VH1 and Dimension Films; served as VP of Film & Television for internet start-up Nerve.com; and I was a development executive for Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and A Mule Filmworks.

Before my work in media and entertainment, I taught poetry at Washington University, the Rhode Island School of Design and The New School in Manhattan. My writing appears in The Kenyon Review, The Harvard Review, McSweeney’s, Denver Quarterly and multiple anthologies, and my first book, “The Cop Who Rides Alone,” was published in 2002.

I’m a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, as well as the advisory boards of St. Jude Children’s Hospital and the Yale School of Management’s Center For Customer Insights.  In 2012, I received the Digital Leadership Award with Lady Gaga and Michael Bloomberg, and was named one of Fast Company‘s 100 Most Creative People In Business and a “Media Maven” by Advertising Age.  In 2013, I was named to Fortune Magazine’s “40 Under 40” list of rising business leaders. In 2014, I was proud to be inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement.

 

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Thanks for coming.

This blog completely unaffiliated with Viacom & Viacom Media Networks.

This article explains what I’m trying to do better than I can.

Major thanks to F Train Media for making this site possible.

 

Comments

6 responses to “About”

  1. […] It’s not so much what he wrote, but *who* it was that wrote it… Jump to Comments September 18th, 2009 • Ross Martin […]

  2. […] Poetry of Misunderstanding (Ross Martin) […]

  3. […] increasingly “aren’t working just to get a paycheck, but to make a difference.” Ross Martin is right, we desperately want to “participate in making changes,” and I’m glad […]

  4. […] Schafer, CEO of DeepFocus Ross Martin, CEO of MTV Scratch David Rosenberg, Managing Partner at IPG Labs Andrew Dietchman, Founding […]

  5. […] Schafer, CEO of DeepFocus Ross Martin, CEO of MTV Scratch David Rosenberg, Managing Partner at IPG Labs Andrew Deitchman, Founding […]

  6. […] increasingly “aren’t working just to get a paycheck, but to make a difference.” Ross Martin is right, we desperately want to “participate in making changes,” and I’m glad […]

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