Mumbrella restructure brings journalists together into single team
Mumbrella has announced a restructure which sees all of its journalistic output brought together as part of a single, enlarged team.
Journalists on the Mumbrella website and newsletter, subscription platform Mumbrella Pro and events curation team will come together as a single group.
The team of ten journalists will be led by Damian Francis, who has taken on the new title of head of content. Francis, a former editor of AdNews, has headed Mumbrella’s event content since 2017 and led the launch of Mumbrella Pro last year.
While the restructure has led to one redundancy, it has also created two new vacancies.
Mumbrella deputy editor Hannah Blackiston will take on the new role of Managing Editor – Events & Branded Content. She will be involved in the curation of Mumbrella’s events and awards, as well as managing the journalists on Mumbrella Pro and assisting with Mumbrella Bespoke.
Another new role will see Mumbrella’s daily newsdesk output led by a yet-to-be-appointed Managing Editor – News & Analysis.
And this person will be assisted by a deputy.
Job ads for both of these roles can be found via this link and this link.
Both of the managing editors will report in to Francis.
Mumbrella editor Vivienne Kelly’s role has been made redundant as a result of the restructure. She departs the business today.
Blackiston will run the newsdesk until the roles are filled.
Mumbrella was bought by the US based events company Diversified Communications in 2017.
In another change, Mumbrella founder Tim Burrowes has stepped out of the day-to-day editorial management chain and into the new role of editor-at-large which will focus on offering commentary and analysis. He will continue to present the weekly Mumbrellacast podcast, contribute to the Saturday Best of the Week email and file analytical content for the website. Burrowes also remains accountable for the setting of Mumbrella’s overall editorial policy in consultation with Francis, who will be responsible for delivery on this strategy.
Diversified CEO David Longman said: “We are sorry to see Vivienne go. We thank her for her contribution over the last nearly four years and wish her all the best.”
Francis added: “It makes sense for us to come together as one team of journalists. Mumbrella has always believed that having journos lead our output across all platforms, including our events, allows us to serve our audience better than anyone else.
“Having ten journalists on our team gives Mumbrella significantly more firepower than any other trade press title. It demonstrates our owner Diversified Communications’ willingness to go on investing in journalism, even during the current challenging times.”
Mumbrella is still running a number of events online over the coming months. They include next month’s Finance Marketing Summit; October’s Automotive Marketing Summit and Sports Marketing Summit; Audioland; The Mumbrella Awards in October; and the Publish Awards in November. And November will see Mumbrella360 rebooted as a mainly online event.
congratulations Damian and Hannah
all the best with what comes next Viv
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Congratulations to Damo and Hannah on your new roles – fully deserved. And thanks to Viv for all your hard work and support when we worked together. Looking forward to seeing your next move but for now, the world’s worst morning person can have a lie-in!
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Congrats Damian – you’ll be awesome at this!
Congratulations Damo! I suppose I have to stop calling you Mr Jen Bishop.
And Viv, it has been really lovely to work with you, and appreciated your considered opinions.
Well done Hannah!!!
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Viv’s insightful reporting will be sorely missed. Congratulations to Damian and Hannah on the new roles.
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Congrats to Damian and Hannah. Classy tribute to Vivienne on LinkedIn Damo. Her bold interviews on stage at Mumbrella events and bravely opinionated editorials stand out as exemplary trade journalism and I’m sure she is widely respected.
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Mumbrella has been leading the way with trade news during COVID-19, and I trust this restructure means the coverage will be even better.
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Many congratulations Damian and Hannah.
All the very best with the next gig Vivienne; I very much admire your work, and enjoyed the perspective you brought to Mumbrellaland.
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I’ll add my congrats to Damo and Hannah, and congrats to whomever scores the newly-created News & Analysis roles – surely in this current climate Mumbrella will in the CV crosshairs of some excellent applicants, which will be a boon for everyone concerned. Sounds like Tim is also gearing up for more of what he does so well, and Vivienne, been great working with you and I’ve enjoyed your extraordinary output over the years, especially the pieces where you didn’t shy away from raising a virtual eyebrow along with your readers at some of the PR statements and interviewee responses!
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