New EMAP division appoints chief

EMAP Active, the magazine publishing giant’s newly formed special interest division, has appointed Andrew Gillespie as group marketing director to oversee the group’s 58 titles and 70 marketing staff.

The enlarged publishing division results from a merger of four EMAP units – Apex, Nationals, Images and Pursuits. The division will house mass-market newsstand titles such as Motor Cycle News, Angling Times and Max Power.

Gillespie says he will centralise the marketing team for the new publishing division into one site at Peterborough by the end of the year. The team is currently split between the ten sites – from Peterborough to London – which the various magazines that comprise the group occupy.

“Taking these marketers away from the local sites means that they will lose some closeness to the editorial team. But it will enable us to do some long-term thinking about the brands. It’s a risk but I’m prepared to take it,” explains Gillespie.

EMAP Active says it is determined to move out of the shadow of its sister publishing arms lan and Metro, which publish titles such as Red and FHM.

Gillespie says: “We have ten or 12 good titles that we think we can promote aggressively through the line. Motor Cycle News has a lot of potential. And Golf World is something we can look at launching internationally.”

Gillespie was formerly trade marketing director for Frontline, a distribution house jointly owned by the BBC, EMAP and Haymarket. His background also includes posts at Guinness, Pepsi and Whitbread. He officially takes up his new role on October 1 and will report to group managing director Malcolm Gough.

EMAP Active employs a total of 980 people and has an annual turnover of 100m.