MICHAEL BENSON & Marla Provencio.(Entertainment Marketers of the Year)

Advertising Age, May, 2008 by Steinberg, Brian

Byline: brian steinberg

MICHAEL BENSON

exec VP-marketing, advertising and promotion, ABC Entertainment

Marla Provencio

exec vp-marketing, ABC Entertainment

When Michael Benson and Marla Provencio first laid their eyes on a U.K. version of "Dancing With the Stars'' in the summer of 2005, they weren't sure what to think. "It was kind of like `Lawrence Welk meets the Olympics in the '70s,''' says Mr. Benson, exec VP-marketing, advertising and promotion for ABC Entertainment, adding, "Where we started and where we are now are two radically different places.''

When "DWTS,'' as the show has come to be known internally at ABC, first arrived on these shores, it was a summer program. All Mr. Benson and Ms. Provencio, exec...

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