Former digital business and marketing chief to lead the divestiture of the events business acquired from Fairfax
Nine’s former marketing and digital leader, Alex Parsons, has returned to the business after a 16-month absence to lead the sale of the group’s recently acquired events business from Fairfax.
Parsons spent three years leading the ASX-listed media group’s digital properties as well as marketing before leaving the group in September 2017. He spent a total of 10 years with Nine, and was formerly responsible for overseeing the dissolution of the company’s Mi9 joint venture with Microsoft, creating the standalone Nine Digital business. Other highlights on his Nine resume include MD of Ninemsn, CEO of RateCity and senior leadership positions with subsidiaries, Pedestrian.TV and CarAdvice.
In a statement, Nine confirmed Parsons has rejoined as acting managing director of events and entertainment, a transitional role, to manage the process of divesting the events business. No sale timeframe has been confirmed, however, the group said it’s already in discussions with a number of interested parties.
Parsons takes the reins from Martin Jolly, who steps down in order to enable him to join third parties interested in taking on the events business. Jolly has been leading the former Fairfax division for the past year. Parsons has spent the last 10 months as CEO and managing director of advertising agency, Adcorp.
“I am really excited to return to Nine,” Parson said in a statement. “The events division is a strong and vibrant business that will be enhanced by the sale to a buyer who can realise its full value, and I am looking forward to positioning it for further growth and expansion.”
The events business in question was previously part of Fairfax, which officially morphed into the Nine group in December 2018. The historic merger of Nine and Fairfax, first revealed in July last year, passed its final hurdle in the Australian Federal Court on 27 November, with the two businesses officially trading as one from 10 December.
Event brands under the group include Night Noodle Markets, St George Open Air Cinema, City2Surf and Good Food Month. Nine said it will retain its commercial partnerships through several of these ongoing events.
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+:google.com/+CmoAu
I’ve been a long-time fan of renowned effectiveness experts, Peter Field and Les Binet, and their work. But while their approach is clearly important, the marketing leader’s challenge to deliver effectiveness more often lies in organisational structure. I see the bigger question being whether a marketing chief has a seat at the executive table, and the ear and respect of the CEO and company board.
Every flagship smartphone in Australia includes hardware and software purpose-built for AR. A huge audience is ready and waiting. We have an opportunity to craft extraordinary, innovative work. But to get there, we need to push our creative thinking a little harder, writes Gil Fewster.
There are five tell-tale signs your brand needs to take a long hard look at itself.
In this bonus last episode of this new podcast series, BrandHook MD, Pip Stocks, talks with former ANZ group general manager of marketing, Louise Eyres, talks about the importance of thinking like a customer and using intuition to solve customer painpoints.
Why it's important for me to know that? I don't get it, sorry.
James Fogle
7 things you need to know about Facebook's mood experiment
Info graphic have proven to be very useful to create brand awareness and drive traffic. Thanks for sharing these Information.Graphic Desi...
Govind Dadhich
Image intelligence:10 must-see infographics for marketers
Best web hosting packages Vancouver WA understands that only technical support and domain associated email address can bring huge leads ...
Radiata Solutions
6 Ways to ramp up Social Media to Your Web Design
I had the same vision about change from CX terminology to HX. Even with almost the same title: 'Forget customer experience...' https://ww...
Ekaterina Khramkova
Forget customer experience, human experience is marketing's next frontier
Thank you, so do I.
David Freeman
Sustainability of message: H2coco founder's commitment to consumers