Steve Copestake

World Screen Weekly, June 29, 2006

Steve Copestake

Senior VP of Marketing

Buena Vista International Television

As a university student in England, Steve Copestake was intrigued by marketing. “I was wooed by the rarified prospect of making a difference to an advertising idea or a chocolate wrapper or something,” he says. One of his professors encouraged him. “He backed me as a natural and said I was a good communicator.” Copestake, who is always quick to find humor in any situation, adds, “So he’s got a lot to answer for!”

Today, Copestake has found where and how he can make a difference. As the senior VP of marketing at Buena Vista International Television (BVITV), he is responsible for making sure that Walt Disney product, which BVITV distributes internationally, has the best possible profile with broadcasters and their audiences. “We have a marketing role in the traditional sense with our sales team,” he explains. “More interestingly, we have a role with our customers, the broadcasters, in helping them support the shows. We’re working with their marketing teams, which is fantastic. We spend quite a bit of time working in the area of research. And we use data to help our customers make the most of what they’ve bought from us.”

Having huge hits like Lost and Desperate Housewives makes Copestake’s work especially gratifying. The series’ success in the U.S. generated much interest among international broadcasters, and Copestake and his team have helped stage some very original launches in various territories, including re-creating Wisteria Lane with ProSieben in Germany.

BVITV also arranges for the international press to visit the shows’ sets and interview stars. Last year, stars from Lost and Desperate Housewives went on a promotional tour around Europe, and cast members of Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds will tour again this summer. “It’s very rewarding and hard work, of course, but it touches on some of the things that make the job worthwhile,” says Copestake. “The first is customer appreciation. Broadcasters really value having access to the stars. Some of the other studios focus quite a lot on this and we aspire to do better than them. And it also helps us build relationships with other parts of our company—our home-entertainment colleagues and our games colleagues.”

Another important aspect of Copestake’s work is coordinating with his counterparts in Asia and Latin America. “I’m in London but I have this international remit to make sure that whatever we do in marketing has some consistency and continuity,” he says. “We value consistency in the way that we look, in the way we promote the shows, and in the way we communicate to broadcasters and to the rest of the Disney company.”

Copestake says he appreciates working with talented people, and above all, “Anything creative I like, and anything that shows a sense of humor makes the day worthwhile for me.”