Veteran marketing exec Steve Sohmer has left the ABC network as its EVP of marketing, advertising and promotion according to the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. No replacement has been announced and the executives in each department will report for now to ABC Entertainment Group chairman Lloyd Braun. The network declined to comment on his departure. Sohmer was hired last summer to promote ABC's fall schedule, including his successful campaign for new sitcoms like 8 SIMPLE RULES FOR DATING MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER. Sohmer has worked at CBS and NBC, where in animation circles, he was responsible for the THE SMURFS campaign and the rest of the NBC Saturday morning schedule back when the network was programming animation and children's specials under Margaret Loesch. Sohmer is a widely acknowledged master of television marketing and has been a frequent speaker at the BDA/PROMAX conventions for broadcast designers and promoters. He also was president/COO of Columbia Pictures and wrote the novel, FAVORITE SON, which was turned into a NBC miniseries.
