Telstra has made two senior appointments in the midst of a job cull which could see up to 50 jobs in its media and marketing division axed, according to The Australian.
The Telco giant has hired former CEO of digital marketing agency BMF, Jeremy Nicholas – who was also previously a marketing exec at Visa. It has also appointed Andy McFarlane as global enterprise services marketing director - he had been in the role on an acting basis since March.
Speaking to AdNews, a Telstra spokesperson says after an international search, Nicholas was appointed to the new role.
“Jeremy will work with our consumer and business teams to develop and execute our retail marketing strategy in alignment with CMO, sales and product strategies. He will also work on brand and advocacy initiatives,” the spokesperson says.
“Jeremy joins us from Visa where he is currently vice president, global product marketing based in San Francisco, leading marketing for all Visa’s products, emerging technologies and new products across North America and the world.”
Prior to his time at Visa, Nicholas was CEO at BMF. During his 12 years at the agency, he built a reputation as a respected strategist and was involved in many of the group’s high profile campaigns for companies such as Aldi, Commonwealth Bank, Lion, Meat & Livestock Australia.
Nicholas will relocate to Australia to take up his role with our team and will start in the Sydney office on 26 May 2016.
McFarlane had acted in the role as director, GES marketing since March, but today Telstra says "his immediate leadership and strategic contributions highlighted his passion and capability to lead this important part of our business".
Mel Brown will continue to lead the GES-I marketing team reporting into Jim Clarke in the GES business, but will have a dotted line into McFarlane to ensure CMO consistency.
The Australian says the appointments are part of a broader restructure and that a “material number of job cuts” as many as 50, are expected in coming weeks. It goes on to say its industry sources believe the savings could be reallocated into marketing and advertising spending, as Telstra faces renewed competition from rivals such as Optus.
A Telstra spokesman declined to comment on the cuts.
In November AdNews reported that Telstra's director of digital media and content Adam Good was departing the telco as part of a structure of its media group which has seen the departure of two other executives.
Then in March this year there was another shake-up at Telstra, with Andy Bateman and Inese Kingsmill's roles being removed in a restructure of the marketing department. This was the second raft of top level marketers to have faced restructure under CMO Joe Pollard.
Last week Nine Network and Telstra announced they will show full coverage of 2017 netball season after securing the largest broadcasting rights deal in Australian women's sport history.
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