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Movings/Shakings: 12 February

Trading soft drinks for beer

Last year’s TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards rookie marketer of the year, Sam Forrest, has left his position as brand manager at Mountain Dew to take up the post of brand manager of DB Breweries international premium range, which includes Heineken, Sol, Tiger and Desperados.

After graduating from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, Forrest landed a sales role in the graduate programme at Frucor in 2013 and made the move to Auckland. He only lasted four months in this role, before being promoted to the role of territory sales manager. But this position was also short-lived.

Only five months after accepting the role, he was up the ranks again and appointed the assistant brand manager on V Energy. 

In May 2015, Forrest was again promoted to the position of brand manager of Mountain Dew, a position he held until December last year when he moved across to DB.  

Still travelling

Flight Centre has announced the appointment of Jo Wedlock to the position of events and expo manager.  

Wedlock will be responsible for managing Flight Centre expos around the country throughout the year.

Wedlock brings with her a wealth of experience and expertise having spent almost 20 years working in travel and tourism in New Zealand. Most recently, she has spent six and a half years at House of Travel in various communication and marketing roles.

“Flight Centre’s strong brand in the New Zealand and global market makes it an exciting business to be involved with and I’m looking forward to contributing to the ongoing success of our expos across the country,” says Wedlock about taking on the new role.

Flight Centre’s general manager marketing, Jodie Burnard, welcomed the arrival of the new recruit. 

“We are excited to have somebody with Jo’s experience and industry knowledge on board. The position is vital to ensuring our expos continue to be the great success they are and with Jo leading the team I’m confident this year will see some of our best yet,” Burnard says.

More scope

Fairfax Media New Zealand has announced the appointment of Campbell Mitchell as chief marketing officer.

Mitchell has held the position of marketing director at Fairfax Media for the past two years and his appointment to the executive team signifies new responsibilities, as Fairfax Media gears up to implement initiatives supporting its diversification.

Simon Tong, Fairfax Media managing director, says in addition to his existing portfolio including customer retention, acquisition, new product marketing and events, Mitchell will be responsible for growing new businesses that fall outside of the traditional remit for marketing in the media industry.

“Campbell’s new accountability is a reflection of both the growing emphasis we are placing on other parts of our business, and of his success in his role as marketing director to date. An example of this is his work in our growing Events business and the launch of Night Noodle Markets in Christchurch next month – a deal put together in record time.”

Mitchell is looking forward to the challenges his new role entails: “2016 will be an exciting year for Fairfax Media, and I’m delighted to play such a pivotal part in redefining our business model.”
Mitchell’s experience in media spans over two decades, having started as a sports journalist before moving to marketing. He spent six years at News Corp in senior marketing, digital and sales roles before returning to Fairfax Media two years ago.

A new recruit

Adshel announced the appointment of Ashlee Walsh to the role of account manager.

Walsh is responsible for working closely with advertisers and media agencies on delivering creative and innovative campaigns across Adshel’s network of digital screens and static roadside panels.

She reports into Adshel group sales manager Simon Paul.

Adshel’s sales and marketing director Ben Gibb, who recently returned to his role, said: “Ashlee’s appointment to the Auckland sales team supports the business’ continued growth and future aspirations. She has strong business development and customer service experience, plus a broad media background having sold across multiple media channels in her previous role. I have no doubt she will be a great addition to our sales team as we continue to expand and diversify our sales offering.”

Walsh joins Adshel from Mediaworks where she spent almost five years, most recently as a sales account executive.

Walsh’s appointment has been effective since earlier this month.

Moving up the ranks

Bauer Media has promoted Tanya Walshe to the role of publisher of Woman’s Day, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, Fashion Quarterly, Simply You Style, and Simply You Living. And, as a result of Walshe’s promotion, Bauer has brought in Kate Terry from Nielsen to work alongside group research manager Julie Bramley, to implement Bauer’s research programme.

Walshe has 25 years’ experience in media, with roles spanning sales & marketing, insights, strategy and publishing. She has been an integral member of the Bauer executive team for the past five years, with a mandate to champion a focus on deep understanding of consumer behaviour and provide actionable media insights across the business.

“It’s such a privilege to take on a leadership role for these truly iconic and influential media brands,” she said. “The weeklies are the country’s most-sold and highest-read women’s titles, complemented with rapidly growing total brand audiences through Bauer’s digital women’s network.

“At the same time, I get to leverage my passion for fashion, beauty and interiors through the premium Fashion Quarterly and Simply You brands. We should all be proud of New Zealand’s innovation, resilience and creativity in these sectors and I’m confident that our Bauer brands will be at the forefront of inspiring and sharing these stories with discerning audiences. Not to mention the fact that I now have a very legitimate reason to shop more.”

