Linda Rene, CBS Veteran Who Paired Big Brands With ‘Survivor’ and More, Plans to Exit

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Linda Rene once proved instrumental in weaving blue-chip advertisers like Anheuser-Busch and General Motors into a fledgling CBS reality competition called “Survivor.” Two decades later, she is planning to get off the island.

Rene, an advertising-sales veteran who has worked at CBS for more than four decades, helped expand an industry practice known as product placement and was pivotal in crafting new deals that not only had advertisers providing vehicles and beverages as set dressing, but weaving their products into a show in ways that made them as prominent as some of the cast members.

Marketers were able to cut deals with CBS that guaranteed them a notable presence in programs such as “The Amazing Race” or “NCIS,” while agreeing to buy up traditional commercials in the series that bolstered their in-show appearances.

Now, after working at CBS and its successor company, Paramount Global, as the head of primetime ad sales and brand partnerships for the broadcast network, Rene plans to exit at the end of 2023, the company confirmed Friday. “Linda has paved new ground in the way we do business and has taught, motivated, and inspired those who worked with her,” said Jo Ann Ross and John Halley, chairman and president of Paramount’s ad sales operation, in a memo to staffers.