MEDIA ANTHROPOLOGIST: THE THIRD ACT’S STEPHANIE SAROFIAN
By Kate Kaye

ClickZ News
Oct 13, 2008
NY

Stephanie Sarofian is a keen observer of behavior. Perhaps it’s her
passion for photography, interest in distant cultures, or a more
inherent sense of storytelling and exploration that led to her role
as observer of media behavior.

Sarofian heads up The Third Act, a Digitas-owned outfit that acts as
a hub for Publicis Groupe’s media, creative and production units,
helping them understand and act on emerging opportunities like
developing and distributing branded content.

Taking an extended break from college, Sarofian toured much of the
East, from Greece and Turkey to North Africa, India, Nepal, Thailand,
Korea, and Japan. "I went to study cultures and people," she said. "I’m
an anthropologist at heart."

Later, her love of photography propelled her to her position as
director of photography and partner at The Image Bank, a New York
image library firm now owned by Getty Images. From there, she joined
Digitas in ’94.

To Sarofian, human interaction, and how it intersects with new
modes of communication, is all about story-telling. "The story
is really important…it’s just that the mechanics have changed,"
she explained. An appreciation for good stories may be in her blood
though. There’s an especially rich one she tells of a grandfather who
fled from the Armenian genocide in the early 1900s, complete with
tales of haystack hideaways, gold coins and escape routes through
Russia and the Mid East.

At age 46, Sarofian is still traveling, though now it’s usually between
New York and the Boston-area home she shares with her partner Tracy
and fraternal twins Luc and Miles. As Sarofian puts it, "I don’t have
any spare time. I have twins."

Her work life seems busy enough. Besides shuttling back-and-forth
weekly between New York and Boston, she can often be seen ricocheting
from one meeting to another, then back to her own office; she
tries to set aside a block of time each day to do work at her own
desk. Sarofian also visited London and Paris recently, in part to
work towards creating a European hub for The Third Act.

A typical meeting at the sprawling Digitas offices doesn’t necessitate
a stuffy conference room. You’re just as likely to spot Sarofian
lounging on the crimson colored rug in an open lounge area, chatting
with a colleague. When ClickZ visited recently, she and a creative exec
discussed a Web site in development for a big name footwear brand. The
video-driven effort would require Sarofian and the Third Act Team to
bring in tech and content partners as well as media distribution and
possibly cross-promotional partners.

"If you’re thinking about [branded] content, you have to think about
distribution," she stressed.

So, amid talk of big name endorsements and hip event promotions for
the effort came the less glamorous side of her work: the bottom
line. Can money from the media budget be reallocated for a brand
content budget? It’s up to her to figure that out. In other words,
Sarofian’s job is as much about the art of understanding media as it
is about the art of the deal.

Another meeting took her to a different floor where she listened in
on a pitch from an animation studio looking to connect their content
to Digitas client brands.

Sarofian prefers open dialogue to scheduled meetings, though she
does make sure to meet once a week with the Third Act staff — about
15 people. Her travels have actually influenced her management style,
she explained. "It informed how to think about building an organization
of diverse people and how the mechanics of that work — and also how
to make sure that everyone in that organization is developing."

The Third Act is truly its own entity, with its own cost structure and
profit and loss statement. That means a lot of Sarofian’s time is spent
developing potential clients. "We’re always in seeking mode," she said.

Part of establishing new business entails educating Digitas clients
— talking with CMOs and procurement folks to help them understand
things like pricing, models for buying content, and how The Third
Act can help their brands operate in the evolving media landscape.

One Third Act project involved Digitas creative and media teams. That
collaboration, for Starburst, resulted in the Mars candy brand’s
sponsorship of "Nite Fite," a Web series in which two animated
loudmouths debate whether or not Rush qualifies as a heavy metal
band or if The Who are sell outs. The day ClickZ visited Sarofian,
she had a "Nite Flite" sticker slapped on her shirt.

Another recent alignment involved The Third Act and Mediavest. One of
the media agency’s CPG brand clients asked The Third Act to co-present
with Mediavest, to get a handle on how each firm’s role differed from
the other. Concluded Sarofian, "It’s a special request but it’s a
great request."