Rob Bliss: From Zombie Walks to Corporate Media

Local NBC affiliate, WOOD TV8, announced on Thursday that “social events guru” Rob Bliss is now one of their employees.

Channel 8 announced, “Bliss will be working as a multi-platform account executive with WOOD. We believe Rob Bliss’ social media skills and WOOD TV’s strong commitment to serving West Michigan viewers and clients will be a powerful combination.”

Clearly, West Michigan’s leading TV broadcaster recognized the ability that Bliss has exhibited in attracting young audiences. In fact, the station admitted as much by saying, “WOOD TV8 is thrilled to have Bliss on its team as we strive to reach a new generation of media consumers.”

At one level this makes perfect sense since Bliss has admitted on numerous occasions over the course of the past year that his motivation for the “mass events” he organized was to get people to come to downtown, have fun, and visit the businesses in that part of the City. This is why the Grand Rapids City Council, some local foundations and the downtown businesses all embraced him. He functioned as an unpaid marketing specialist for those businesses.

WOOD TV8 recognizes that their audience is disproportionately middle-aged or older. The current generation spends less time watching TV and more time online as a means to get information. Bliss will fit right into the broadcasting mantra of capturing eyeballs for advertisers.

The channel 8 story also reported that Bliss was named Communicator of the Year by the West Michigan Public Relations Society and one of the Top 40 under 40 Business Leaders by the Grand Rapids Business Journal. With all this applause from the corporate world maybe people should reconsider participating in any future “social events” that Bliss might organize or attach his name to.