Fremantle Media Enterprises restructures its licensing division
Fremantle Media Enterprises has restructured with several new appointments.
The announcement:
Sydney, 23 November 2010: FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, today announced a new structure and new appointments in its Australian licensing division.
The new structure, announced today by FME Asia Pacific CEO Jon Penn, will see three distinct departments formed within the licensing division including: Digital & Brand Partnerships; Consumer Products; and Live Events and Experiences.
The new executives heading each department are: Amber Brown, Senior Vice President Digital & Brand Partnerships; Hannah Laird, Vice President Consumer Products; and Dustin Lockett, Vice President Live Experiences. The three executives will all report to Penn.
“We are reorganising and strengthening the FME team after experiencing substantial growth in our business this year. The previous Australian licensing team has now been organised into three distinct lines of business,” Penn said.
“We have promoted Amber Brown from within and brought in new senior talent in Dustin Lockett and Hannah Laird, who will drive our business in each of these areas.
“The new structure will see the digital and sponsorship divisions merged, recognising that advertisers are going to be a strong source of revenue for digital enterprises such as websites, long form content online and original digital productions. For this reason, having our sponsorship licensing business and our digital business under one roof makes sense,” Penn added.“We decided to create a live events division because of growing opportunities for strong TV brands to be extended into live events and ticketed experiences. Our first event will be MasterChef Live, Australia’s Festival of Cooking in December, followed by Grand Designs Australia Live Expo in Sydney in September next year.”
Globally, FME has been a leader in branded live events including The American Idol Experience atFlorida’s Walt Disney Resort, The Price is Right Live in Las Vegas, and Grand Designs Live in the UK just to name a few.
The licensing division of FME has worked on a number of prestigious projects this year. Together with News Magazines it has launched the MasterChef Magazine, which recently was awarded Magazine Launch of the Year at the Australian Magazine Awards; launched Junior MasterChef
kids cookware; introduced The X Factor voting and website with Yahoo! 7; spearheaded a new global media partnership with Australia Zoo and the Irwin Family; completed a deal to see FME launch Grand Designs Australia Live Expo; and closed a number of brand partnership deals for The Farmer Wants a Wife and The Biggest Loser. FME will also soon start work on new titles from the FME Children and Family Entertainment Division including My Baby Sitter is a Vampire and Monsuno.
Amber Brown
In her new position, Amber Brown will manage the digital, interactive, telephony and sponsorship licensing business in Australia and New Zealand. Amber will be joined by Kimiko Roberts – who joins FME from IF Productions where she was Partnerships Manager – as interim Vice President Brand Partnerships; and Lykke Jorgensen as Manager Brand Partnerships. Brown joins FME from the Nine Network, where she was a PBL Media Integration Strategist and Client Services Executive. Prior to working in television, she was an account manager at Zenith Optimedia, where she worked with its sponsorship division BrandFit and managed integrated sponsorships of the FremantleMedia-produced Australian Idol for Telstra and Nestle. Her time in agency netted two Media Federation Awards for Best One-off Media Innovation and Best Strategic Launch, plus a Cannes Media Lion for sponsor integration in Network Ten’s Big Brother.
Hannah Laird
In Consumer Products, Hannah Laird’s role will be to maximise revenues from the development of FME’s portfolio of owned and managed properties via all merchandise and consumer product categories including fashion and apparel, toys and games, food and beverages, lifestyle, beauty and publishing.
Laird joined FME from BBC Worldwide where she was licensing manager working on Top Gear and In the Night Garden. Prior to that she was licensing coordinator at Haven Licensing where shespent more than six years. Originally from the UK, Laird also worked for Mattel UK Brands &Consumer Products in licensing and entertainment rights.
Dustin Lockett
Dustin Lockett’s role involves maximising revenues from the extension of FME’s portfolio of owned and managed brands across all live platforms such as live theatre and stage productions, casino based events, consumer and trade shows, and other live experiences including theme parks, travel services, niche sports and paid promotional events. He will also manage any personal endorsement rights on behalf of the Irwin family.
Lockett has more than 16 years experience in the sports and entertainment industries. Prior to joining FME, he was a director of sports marketing company allstars Management. He has also worked with Global Action Sports as Sales & Marketing Director on Crusty Demons and SuperX; and was Sales & Marketing Manager (Qld) for International Management Group (IMG) and Commercial Manager at the Lexmark Indy 300. Lockett has also worked in sales and marketing roles at theme parks Wonderland Sydney, Sea World and Warner Village theme parks.
Source: Fremantle Media Enterprises press release
