Vevo UK appoints marketing and commercial chiefs
Online music platform Vevo has appointed a UK ad sales marketing director and commercial director as it looks to grow the popular US music service here.
Christian Kimberley-Bowen will be responsible for creating integrated marketing packages for brands, working in tandem with new commercial director Jonathan Lewen and director of programming and content Tom Connaughton.
He was previously business director at media agency Carat Global, part of Aegis Media, where he worked across the global Nokia account.
Lewen will be responsible for all UK revenue. He has hired three senior sales people including video ad network WebTV Enterprise’s Jessica Farmiloe, and Glam Media’s Jonathan Longhurst. He’s planning to add a further three roles, which will take the total to six.
Brands including BT, Levi’s, Unilever, McDonalds, and O2 are the latest to sign up to the Vevo platform, which includes the web, Android, Apple and Windows Phone 7 devices, and the Blackberry Playbook.
Lewen says the mixture of scale, premium content and multi-platform presence makes Vevo a “compelling sell” for advertisers, with those that have rebooked on the platform doubling their spend the second time around.
“We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface in terms of how we can diversify the commercialisation of content. Once we really start pushing the original programming element, and live gigs, then it gets really exciting,” he told new media age.
Priorities include building its localised content strategy, including cultivating existing and up-an-coming British artists. It has signed British rock outfit Kasabian for its first UK Vevo Presents secret gig, a model that has already been a success in the US.
This will be filmed in a secret location in early September, with the video footage to be made available across the Vevo platform.
It has also struck its first content curation tie-up with Jamal from youth music channel SB.TV, and is developing its blogger outreach programme.
Kimberley-Bowen says: “We’ll be looking to grow our visibility working towards rolling out consumer-facing campaigns, but as we create more original programming, that will help establish the Vevo identity in the UK.”
The appointments mark the latest stage in Vevo UK’s recruitment drive, which has seen it increase its team to 17 staff since its launch four months ago. It is planning to recruit the final nine staff in the next few months, taking the total UK team to 26.
This story first appeared on New Media Age. For more digital stories and analysis’ from NMA click here now
