Experienced marketer Kim Portrate has been announced as the inaugural CEO of television’s new research-driven, marketing and technology development company, Think TV.
Portrate was most recently chief marketing officer at travel service provider Helloworld. She also spent five years as general manager, consumer marketing at Tourism Australia, where she led global marketing in 22 international markets.
She began her career with Unilever as a brand manager and has also worked with Power Brewing, Pepsi Cola, Optus and AMP.
During her career, Portrate has worked client side in marketing, worked in agencies, made TV commercials, bought them and sold them across several industries. It is this broad mix of experience that made her an ideal choice for the role.
"What was exciting about this opportunity was bringing the experience and expertise across all of those sectors and a real passion for television to help grow, evolve and future-proof what I think is a really important medium for advertisers," Portrate tells AdNews.
"TV sits at the cultural heartland of Australian society, it touches the collective conciousness of the community. That means you are automatically connecting with an audience. As an advertiser, if you are engaging in a forum where you have an engaged audience, that's a great tool to build your business using your brand.
"We look forward to working with the shareholders to develop new systems and platforms that are going to make TV easier and more dynamic for advertisers and a buyers."
An important part of Portrate's role will be educating the market about TV's evolving multi-platform approach.
"About 15 million Australians watch TV everyday and 2.3 million connected devices are accessing that catch-up component. Television is a multi-platform entity and it's in digital spaces as well," she says.
"It's an artificial wall if you put digital and TV on opposite sides of the fence because TV is digital. The landscape will continue to change and we need to be adaptive to that."
AdNews first reported on the forming of the industry body coming together in December last year, but it was officially created in May this year.
Founding members of the group include Nine Network, Seven Network, Network Ten and Multi Channel Network/Foxtel.
Think TV Chairman Russel Howcroft says: “Following an extensive local and international search, we are delighted that Kim has accepted the position as CEO of Think TV.
“Kim’s extensive experience and outstanding credentials as both a senior marketer and in senior strategic roles in agencies is a perfect combination of skills as we seek to stamp TV’s dominance as a powerful medium that delivers results for advertisers.”
In her role as CEO, from 1 July, Portrate will spearhead Think TV’s mission to promote commercial television’s scale and effectiveness across all screens and help the advertising and marketing community get the very best out of TV.
She will work with the Think TV Board and team as it invests in research and other industry initiatives to “demonstrate that television is a clear leader in return on investment”.
At Helloworld, Portrate launched a new retail brand, consolidating five legacy businesses, and managed the largest brand-led transformation in retail travel. She has also worked at creative and media agencies in senior strategy roles and relocated to New York to join FCB and BBDO as head of planning.
On her return to Australia, she became director of insights and innovation with Carat.
Kim Portrate says: “Television remains at the cultural heart of society and builds emotional connections unmatched by any other media.
“It will be my goal to lead a collective effort by our broadcasters to prove that TV is the clear leader in terms of advertising impact and return on investment.”
MCN's editor at large Paul McIntyre, grabs a chat with Chairman of Think TV, Russel Howcroft. The chat follows hot on the heels of the appointment of Kim Portrate, to Think TV CEO
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