NZME has appointed Charlotte Bell as GM digital business development, to lead their digital revenue growth strategies across the business.
Bell currently runs digital mobile ad network inMobi NZ – a true digital native, having worked in digital for over 12 years across Seek, XtraMsn and Yahoo!.
NZME chief commercial officer Laura Maxwell said: “Charlotte is well-known and respected in the industry for her innovative ideas and passion for the digital realm. I’m stoked to get her onto the NZME team and can’t wait for her to start.”
Bell will commence her role on Tuesday 7 June.
Major hires and promotions at MediaWorks
MediaWorks has today announced a raft of new hires and promotions in its sales team, aimed at “further strengthening our position and ability to put customers first – delivering the very best sales service to the market.
Michelle Cole has been promoted to head of TV strategy, and will be responsible for leading MediaWorks’ television sales strategy across all agency and direct clients. She will also help manage the industry change to CPM, lead the further integration of data and insights with the MediaWorks research department into MediaWorks’ television sales offerings, lead for MediaWorks on the Bravo workflow and also assist in pricing and inventory usage along with upskilling various sales teams.
MediaWorks chief commercial officer Mark David said: “Michelle has been with MediaWorks for more than 19 years and brings an incredible wealth of experience to this new role. In her time at MediaWorks, Cole has worked in a range of television sales roles, most recently general manager agency sales, and previously group sales director and group sales manager.
Donna Gurney has been appointed general manager agency sales, replacing Michelle Cole. She will begin the role in July, managing MediaWorks’ largest portfolio of agency business
With a 13 year media career at APN/NZME, Gurney has managed agency and client relationships across digital, radio, newspapers and magazines, the last four years of which have been in a leadership role as head of agency across the NZME group. Previously, she managed the commercial team at APN Digital for a number of years.
Her career highlights include leading and implementing the NZME agency sales integration strategy across print, digital and radio, and winning local and international awards for her work, including a first place at the global INMA Awards for Best Marketing Solution for a Client.
Working with Donna Cole will be Kelly Tebbutt – newly promoted to the TV sales manager role. She started at MediaWorks in 2007 and has been in digital sales before swapping screens.
In two appointments for the group national direct team under MediaWorks head of national direct sales Matt Headland, Rogan Polkinghorne has been appointed head of digital ad sales and strategy (Direct), and Jackie Campbell has been appointed custom content strategist (Direct).
Both will join the team in June. Polkinghorne will be responsible for managing digital ad sales and the strategies behind them for MediaWorks direct clients, focusing on data opportunities, integrated content solutions and programmatic platforms to deliver marketing-leading digital solutions across the MediaWorks network.
Campbell will manage the creation of custom content opportunities for national direct clients, allowing MediaWorks to work with its direct clients in a more content focused way.
Paul Hancox said: “The national direct sales team under Matt Headland has been incredibly successful to date, and these two appointments highlight the desire as a business to attract the best talent and provide the best people and solutions for our clients.”
Polkinghorne is an experienced media practitioner, with an extensive background in radio and digital sales and strategy. His most recent role at NZME (group account director – digital) saw him lead a team working on high-level digital strategy for NZME’s agency client base, as well as helping to lead the commercial side of new product development and overall digital strategy for the group.
Campbell has a career spanning 15 years in the New Zealand media market. Her most recent role was group sales & marketing director at Bauer Media.
Further increasing the size and scope of the MediaWorks group national direct team, three new commercial managers have also been appointed, to work alongside Polkinghorne and Campbell.
They are: Freddie Leckie (ex MediaCom), Andrew Horan (ex NZME) and Kate Dinwiddie (MediaWorks Integration).
National direct sales head Matt Headland said: “The new commercial managers and other new members of the team will allow us to drive national opportunities across the country and provide all our direct clients with market leading thinking that is focused on audience and engagement.”
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