ThinkTV brings on Reckitt Benckiser media leader as new head of marketing

ThinkTV has nabbed Reckitt Benckiser’s format head of media to become its new head of marketing.

The TV research and insights company has appointed Rowena Newman as its first marketing leader, reporting director to chief executive, Kim Portrate. She is tasked with overseeing communications, campaigns, tools and training all aimed at helping the TV industry win over advertisers and marketers and takes up the role on 17 October.

The group was established in May and swiftly appointed Portrate, Helloworld’s former CMO, as its CEO.

Newman has more than 20 years’ experience in local and global strategic marketing positions, working across organisations in Australia, the UK, Europe and the US. The list includes Boots Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline and Unilever.

For the last 10 years, she’s worked at Reckitt Benckiser and was most recently head of media.

“Rowena’s combination of commercial acumen, communication smarts,

knowledge of all media channels coupled with her relationship building skills and infectious enthusiasm made her the stand-out choice to be head of marketing for ThinkTV,” said Portrate.

“She is the perfect person to deliver ThinkTV’s mission to prove that multiplatform TV has unbeatable reach, scale and reliability. We are delighted to welcome Rowena to our new organisation and look forward to her contribution to growing and shaping our marketing strategy and output as part of ThinkTV’s research, marketing and platform development initiatives.”

Newman said she was looking forward to working with Portrate as well as assisting to further innovation around TV.

“I truly believe in the continued power of TV to deliver return on investment and to tell brand stories in an engaging and thought-provoking way,” she stated. “I’m excited about where TV can go with the backing of ThinkTV and the commercial TV networks.”

ThinkTV also recently it was commissioning a new $1m study to investigate and quantify the value and return on investment for television advertisers in Australia.

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