One of Australia’s most experienced media innovators, Pippa Leary, is joining News Corp Australia in a new role that accelerates the company’s ambition to be the nation’s leading marketing services provider for Australian businesses.
As managing director, client product, Leary (pictured) will report directly to News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller as part of the senior leadership team.
Miller said the role had a number of facets and was a practical demonstration of the company’s pledge to provide business-building product solutions for our clients.
“Under Pippa’s leadership we will see the significant development of our suite of client products which will see investments in new leads, ratings, affiliate, data and e-commerce capabilities,” Miller said.
“Our trusted and targeted brands reach large and engaged audiences, and by bringing all our client products together under Pippa, our business partners will benefit from the integrated and commercially creative solutions provided by Lou Barrett and our client sales teams.”
“I’m also keen for us to capitalise on Pippa’s long and successful track record identifying trends and how they are likely to shape the market in a year or two’s time. Staying ahead of the market is very much Pippa’s passion and it will help ensure we are continually investing in the right products well ahead of the curve to further strengthen our competitive position for the benefit of our clients, both big and small.”
“I’ve known Pippa for a long time and know she really shares our vision for what we can achieve on behalf of our clients. It’s wonderful to have someone of Pippa’s breadth of experience, talent and passion to be joining us.”
Leary brings a wealth of experience to News Corp Australia, having spent the past 25 years working in commercial innovation roles across many of Australia’s largest media companies: Microsoft, ninemsn, Fairfax and Channel 9 and most recently as chief executive at ASX-listed Swift Media.
With a background in journalism and product development Leary’s remit has centred on creating, building and selling unique and differentiated media products. She has a deep working knowledge of the programmatic supply chain and was one of the first in the Australian market to recognise the differences between professionally generated content and user-generated content in terms of brand effectiveness and safety.
During her career she has worked across wide-ranging disciplines including product, business development, marketing, sales and group strategy roles.
Leary said her broad experience makes her uniquely suited to understanding how publisher products can help solve client challenges.
“Having innovated new products, and then watched them be commoditised and disrupted has provided me with a first-hand understanding of how media companies need to innovate in order to win, not only against local competitors but also global platforms.”
“News Corp Australia has always been the media partner of choice for brands to connect with customers and I’m looking forward to joining Michael’s team to help build highly effective and differentiated solutions for our clients,” Leary said.
