News International appoints Carat MD
News International has appointed Carat managing director Neil Jones as director of commercial strategy. Jones joins the newspaper group after 18 years at the Aegis-owned media planning and buying agency.
He will be responsible for developing trading and commercial partnerships across News International’s portfolio of papers. He will report into NI managing director of commercial, Paul Hayes, but will work closely with NI head of trading Dominic Carter.
The move comes just days after the group announced the appointment of former Sainsbury’s and L’Oreal marketer Jeremy Schwartz to the board-level role of chief marketing officer last week.
Both roles have been created following a review of News International’s UK operations by Boston Consulting Group. The strategy was instigated by James Murdoch, who joined in December 2007 as Europe and Asia chief executive and chairman of parent company News Corporation.
It has also included a shake-up of NI’s operations, which saw the management of News Group Newspapers, which houses The Sun and News of the World, and Times Media brought closer together.
Meanwhile, Roland Agambar, head of marketing for The Sun and News of the World, is leaving the company to join Associated News & Media as chief marketing officer.
