News

Are Media appoints Simon Smith to lead commercial content and creative

Are Media have today appointed experienced media executive and former head of News Corp’s content agency Suddenly, Simon Smith, as head of commercial content and creative, effective as of 14 June.

Smith joins Are Media from Suddenly, where as executive director of content marketing he launched the agency in 2018 building it into a team of more than 60 delivering content strategy, creative, events and production for clients including Woolworths, SWEAT, The Good Guys, Royal Wolf and hipages.

For more than 20 years he has held senior sales content marketing and leadership positions at some of Australia’s leading media organisations and brands including Fairfax Media, The Australian Financial Review, ACP Magazines (now Are Media) and The Australian. He was also a board director of The Newspaper Works, the peak body representing the news publishing industry.

Smith will work alongside Are Media’s advertising sales teams in the newly created role to lead commercial content, creative and events and drive media engagement for Are Media’s commercial partners across platforms.

Are Media director of sales, Andrew Cook, said: “Simon is an experienced leader who has built and managed high performance, multidisciplinary creative, content and event teams. He thoroughly understands end-to-end content production and the creative process, with a proven track record for delivering innovative content, creative and event solutions. I’m delighted Simon is joining Are Media as he brings considerable expertise that will no doubt benefit our wider team and our commercial partners.”

Smith commented on his appointment: “Are Media is home to the biggest media brands for women in Australia and the opportunities for advertisers to engage with them across platforms are significant. I look forward to working with Andrew and across the sales teams to further accelerate our commercial solutions offering.”

In April last year, Are Media announced the departure of CEO Brendon Hill, with former Spotify, Pandora, Microsoft and Fairfax Media executive Jane Huxley appointed to the role.

Hill served as Are Media CEO since 1 June, 2019 (then Bauer Media), when he took over from Paul Dykzeul. During his time Bauer Media bought Pacific for $40 million from Seven West Media. The combined entity was also then sold by the privately-owned Bauer Media to private equity firm, Mercury Capital.

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.