Sinclair Broadcast Group is a diversified media company and leading provider of local news and sports. The organization serves communities in 86 markets with 185 television stations, while its 21 regional sports networks also span most of the country. Upon facilitating a major rebrand for 19 of the sports networks, Sinclair searched for a supplier specializing in promotional products and solutions to partner with for this extensive project.
The company “connecting people with content everywhere” looked at ways to consolidate buying a massive amount of promotional merchandise for the rebrand, which can often be a challenging category for procurement teams to source. Sinclair's Senior Director of Purchasing Eric Buckner took a strategic route by looping in their group purchasing organization (GPO) to streamline and speed up the process.
Procurement, purchasing, sourcing and supply chain leaders all recognize the importance of quickly and seamlessly providing cost savings across multiple stakeholder groups within their company while strategically managing their spend cube. Buckner has been able to achieve those goals and works to strengthen relationships by partnering with internal stakeholders in each area of the business. He oversees a team that while driving advertising revenue where possible, also leverages a GPO to provide cost savings and additional value in vendor relationships.
Buckner explains that categories such as travel reservations, office supplies and promotional items have been particularly advantageous for collaboration with GPOs.
