VIMN LAUNCHES COMMERCIAL INNOVATION GROUP TO HELP BRANDS CREATE BETTER MULTIPLATFORM CONNECTIONS WITH FANS
Philip O'Ferrall to head international group based in London and New York
London, 19th May 2015 – Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) is forming a new Commercial Innovation group to help advertisers create customised, content-led campaigns that reach beyond existing online advertising inventory to take better advantage of new digital and social media touch points being generated by its brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.
The group will work proactively with new and existing Viacom clients to help them develop data-driven, integrated marketing solutions that exploit the unrivalled, multi-platform ability of Viacom's brands to deliver mass consumer engagement across TV, digital and social media.
The team will focus on developing partnerships with third party social media platforms for the benefit of advertisers, such as Lionsgate's exclusive preview of its upcoming release Absolutely Anything on MTV's international Snapchat Discover feed earlier this month. The team will also be responsible for creating bespoke commercial digital products around Viacom's international tentpole events, such as the MTV EMA, which attracted more than half a billion votes and 389 million mentions via social media when it was last staged in Glasgow in November.
Based in London and New York, the team will be led by Philip O'Ferrall, who has been appointed as VIMN's Head of Commercial Innovation. Reporting to VIMN CEO, Bob Bakish, O'Ferrall will work closely with VIMN's Advertising Sales division and its international brand content, marketing and research teams, while his group maintains its own production, strategy and design capabilities.
O'Ferrall will lead the international roll out of Viacom Connect, which will combine a number of new multi-platform advertising initiatives, such as the Echo social media measurement platform developed through the Viacom Velocity unit in the U.S., in partnership with Mass Relevance.
Bakish commented: "Under Philip's leadership, we have significantly developed our digital presence and portfolio, and our social and digital media teams have enjoyed great success in driving mass consumer engagement with our content on multiple media platforms. He is ideally suited to lead Commercial Innovation for VIMN, harnessing our unique relationship with our fans across every screen to help brands develop meaningful new connections on our own and partner platforms."
O'Ferrall added: "The group will build on our proven success driving mass consumer engagement around our tentpole events and bespoke activations, on our own platforms and within our branded presence on partner platforms, ranging from YouTube to Snapchat and Twitter. We will combine data-driven innovation and our search expertise with our core strength of entertainment content in a one stop digital media shop for brands and agencies."
About Philip O'Ferrall
As SVP, Digital for VIMN since 2011, Philip O'Ferrall currently oversees all multiplatform properties for MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central & Paramount Channel outside of the U.S. In this role, O'Ferrall is tasked with evolving VIMN's digital content offering and overseeing the development of new technology platforms and strategic partnerships with other players in the digital arena, as well as devising and delivering a 360-degree commissioning strategy for new TV content to ensure the world of digital and linear TV grow together.
Recently, O'Ferrall has played a leading role in the international roll-out of a variety of branded, multi-platform applications including: My Nick Jr, Nickelodeon's first customisable pre-school service, launched in the UK, the U.S. and China; the Nick app, launched in the UK and Latin America; and mobile music service, MTV Trax. His team has also initiated a series of highly successful social voting campaigns including MTV Stars and MTV's Hottest Summer Superstar, both of which received more than 300 million votes, as well as delivering record breaking levels of social media engagement for live events including the MTV EMA, which attracted more than half a billion votes and 389 million social media mentions for its latest staging in Glasgow in 2014.
About VIMN
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), is comprised of many of the world's most popular multimedia entertainment brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Channel, Channel 5 in the UK, VH1, VIVA, COLORS, Spike, Game One and Tr3s: MTV, Música y Más. Viacom brands are seen globally in more than 3.2 billion households in approximately 170 territories and 40 languages via more than 200 locally programmed and operated TV channels and more than 550 digital media and mobile TV properties.
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