Weve hires LivingSocial’s Nigel Clarkson as commercial director
Weve is hiring Nigel Clarkson as commercial director with a brief to bridge the gap between the amount of time consumers spend on mobile and the proportion of budgets brands allocate to the platform.
Clarkson joins Weve from LivingSocial, where he was responsible for running its 130-people strong sales and marketing team in the UK and Ireland.
He replaces Alison Reay, who was launch commercial director. She will stay on board until the end of the year, with Clarkson coming on board in November.
Clarkson will focus on convincing brands to spend their marketing and ad budgets on mobile devices, especially in the run-up to Christmas. His role also includes overseeing media agency sales and Weve’s operations, creative and partnership teams.
The appointment signals a shift in strategy at Weve as it continues to expand. Reay, who has been at Weve for 11 months, was responsible for building up the sales and operations team and putting in place strong links with agencies.
Clarkson says: “Many demographics now spend significantly more time with mobile than any other media, whether interacting, consuming or spending. Our challenge is to convert the time spent to ad budgets spent.
“The ability to target the right people wherever they are and whenever they are in a purchasing mindset or location is very exciting from an advertising and marketing point of view.”
Weve is rapidly building up the marketing services it offers brands in a bid to become a one-stop shop for mobile advertising and commerce. It has launched services such as a mobile loyalty app and display ad tool in recent weeks and is developing mobile commerce services that make use of NFC and QR codes.
LivingSocial is replacing Clarkson with Steven Marritt, who will take on a newly-created role as head of sales and operations for the UK and Ireland.