Webb is filling the position vacated by Clive Milner, who was promoted
to managing director last autumn. The ad director role will be retained
by Webb for the time being. However, he is passing on day-to-day
responsibilities to Mike Gordon, who has been promoted from sales
controller to deputy ad director, and is his expected successor.
Having invested heavily in strategic planning, Webb sees the combining
of the two newspapers as the next logical step in refining their sales
approach.
’Newspaper sales operations have traditionally been more about
negotiation and order-taking than selling,’ said Webb. ’The media game
is moving fast and we need to stay with it and become much more
sophisticated and customer focused.’
The merger involves a number of appointments and follows last month’s
departure of NoW’s ad manager Darren Locke.
A new magazines team, led by former inserts manager Lorraine Marshall, has been created to sell The Sun’s TV magazine Sunday and one-off titles.
Webb said: ’Magazines were not getting the attention they deserved. A
dedicated team will enable us to handle supplements.’
David Emin, formerly The Sun’s ad manager, adds NoW to his remit and is responsible for four sales teams. Chris Branch moves from retail ad
manager to become inserts manager and is replaced by David Roddick,
formerly new-business manager. A replacement for Roddick is being
sought.
Webb said: ’We have offered a cheap route to market which is unavoidable for many retailers. But we need to add a new dimension to our relationship.’
He added: ’David can bring an unconventional perspective to retail which
is our largest and most important revenue sector.’
Zenith Media managing partner Theresa Coligan said: ’Splitting
newspapers from magazines is sensible because it’s the way schedules are planned and bought. But giving Emin both titles is scary. We used to be able to divide and rule but now we’re completely scuppered.’
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
