News Corp Australia exec Neil Robinson to return in shake up of digital sales team and marketing management
News Corp Australia has announced a restructure of its digital sales and marketing teams that will see network sales executive general manager Lou Barrett promoted, and former digital sales director Neil Robinson return to Australia.
Robinson left his previous role at News Corp to become the New York-based chief revenue officer of marketing at technology startup Rokt in 2015. He was replaced in the role by former Shutterstock VP of sales, Nick Flynn last October.
His new position of managing director for digital solutions at News Corp will see Robinson dividing his time between New York and Sydney before returning permanently to Australia in July.
In his new role, Robinson will lead News Corp Australia’s programmatic division along with its data service, News Connect, and will also be responsible for the local operations of Unruly and Storyful.
Announcing Robinson’s appointment, Damian Eales, COO publishing of News Corp Australia, said: “We are committed to investing in News Corp’s sales leadership and our digital products and brands.
“Neil knows the Australian market well and will combine his local experience and global perspective to drive exciting and ambitious digital sales solutions for clients.”
Robinson joined News Corp Australia’s network advertising division in 2001 having previously spent five years in senior sales positions with News UK.
In a media statement, Robinson said: “I am looking forward to the opportunity to enhance News Corp’s digital ambitions, particularly as we enter an exciting new chapter of growth.
“The depth of talent across News Corp – from content creation, to technology, to digital sales – creates a genuine and unique opportunity for us to evolve and innovate with marketers, agencies and tech partners as we strengthen our digital portfolio. We have a clear agenda to drive transparent and tangible business outcomes for those who invest with us.”
In the other management move,current executive general manager of network sales, Lou Barrett, has been promoted to the newly-created role of managing director, national sales.
Barrett will be responsible for leading the advertising sales divisions nationally, along with managing the needs of News Corp’s national clients across print media, digital media and marketing services.
In announcing the appointment Eales said: “Since joining News Corp 18 months ago, Lou has been instrumental in leading the transformation of our sales force to a client-first model.
“Lou has established a new key-account capability, industry specialisation in key growth categories, and deep digital product specialisation, all of which are delivering improved client outcomes and growth in key categories.
“Together, she and Neil will create a formidable team as they partner to deliver to our clients market-leading, all-of-business media and marketing partnerships.”
Nice to have an Englishman back in the ranks at Newscorp
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Robbo, good to see you’re back in the fold…clearly the business needs a quality operator who understands the ins and outs of the market and has good relationships with the players in that market. With Aussie cricket in an unusual down phase, you might be here for an English win as well….then again they aren’t doing so well in NZ now are they.
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Please fix the toxic culture! Far too many narcissistic personalities are holding the company back and it needs strong leadership to turn the ship around and halt the staff turnover. Good luck!
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Great news for News Corp, Neil is an amazing operator that has the respect of the whole industry and key figures at News Corp. Hopefully he can unlock the huge potential and remove some of the roadblock that has previously hindered getting even close
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How many Robertos’ are there in Australia??
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Deckchairs. Titanic.
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Guess we’ll never know!
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This is great to hear! Welcome back to Aus Robbo.
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Verb
Rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic
(idiomatic) To do something pointless or insignificant that will soon be overtaken by events, or that contributes nothing to the solution of a current problem.
How so?
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