Joe Pollard oversees cleanout of Telstra Media as she puts her stamp on new CMO role
Joe Pollard
Just a year after joining Telstra and weeks after being elevated to CMO, former Mojo and Ninemsn executive Joe Pollard has run a broom through the senior ranks of Telstra media.
Director of digital media and content Adam Good, IPTV boss Eric Kearley and Telstra TV MD Ian Davis are all leaving the telco, while Pollard has raided her former employer, Nine, to recruit Rebecca Haagsma, director of 9Jumpin and digital services, to take on the role of director of mobility products .
The move also comes just two weeks after Telstra launched its latest IPTV attack with TelstraTV using Roku boxes, and a day after Optus branded itself a broadcaster after swooping on the broadcast rights to the English Premier League.
Pollard’s move to poach Haagsma from Nine also comes as Nine rebrands the catchup service she oversaw, 9Jumpin, as a full live streaming service.
Good joined Telstra in 2012, hired by then head of Telstra Media Rick Ellis to drive the telco’s move into music and other content.
Adam Good digital director media Telstra at Mumbrella 360, 2014
At the time the Telco said: “Adam is one of the world’s acknowledged experts in Digital Media has been brought on board by Telstra to drive the acceleration of its digital content strategy.”
While there was success with some digital content, Telstra’s bid to capture the music market with MOG ultimately failed s it was swallowed by Beats and then Apple Music, with the service switched off in September year.
Ian Davis has been integral to helping manage Telstra’s 50 per cent stake in Foxtel, and has been a champion of the development of Telstra’s VOD and IPTV services.
Eric Kearley joined the telco three years ago from TVNZ and has driven the IPTV element of the business including Big Pond Movies.
Haagsma joined ACP Magazines in 2007 before moving to Ninemsn in 2010. In March last year she was named director of 9Jumpin and digital operations.
Update 12:00pm: Telstra have released a short statement from a spokesperson outlining the reasons behind the changes to the media team.
“Telstra Media is a key business for Telstra as Australia’s leading aggregator of entertainment products including subscription TV, streaming video, music and leading sport and news content across all fixed and mobile platforms.
“Given the importance of the media business to Telstra, Joe has restructured the business to position it for future growth.
“This includes the creation of a more senior role of Executive Director which will lead the whole Telstra Media group. The team will also be structured to strengthen the focus on product development and go to market capabilities. Existing teams will align to this structure.
“As a result of the changes, three media executives will leave the team to pursue other opportunities. The executives are Adam Good, Eric Kearley and Ian Davis. Recruitment is well advanced for the new Executive Director role.
“In other appointments, well known media executive Rebecca Haagsma will join Telstra as the Director of Mobility Products from Nine Entertainment Co, where she is currently leading the 9Now launch and prior to this was the Director of Product Innovation for Nine MSN.
“Experienced internal candidates from the existing Media Team will step into the other positions.”
Simon Canning
Nice one Bec! Good luck.
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The Telstra approach to creativity.
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These are three of the smartest guys at Telstra when it comes to understanding the media world. Joe Pollard has a great reputation, but she is the third, or is the fourth, or is it the fifth ‘heavy hitter’ brought in to sort out the company’s media business? Andy Penn is a clever guy, but even the extraordinarily talented David Thodey couldn’t fix the arcane executive management structure at Telstra that Ms Pollard will have to do battle with to avoid joining the ever expanding Telstra Alumni group – https://alumni.telstra.com.au/faq. When she does she will be in extremely good company.
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