Telstra has reactivated the CMO role, reversing a move to devolve functions back into the business units of Australia's biggest telco
Jeremy Nicholas, the chief brand officer, has been appointed chief marketing officer, according to an email to staff this morning.
The role had been written out of the senior management team in a major structure in July 2018. The last CMO was Joe Pollard.
"It's a great honor and responsibility," Nicolas told AdNews.
"I've been there three and a half years and I'm really passionate about the company. It's been an interesting and challenging place in a very dynamic market and it's been exciting to be part of it."
The Monkeys is Telstra's creative agency and OMD the media agency.
But Telstra also has an in-house agency team among the 200 people working in marketing.
Nicholas sees his appointment as giving clarity externally and internally on centralising the marketing through one person.
"We wanted to make sure that was clear," he says.
A lot of Nicholas' current role, as chief brand officer, covered much of Telstra's marketing functions.
"I look after the brands, the media, all the sponsorships and marketing," he says.
On focus and budget, he says Telstra is spending more on digital.
"And I think that lately we focus a lot on one-to-one customer communications as well," he says.
"Given the size of our customer base, it's a huge focus for us and a big part of what we do.
"Increasingly as the media gets more and more addressable -- so we can talk to people knowing who they are -- that's a bigger part of what we're doing and our focus overall on how we use our data effectively, working with the major media to make sure we target things effectively."
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