Sunday’s “06880” post about Westporters’ NBC Sports/Rio connections missed one very important name.
John Miller is chief marketer of the network’s Olympic coverage. He’s in charge of making sure American eyeballs are glued to the correspondents who live here (and elsewhere).
Miller is no stranger to the task. This is his 12th Olympics.
And he’s no slouch. On Thursday, he receives the Clio Sports’ Stuart Scott Lifetime Achievement Award.
John Miller
Miller has been with NBC since 1982. His entertainment marketing chops include “The Cosby Show,” “Cheers,” “Family Ties,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Seinfeld,” “Frasier,” “Friends,” “E.R.” and “Mad About You.”
He helped coin the “Must See TV” campaign, recently named one of the Top 11 of all time.
Most recently he was chief marketing officer of their Sports Group.
At this stage, he told Adweek, awareness is higher than for the 2 previous Olympics, in London and Beijing. He credits NBC’s marketing — but also acknowledges publicity about the Zika virus.
Miller can’t control insects. But he handles every other aspect of NBC’s Olympics sports marketing. If he succeeds, Rio will be this summer’s “must see TV.”