News Bulletin: Havas appoints CTO; Rakuten acquires social ad business

By AdNews | 26 February 2016
 
Havas Media chief technology officer, Ben Grace

Havas Media appoints chief technology officer

Havas Media has announced the appointment of Ben Grace in the newly created role of chief technology officer. In the role Grace will oversee product management and digital marketing strategy for Havas Media.

Grace has 15-years of experience in media and digital, working in a number of senior roles in companies including Accuen, OMD and DGM. He most recently worked as general manager of video at Accuen in the US.

The announcement comes as Havas Media continues to grow in Australia following its launch two years ago. Since then it has brought in clients including Emirates, LG Electronics and QBE Insurance.

Did you check out our podcast pubcast with Havas Media CEO? Listen here.

New Zealand Herald sees audience growth

The Herald on Sunday and the New Zealand Herald have reported an increase in readership, positioning the Herald on Sunday as the most-read Sunday newspaper.

The NZ Herald, under editor Murray Kirkness, has grown 1.5% on the previous quarter, to 404,000 readers and the Herald on Sunday, under editor Miriyana Alexander, by 1.3% to 303,000 readers.

The Herald on Sunday now has 8,000 more readers than the Sunday Star-Times, making it the best-read Sunday paper nationally for the first time in its 12-year history. Its market share also increased 1.6 points to 50.6%.

Westfield's BrandSpace to partner with Bauer Media

Bauer Media has partnered with Westfield's BrandSpace to bring Runway Weekend back in 2016.

The two-day fashion and beauty experience will feature back-to-back runway shows, as well as Australia’s top designers, interactive pop-up activations and installations within the flagship Westfield Sydney in Pitt St.

Bauer Media will roll out an integrated marketing campaign ahead of the event to drive awareness and participation with shoppers.

Rakuten Marketing acquires Manifest Commerce

Rakuten Marketing has announced the acquisition of Manifest Commerce, a product intelligence company that provides solutions for automated social advertising.

Manifest CEO Bob Buch says: “The new offering will drive incremental value to clients’ social campaigns through our combined capabilities and insights, and our strong integration into the social space.”

Rakuten Marketing CEO, Tony Zito, added that consumer behavior and insights is still in its infancy in terms of social and marketing investment, and there are huge opportunities in optimising product intelligence that Manifest will be able to help them achieve.

Unruly’s outstream format roles out across News Corp

Australian advertisers will have access to more video inventory with the launch of Unruly’s viewable outstream format across all News Corp Australia digital mastheads.

Unruly In-Article will be available on news.com.au, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Courier-Mail, perthnow.com.au and The Advertiser. News Corp says the move adds up to 18% more premium publishing streams for Australian advertisers.

Unruly’s video format is available on all News Corp Australia metro masthead web pages and only starts to play when the video is in view, “solving viewability concerns for advertisers”, Newscorp added. It can also be closed and shared by viewers, giving them control of the viewing experience.

Unruly was acquired by News Corp in September 2015.

Jurlique appoints Switched on Media to expand digital

Jurlique has appointed STW’s Switched on Media as its digital agency.

Effective immediately, the appointment will see Switched on Media assisting with the development and implementation of a global digital strategy for the Australian skincare brand in 2016 and beyond.

Jurlique global, digital & ecommerce director, Fiona Moylan says the partnership will enable the brand to reach its digital business goals, taking on Switched on Media’s programmatic approach.

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