Digital media network Avid Collective has appointed James Bannerman to the newly created position of agency sales director.
Bannerman is the former group account director at The Guardian.
This new role was created to build on Avid's commercial successes in 2019 across a number of agency holding groups and independent agencies to continue to drive growth in 2020 and ultimately embed Avid as a fixture across all Australian agencies.
Bannerman will report into Avid's commercial director Tom Gunter and managing director Luke Spano.
His role is focused on Avid's partnerships across media agencies in Australia, focusing on existing client management and growth as well as new business acquisition.
“It’s great to be joining Avid at such an exciting time in its growth and development trajectory," Bannerman says.
"It’s an exciting business with a suite of products that have the ability to connect brands with people in an engaging and unique way. I look forward to working with the team as well as educating agencies on the Avid proposition.”
Bannerman has almost a decade of experience working in the media sector.
He has been with The Guardian News & Media for almost five years and prior to that was in sales and strategic publishing at Fairfax Media, where he spent another five years.
"James has shown an ability to forge great relationships over his previous tenures at The Guardian and Fairfax, and we are excited for him to continue to do that whilst representing Avid in market.," Spano says.
"The rate at which both our reach and business is growing it is vital for us to be keeping close relationships with our partners in market and educating media agencies about the developing Avid proposition.
“We have some awesome product developments and announcements coming over the next few months and it is exciting that our commercial team is growing stronger so we can continue to develop the solutions we create, leveraging the unique Avid product suite and brands.”
Bannerman's appointment follows significant expansion of the Avid commercial team with the recent appointments of Leah Stalker as a senior commercial manager and Batoul Peters as client solutions director.
In addition, well known media executives Peter Wiltshire from WeThinkMedia and Jason Scott from MiQ last month joined the new Advisory Board at Avid.
Avid Collective recently rebranded from Where To Media following considerable growth of the business.
The Avid Collective network has evolved into a collection of digital brands that focus on local experiences, travel, home inspiration, shopping, sustainability, wellness and pop culture.
Alongside the original Where To Media brand, Where To Australia, Avid’s new media brands include ‘Add To Cart Australia’, ‘For The Home Australia’, ‘Where To Travel’, ‘Thriving Planet AU’, ‘Best Life Australia’ and ‘Culture Feed AU’.
Avid Collective currently works with some of Australia’s largest brands across a variety of industries. These include retail giant eBay, Pernod Ricard-owned alcohol brand Kahlua, and iconic Australian tourist attraction site BridgeClimb.
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