Buzzfeed staffs up for European advertising
Social news site Buzzfeed has poached Will Hayward from the Wall Street Journal to become its first advertising executive outside of the US as the company continues to grow its presence outside of its home market.
Hayward has moved into the role of vice president of advertising for Europe and is responsible for expanding all advertising partnerships and operations in the region, including the creation of a European sales team.
His appointment comes less than a year after BuzzFeed opened its UK office, under the editorship of former NME.com editor Luke Lewis.
Buzzfeed says UK traffic to its site has “more than doubled” in 2013 and that it has brought in European advertising “from some of the world’s biggest brands” over the past few months.
Prior to joining Buzzfeed, Hayward was director of integrated marketing solutions in the EMEA region for the Wall Street Journal.
He has also previously held a variety of roles at commercial roles at The Economist, AOL and media consultancy Report International.
