Are Media has announced the appointment of the former head of News Corp’s content agency SUDDENLY, Simon Smith, as the head of commercial content and creative.
Smith joins the media company from SUDDENLY, where as executive director of content marketing he launched the agency in 2018 building it into a team of more than 60 delivering content strategy, creative, events and production for clients including Woolworths, SWEAT, The Good Guys, Royal Wolf and hipages.
For more than 20 years he has held senior sales content marketing and leadership positions at some of Australia’s leading organisations and brands including Fairfax, The Australian Financial Review, ACP Magazines (now Are Media) and The Australian. Smith was also a board director of The Newspaper Works, the peak body representing the news publishing industry.
Smith will work alongside Are Media’s advertising sales teams in the newly created role to lead commercial content, creative and events and drive media engagement for the company’s commercial partners across platforms.
Andrew Cook, director of sales at Are Media said of Smith’s appointment to the role: “Simon is an experienced leader who has built and managed high performance, multidisciplinary creative, content and event teams.
“He thoroughly understands end-to-end content production and the creative process, with a proven track record for delivering innovative content, creative and event solutions.
“I’m delighted Simon is joining Are Media as he brings considerable expertise that will no doubt benefit our wider team and our commercial partners,” Cook added.
Smith said: “Are Media is home to the biggest media brands for women in Australia and the opportunities for advertisers to engage with them across platforms are significant.
“I look forward to working with Andrew and across the sales teams to further accelerate our commercial solutions offering,” Smith added.
Smith starts in the role on Tuesday 14 June.