Mediacom restaffs in the wake of misreporting, hiring ZO investment director Ben McCallum
McCallum
Mediacom has announced it has hired ZenithOptimedia’s Ben McCallum, as the agency look to rebuild following the departures which hit the agency late last year amid the TV audience misreporting controversy.
It emerged earlier this month that staff had lied in reports about the TV audiences its advertising was reaching for up to two years.
McCallum, who was previously group investment director at ZO, will take the role of group director in activation & investment for MediaCom’s Entertainment Division ted. The news coming just days after Mediacom announced it had moved Maxus Sydney trading director Adriana Zaknic to the role of Mediacom group business director for YUM! Brands.
Both appointments come in the wake of last week’s release of the EY external audit of its accounts and systems, which confirmed staff in one of the major TV buying groups had deliberately faked campaign reports for three of its biggest clients, Yum! Brands, Foxtel and IAG.
It also revealed four clients had been sold free or heavily discounted ad spots it had been given by media owners.
IAG yesterday confirmed it was following the lead of Foxtel and moving its $30m media account to sister agency Mindshare.
“I am thrilled to announce that Ben will be joining MediaCom’s Activation & Investment team based in Sydney,” said MediaCom’s chief investment officer Nicole Turley.
“Ben has worked locally and in London across many high profile brands. He will bring experience from a wide range of different sectors, as well as strong leadership and management skills. I am very much looking forward to working with Ben as we move forward into the Content and Connections space”.
McCallum has over 11 years of industry experience within agencies based in Australia and the United Kingdom having worked on clients including Toyota, Lexus, Qantas, British Airways, Cartier, Heineken, Bacardi and 20th Century Fox.
In his previous role at ZenithOptimedia, his key responsibilities included ownership of investment output, to review quality of output and to drive best practice.
He will report directly to Turley and begins on April 21.
Nic Christensen
Congrats Benjamin! Plenty of good gyms in North Sydney
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Congrats Ben – on the new job and also on finding a picture of yourself that hides your greying hair suitably!
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well done fella and good luck
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