Fairfax Media has formalised its talk of a content marketing unit, moving Simon Smith to managing director of the new department, Fairfax Content Marketing.
Greg Hywood, chief executive of Fairfax Media, said the company has “identified content marketing as a major new revenue opportunity”.
“Simon is without doubt the right person to drive the development the business. I have been very impressed by Simon’s depth of understanding of the opportunity and his clear vision for the business.
“Since joining Fairfax Media in 2010 as Commercial Director of the former Financial Review Group, Simon has created and developed a number of innovative commercial projects outside of traditional publishing revenue streams. Simon’s recent success with the GE Momentum series, Australia 2.0, Westpac 100 Women of Influence, and Financial Review Sunday television show with Channel 9 make him the ideal person to take on this exciting new role.”
In August, Hywood said the future content marketing unit would be a “distinct department”, with “rules of engagement” for interacting with editorial and sales teams.
On his new role Smith (pictured) said: “With many organisations devoting a large proportion of their marketing budgets to content creation, Fairfax Media is ideally positioned to lead the industry as the trusted source of quality information and provider of content creation services. I look forward to leading this business with passion and enthusiasm to help drive Fairfax’s future success.”
