Seven appoints Charlotte Valente as CMO
Seven West Media has ended its search for a chief marketing officer with the appointment of Charlotte Valente. Valente was most recently Big Red Group’s general manager of B2B, and worked with Seven’s CEO James Warburton at APN Outdoor before that.
Valente’s appointment is part of the latest Seven restructure, announced last week, which sees the business organised under eight key pillars. The CMO position is a newly created role inside that alignment and Valente will commence in the role from October 21.
Valente joins with a history of working alongside Warburton, with the pair working at outdoor company APN Outdoor together
Inside the new structure, eight senior management roles will directly report in to Warburton, including the new CMO position. The other roles include chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette, commercial director Bruce McWilliam, chief financial officer Warwick Lynch, chief people and culture officer Katie McGrath and Seven’s WA CEO Maryna Fewster. The company is also still recruiting for a chief content officer and will reveal its new chief digital officer this month at the broadcaster’s upfronts.
Valente joins from Big Red Group where she was general manager for the B2B division, a role which saw her focus on the future of the business in AI and marketing technology. She had been with the business since May 2019.
Prior to that, she was the general manager of marketing at APN Outdoor, where she worked with Warburton. Valente left the role in October 2018 in the wake of the JC Decaux merger which also saw Warburton exit.
Valente had joined APN Outdoor from rival Adshel where she was the head of marketing.
Warburton said Valente will help Seven focus on the future of its business and its plan to put the audience first.
“Charlotte will bring a strong viewer and client focus to this newly created, senior role in the group, with a focus on launching Seven’s new marketing initiatives, as well as enhancing the look and feel of the brand,” said Warburton.
“I worked with Charlotte at APN Outdoor, where she was instrumental in implementing a successful change strategy to help move the company from an asset-led to an audience-first business, a similar role she will perform at Seven.
“The CMO role is a first for Seven and will cover a broad range of viewer and business facing marketing initiatives, including data analytics, on-air promotions, digital optimisation and public relations.”
Valente has over 20 years of experience working in Australia, the UK, France and Switzerland across both marketing and sales roles, including time with Creative Activation, AMP Capital, Pacific Magazines, The Guardian Media Group and BBC Worldwide.
“I am delighted to work with James again and be a part of Seven’s transformation towards a more audience- centric group, with a strong focus on delivering engaging broadcast and digital content,” said Valente.
“Integrating Seven’s multiple platforms to provide an accessible and captivating media offering will be my main priority.”
So Warburton is cleaning our the previous LT and appointing a new C-suite of his own choosing? Gotta say, this is a promising change of scene for a broadcaster with plenty of room for innovation. Best of luck in the new role Charlotte!
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Trade marketing is a vastly different skill set to what’s required from CMO role at seven. Be interested to see how this plays out. Good luck!
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Having briefly worked with Charlotte, believe she’s a fantastic appointment. Forward thinking, contagious energy and wealth of industry knowledge and experience. Wish her all the best.
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One of the best! Great work, Charlotte!
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Congrats Charlotte, and great hire JW.
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What a great appointment. Charlie is a strong leader and team player too – creative, strategic and a really nice human. Can’t wait to see what she does…
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