Valente moving on from APN Outdoor after nine months

Charlotte Valente is leaving APN Outdoor for new challenges, following the $1.12 billion acquisition of the business by French out-of-home giant, JCDecaux.

The general manager of marketing told CMO while she has enjoyed her time at APN Outdoor, she has decided to not continue her employment with JCDecaux, effective from today. 

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed by time at APN Outdoor and being part of the successful reinvigoration and transformation of the business was a big part of that. While JCDecaux is an incredible global business, the time is right for me to find new challenges," she said.

"It’s an exciting time for the Australian and New Zealand out-of-home industry and I want to thank my amazing colleagues at APN Outdoor and wish them and JCDecaux much success for the future.”

Valente was an instrumental member of the executive team during a time of transformation and change, and responsible for the company’s brand relaunch, the development  and creation of new go-to-market sales and marketing strategies and propositions, cemented APN Outdoor’s positioning as the Australian representative of Cannes Lions, expanded the APN Outdoor data and insights team, and led the development of the in-house data and analytics capability Dn’A, developed in just three months and launched in July this year to immediate success. 

JCDecaux made a $1.09 billion bid for the APN Outdoor Group on 21 June this year. The deal was conditional on APN dropping its bid for fellow OOH player, Adshel, which had been lodged in May, just days after oOh!media placed its own $470 million bid in for Adshel.

JCDecaux then announced it would acquire ASX-listed APN Outdoor Group in a deal worth $1.12 billion.  

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) gave the green light to both oOh!media’s acquisition of Adshel, and JCDecaux SA's acquisition of APN Outdoor Group.

Valente started in sales at Pacific Magazines before making the switch to marketing with a brand role at AMP Capital. From there, she worked at Creative Activation, before joining Adshel as head of strategic integration in 2013 and then becoming head of marketing.

In a recent interview with CMO on the rebrand of APN, Valente said there were a couple of challenges.

"It was pretty much a completely new brand. The only thing we didn’t do was rebrand our assets, but we introduced a new tone, website, personality, and all marketing assets changed.

"It’s the first time I’ve been part of such change, which basically allowed us to wipe the slate clean and start again. We did roadshows with the team to get them across new brand, along with the market and what it meant for them. What was interesting was how receptive the market was specifically around the new brand. We were referred to at one point as the sleeping giant who’d not necessarily been taking advantage of our position in the market.

"The rebrand was pivotal in us being able to cement our leadership credentials as marketers, too, while the business change was about acknowledging we had significantly grown and that we had big ambitions.

"There were a couple of challenges, however. I expected with a new brand and tone, what we used to do didn’t apply anymore. I assumed everyone would get on that new page. What I realised is you have to have empathy for the journey people have been on to that point and the affinity they have with the old brand and what it stood for. It’s been a great learning for me on how you balance empathy with the past while driving future outcomes and future possibilities."

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