Paramount Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) has announced it has expanded its sales leadership team, and created two new divisions under chief sales officer Rod Prosser.
The new divisions include the Paramount ANZ Sales Group led by Nick Bower, and the Paramount ANZ Brand Studio overseen by Michael Stanford.
The news comes after a restructuring earlier this month from Paramount Global resulted in redundancies across marketing, streaming, and operations.
See Also: Paramount restructure leads to departure of Network 10 executives
At the time, it was announced that vice president of streaming, Liz Baldwin, vice president of operations, Frank Filosi, and vice president of marketing, Jean Jenkins would be leaving the company.
Most recently, Paramount ANZ announced that Lisa Squillace, national sales director, was also departing.
See Also: Paramount ANZ’s national sales director, Lisa Squillace, to leave the business
Rod Prosser said: “At Paramount ANZ, we’re dynamic and future-focussed, proactively reflecting on and evolving our business model to best suit our clients and maximise the skills and expertise of our amazing team.
“We’ve created a holistic, client-focused team supported by specialists across key growth areas for the business. We’re clear on our ambitions as a business and this new organisational structure ensures we leverage our people, brands, shows, sports, IP opportunities and emerging technologies to deliver long-term value for our clients.”
Nick Bower has been appointed general manager – ad sales, a national role that will see him continue to build on Paramount ANZ’s client and agency relationships, manage broadcast budgets, oversee all commercial sports deals, and lead the team of state sales directors.
Nick Bower said: “I’m humbled by the business’s decision to expand my remit and I couldn’t be more thrilled to take on this exciting new challenge and lead the growth and performance of the Paramount ANZ Sales Group into the future.
“We have incredible industry relationships and a compelling market position with iconic brands that resonate with clients and agencies across the board. Building on the work of Lisa Squillace, I’m fortunate to be leading a team of ridiculously talented salespeople, with an outstanding state-based leadership.”
Michael Stanford is the new head of Paramount ANZ Brand Studio and will oversee a national team with three pillars led by Namita Sopal, Head of Advertising Strategy, Tamar Hovagimian, Head of Integration and Partnerships, and Rachael Brand, Executive Producer.
Michael Stanford said: “We’ve evolved our team and market proposition to better reflect the needs of our clients and the transformative change that has occurred to our business.
“My team and I will leverage the power of our much-loved brands, shows, and characters and provide clients with access to IP opportunities, branded events, formats, as well as market-first innovations, all with creativity at the core.”
The Paramount ANZ sales leadership team reporting through to Rod Prosser has also grown to include: Grant Madigan, head of commerce and sales operations; Ian Smith, sales director independent agencies and direct sales, Diane Ho, national digital sales director; and Shani Kugenthiran, digital advertising strategy and product director.
Diane Ho said: “The deeper alignment across the commercial organisation allows us to work more closely with the market, ensuring our clients maximise existing and emerging digital channels and assets in this valuable growth sector of our industry.
“The launch of 16 new, free ad-supported streaming channels is just one example of our ever-expanding suite of digital advertising opportunities that places our partners alongside curated, premium content that extends their reach and impact. And there is so much more to come.”
Shani Kugenthiran said: “These changes represent key areas of strategic growth for Paramount ANZ – digital innovation, data and monetisation. I look forward to working even more closely with the leadership team to drive meaningful business outcomes for our clients.”
The team has commenced transitioning to the new structure and will continue to build on existing working relationships with clients and agencies, as well as forging new partnerships.
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Top Image: L-R: Michael Stanford, Grant Madigan, Shani Kugenthiran, Rachael Brand, Namita Sopal, Rod Prosser, Nick Bower, Diane Ho, Tamar Hovagimian, Ian Smith