Xfm hires Guardian marketer for branding strategy task

Xfm London has appointed Guardian marketing executive Mark Rivers as its chief marketer.

Rivers will report to network marketing director Richard Mintz and work on devising and implanting its branding strategy.

Rivers joins the radio station from Guardian Media Group (GMG) where he was marketing executive on The Guardian and its online publication Guardian Unlimited.

Rivers was involved in the the newspaper’s switch to a Berliner format and marketing the series of Ricky Gervais podcasts.

Xfm, which now has a network of over 1 million listeners, celebrates its tenth anniversary later this year.

GCap Media, the parent company of Xfm as well as Classic FM and Capital Radio, last year confirmed it would boost its in-house interactive mobile offering over the coming year by aligning its delivery platforms to enable individual radio stations and DJs to set up interactive communication with listeners.

In December the company unveiled plans to launch mi-Xfm, an interactive online radio player for fans of the Xfm brand in conjunction with Microsoft’s Xbox 360, enabling listeners to create personalised radio content.

GCap also this week unveiled details of a sponsorship campaign for the RAF, developed by its in-house agency Canvas, to appear on the group’s stations. It marks the first time the COI, the government’s marketing arm, has promoted the armed forces through non-traditional advertising.

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