Bauer’s research & insights team, headed by Julie Bramley, will continue to report to Walshe.

Bauer chief executive Paul Dykzeul said: “I’ve worked very closely with Tanya over the past five years on everything from the acquisition of key titles through to new product and service development. I’ve always been impressed with her commercial acumen, her innate understanding of audiences and her ability to exceed expectations on new challenges – hence this appointment.”

Terry was previously CMI regional director for Nielsen. 

“I have no doubt our media brands and advertising partners will benefit from Kate’s influence at Bauer,” Dykzeul said.

Research competition

Michael Lams has joined Fresh Focus as business development manager to lead the ComScore initiative in NZ.

He joins Fresh Focus from Fairfax Media, where he served as a strategic business development manager from May 2012 to December 2015.

Before that, Lams owned and ran a media consultancy company based in Auckland. 

The appointment of Lams comes as analytics company ComScore attempts to extend its footprint in the local market. Until now, Comscore has operated in the local market from Australia, but the company’s vice president for Australia and New Zealand, Lachlan Brahe, says it is looking to increase its share in the local market. 

Brahe says he is particularly interested in offering ComScore’s analytics services as an alternative to those currently provided by research company Nielsen. 

Around two weeks ago, Brahe and the team at Fresh Focus did the agency rounds in a bid to introduce Lams and outline ComScore’s plans in the local market.   

First Frost

Brandstand has announced the appointment of Keiran Frost as general manager.

Prior to taking up this position, Frost served as the general manager at Orange Productions for over five years. 

Additionally, he has also held a range of senior roles at Villa Maria, Corney and Barrow, Sqaure Pie, Marks & Spencer and Krispy Creme UK. 

“This is the first time that Brandstand has had a general manager, so I’m excited to be able to make a real difference and work with Stuart in unleashing the potential of this well-established business,” says Frost. “We’ve got a great team, and superb facilities, so I have plenty to work with! Over the next few months I’ll be meeting up with clients and sharing our vision with them. Watch this space, is all I can say!”

Taking the lead

Sizmek has appointed media and advertising industry executive, Imran Masood, as sales director for the company’s Australia and New Zealand operations.

Masood was previously sales director for digital marketing technology provider, Amobee. He was responsible for its suite of cross-channel brand and performance advertising solutions, including the management of trading relationships with global advertising agencies.

He has 12 years’ experience in advertising and media and has held sales roles at Adconion Media Group, the Ten Network, and MTV Networks across the UK and Australian markets. Hailing from Ireland, Masood started his career in the television industry and moved to Australia in 2009 to focus more on the digital advertising space.

“Imran has a proven track record of success within the media, technology and advertising industry and will help to drive tremendous growth for Sizmek’s digital ad management operations in Australia and New Zealand,” said Jordan Khoo, Sizmek vice president for Asia-Pacific.

Masood will head sales across the company’s four key focus areas: programmatic, mobile, video and data. His mandate includes driving further adoption of Sizmek’s MDX open ad management platform and overseeing the Programmatic Business Unit, formed last year.
 
“I believe we’re in another phase of incredible growth and investment in digital advertising and brand advertisers are increasingly looking for transparency, performance and simplicity,” said Masood. “The growth in the digital sector is being driven by programmatic and video and advertisers want to be expertly guided in how to reap the benefits. Our open, independent digital ad management platform enables these brands to use a single platform to create and deliver inspiring, seamless advertising that drives exponential performance across all channels and devices.”

Picking up the reins 

Rubicon Project, the technology partner behind KPEX, has appointed Rick Mulia as managing director for the JAPAC region, effective immediately.

Mulia, who will be based in Sydney, brings more than 15 years of experience in senior digital roles, having most recently worked for Wego where he was central to building an ad tech stack for publishers in the region. Prior to that Mulia held various leadership roles across JAPAC for companies including Twitter, Microsoft, MSN and Yahoo!7, involved extensively in advertising sales, partnerships, business expansion and product development.
 
At Rubicon Project, Mulia will be responsible for business expansion and increasing adoption of Rubicon Project’s automated advertising platform across the region.
 
Mulia commented: “There is no doubt that automated advertising is continuing to revolutionise media trading in the region. I’m excited to be joining Rubicon Project, a leader in the space and known for its innovation, aptitude and commitment to its people – the kind of company I am always attracted to. Rubicon Project has certainly built an impressive team and I’m thrilled to be able to play a key role in a region which has so much potential for the adoption of Rubicon Project’s technology.”

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