If you already run Marketron and you are looking at vCreative, the good news is that these are not competing systems, they are integration partners that sit in different parts of the same workflow. Marketron runs your traffic and revenue; vCreative runs the production and promotions work that feeds it. The confusion usually comes from the word "workflow" meaning different things to a traffic director than it does to a production director.

This guide lays out exactly where each one fits, so you can see how they work together.

The short version

• Marketron is a traffic and revenue system. It handles order entry, scheduling the log, inventory, billing and reconciliation. It answers the question "what airs, when, and did we bill it correctly?"
• vCreative is a production and promotions system. It handles the creative work between the sale and the airing: production orders, spec spots, script writing and approvals, talent assignments, promotions and contests. It answers the question "is the creative built, approved and ready for the log?"

Traffic schedules and bills the spot. vCreative gets the spot made and approved so traffic has something clean to schedule. That is why the two coexist rather than compete, and why vCreative is bi-directional with Marketron.

What each system owns

When each one is the answer

Choose Marketron (or keep it) when your gap is on the revenue side: scheduling the log, managing avails and inventory, and getting invoices out accurately. That is its core and it is good at it.

Add vCreative when the pain is before the log, spots that are not ready, missing production notes, "who has the latest version," make-goods caused by missing information, or promotions tracked in spreadsheets. If your production and promotions teams live in email and shared drives, that is the layer vCreative replaces, and it hands clean, complete orders to Marketron.

The two are not an either/or. vCreative is the production and promotions layer that sits on top of the traffic system you already run.

Why coexist beats rip and replace

Replacing a traffic and billing system is a high-risk, multi-quarter project. Adding a production layer is not, it slots in alongside what you have, and the bi-directional Marketron integration means advertiser and campaign data flow between the systems instead of being re-keyed. You get the production and promotions improvement without touching the revenue system your business runs on.

More than 9,000 stations run on vCreative products, managing over 3 million workflows and saving more than 300,000 hours a year, most of them still running their own traffic system underneath.

Frequently asked questions

Does vCreative replace Marketron? No. Marketron schedules and bills the log; vCreative runs the production and promotions work that happens before a spot reaches the log. vCreative integrates with Marketron rather than replacing it.

Can vCreative and Marketron share data? Yes. vCreative's Marketron integration is bi-directional, so advertiser and campaign information moves between the systems and reduces manual re-entry.

We already have Marketron. What does vCreative add? A single system for production orders, spec spots, script writing, approvals, talent assignments, and promotions and contests, the creative work that otherwise lives in email and spreadsheets. It then hands clean, complete orders back to traffic.

Is vCreative only for radio? No. vPPO covers radio and digital production; vProMedia covers TV and multi-platform production. Marketron's strength is radio traffic and billing.