Jennifer Dorian is senior vice president, branding and business development for TBS and Turner Network Television (TNT). Reporting to Steve Koonin, executive vice president and chief operating officer of TBS and TNT, she is based in Atlanta and has been with Turner the past 5 years.
Prior to her current position at Turner, Dorian served as vice president of branding for TNT where, in 2001, she played a key role in the network’s launch and on-going strategic brand positioning – “TNT: We Know Drama.” Despite initial doubts from industry experts, Dorian’s positioning of the brand has been a resounding success, with TNT now holding position as television’s destination for drama and ad-supported cable’s #1 network in delivery of key adult demos for three consecutive years. TNT has also been able to monetize its positioning with advertisers as it is basic cable’s leader in delivering its target adult demo in large part because of the groundwork laid by Dorian and the network team.
Dorian also led the June 2004 re-branding of TBS, now television’s “very funny” network. The positioning has proven enormously successful, with the network showing strong growth in delivery of key adult demos. Since re-branding, TBS has also reduced its prime time median age by 4 years and achieved the 5th highest reach in all of television.
The high-profile branding of TNT and TBS have significantly narrowed the gap for viewership with the broadcast networks. Both networks have grown their prime time reach among adults 18-49, now placing ahead of WB and UPN in monthly cume for that demo.
After building these two strong brand identities, Dorian is now leading the networks’ creative exploration of extending the brand footprints into new arenas, including broadband, wireless and place-based experiences, and co-branding partnerships, taking “funny” and “drama” to new places. On the strength of her work with TNT and TBS, she was recently awarded a Brand Builders award from Multichannel News.
Prior to joining TNT and TBS, Dorian was director of strategic services for sports and leisure marketing at The Coca-Cola Company, based in Atlanta. In that capacity, Dorian oversaw a portfolio of USA sponsorships, assessing proposals and evaluating brand alignment and potential returns on investments. Previously, Dorian was manager of kids marketing for Pizza Hut, Inc., a division of PepsiCo and joined that company as assistant manager of new product development. In addition, she served as director of marketing for InfoVentures of Atlanta, a partnership of Cox Enterprises and BellSouth.
Dorian holds a masters of business administration in marketing from the University of Texas and a bachelor of arts from Emory University. She serves on the American Marketing Associations’ Atlanta Advisory Board, and also does volunteer work with UNICEF’s headquarters office in New York.
Dorian has made Atlanta her home for the past 10 years along with her husband, Graham and two daughters. She counts music (she plays the guitar to her husband’s violin) among her interests along with being involved in her daughters’ school activities and recitals. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and a leading provider of programming for the television industry.
