It's hard to keep up with all the latest moves across media, marketing and advertising, so we've made a list. Check out the biggest moves in adland this week.
Simon Davies joins NewsMediaWorks as Marketing Director
NewsMediaWorks have appointed media industry executive Simon Davies as marketing director. Davies comes to NewsMediaWorks with more than 20 years’ media industry experience with media agencies and media owners. He most recently owned a consulting business and prior to that spent four years with Bauer Media as head of brand advertising strategy and director of media solutions. He joined Bauer from media agency OMD where he was national trading head, responsible for more than $600 million in media investment and clients including Telstra, Visa, Apple, Bose and St George. He has held the role of deputy chairman of the executive committee at the Audit Bureau of Circulations on behalf of the Media Federation of Australia. Davies has also worked in sales management roles at ACP Australia (now Bauer) and Murdoch Magazines. Davies replaces Charlie Murdoch, who is joining News Corp as general manager of trade marketing.
Yahoo finance have appointed their first editor-in-chief for Australia and New Zealand
Yahoo Finance, has hired Sarah O’Carroll in the newly created role of editor-in-chief for Australia and New Zealand. O’Carroll will be responsible for driving a range of new editorial initiatives to expand the site’s content offering, targeting today’s finance consumer at key life stages. She is the former business editor of news.com.au and was head of content partnerships for publisher Private Media. She joins Yahoo Finance from Power Ink Media, the content strategy consultancy she founded, having worked with clients including Accenture, Deloitte, Virgin Money, The NSW Department of Education and RAMS. The appointment is part of an exciting relaunch of the respected finance destination and follows extensive user testing, editorial focus groups and learnings from its sister editions in the US and UK.
Avis Budget Group appoint Vanessa Wolcak as head of marketing, product & PR
Avis Budget Group has appointed Vanessa Wolczak to the role of head of marketing, product and PR for the Pacific region. Since joining the company in January this year, Wolczak has been in charge of PR and has over 15 years’ expertise across the Retail, Consumer Goods and FMCG industries. Her new role will be to lead the Avis Budget Group’s marketing department in the Pacific region and drive brand identity, communications and growth across all products within the group including Avis and Budget.
J. Walter Thompson Sydney bolsters account service team
J. Walter Thompson Sydney has appointed Kyle Abshoff as group account director, bolstering the agency’s account service team. Abshoff’s job will be to lead several of J.Walter Thompson Sydney’s major accounts. Most recently with Saatchi & Saatchi, Abshoff’s career has led to responsibility for overseeing strategic and creative direction across clients in the banking and finance, health and government, and FMCG sectors. Previous clients have included iconic global and local brands such as Cadbury, St George Bank, Tip Top, NAB,Origin Energy and Royal Bank of Canada. This comes following a period of sustained new business and organic client growth.
Fairfax CMO resigns
Fairfax’s chief marketing officer, Michael Laxton, will step down from the role in September after nearly four years with the ASX-listed media company. The news comes as Fairfax prepares to undertake a merger, joining forces with the Nine network in a deal valuing the combined and integrated firm at $4.2 billion. Laxton has spent 18 months as Fairfax’s first chief marketing officer, where he oversaw the customer experience across all consumer and advertiser touchpoints. Prior to joining Fairfax as director of digital marketing and SEO for news, life and events, Laxton was head of online and CRM at fashion retailer, General Pants Group. He started his marketing career in the UK at Kurt Geiger, Virgin and Warner Music before relocating to Australia.
Brother & Co extends digital offering with the hire of digital director
Brisbane based agency Brother & Co appoint Jenna Fitch as their digital director. Fitch joins with international experience in brand and digital projects. Brother & Co are investing in digital competencies and Fitch is the first of many hires as the agency continues to grow.
Ten appoints new negotiations manager
Network Ten has appointed Michael Bass to the role of negotiations manager, as the network continues to build its new in-house sales team. Bass was formerly IPG Mediabrands' general manager of investment before he departed the role earlier this year. Most recently, Ten revealed its latest development for its in-house advertising sales strategy, commercial partnership division, Ten Effect. The new team will be led by current head of integration Tamar Hovagimian who will report to the recently promoted chief sales officer Rod Prosser. The network has also made a major call out to the industry, as it looks to fill roles across Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane and jobs include strategy, digital sales, sponsorship and integration, airtime sales, partnerships, sales operations, trading and business support.
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