Tony Prentice appointed chief commercial officer of new integrated sales division News Australia – Sales

News Limited’s director of sales Tony Kendall today announced the establishment of News Australia – Sales, a fully integrated national sales service offering seamless solutions across the Group’s newspapers, newspaper magazines and digital products.

Mr Kendall also announced that News Australia – Sales will launch in March and will be led by Tony Prentice as chief commercial officer.

* News Australia – Sales *

News Limited’s national metro masthead sales team, Newsnet, News Inserted Magazines’ sales team and News Digital Media’s sales team will come together to form News Australia – Sales. The NSW teams will co-locate into a single office in the coming weeks.

Mr Kendall said “The creation of News Australia – Sales will mean a better outcome for our national clients and customers, who will be offered audience-led solutions across print, online, tablet and mobile and will have a single point of contact to reach the depth and breadth of our mass audience.”

“The teams at Newsnet and News Inserted Magazines do a fantastic job in representing our newspapers and their magazines to our major customers. Equally NDM have positioned themselves as a leader in innovation in digital sales.

“As the marketplace seeks more integrated solutions, the combination of these great sales teams will ensure our customers receive the best service and creative solutions.

“It was News Limited who led the way in this space with the formation of Australia’s first fully integrated key account team two years ago. The learnings from that highly successful trial have given us a deep understanding of customer requirements which will now benefit all our national advertisers.

“In addition we are making a substantial investment in insights, research and strategy to equip our sales professionals with the ability to help our customers meet their demands in this challenging market.

“The sales proposition for News Limited has never been more compelling. Our news content reaches more Australians than ever before across print, digital and mobile. In particular our reach of women is unparalleled with brands like taste.com.au, body+soul, Sunday and Kidspot all being market leaders.”

*Tony Prentice *

Mr Prentice, currently commercial director of News Digital Media, assumes the title of chief commercial officer of News Australia – Sales.

In his new role Mr Prentice will have responsibility for all facets of News Australia – Sales, including its structure, strategy, management and performance, and will report to News Limited’s deputy director of sales Fiorella Di Santo.

Mr Kendall said “Over the past 20 years Tony has established himself as one of the smartest and most capable media sales executives around. “In recent years he led APN’s consolidation of five outdoor businesses into one, and since joining News Digital Media in 2008 he has done a tremendous job in driving above market growth. In all his roles he has been especially effective in building a leading sales culture.”

Mr Prentice said “I am delighted to be given this opportunity to lead News Australia – Sales. Bringing our commercial teams together will create a force much greater than the sum of its parts, and will serve our national clients and customers needs better than we have done before and, we believe, better than anyone else can.”

Mr Prentice joined News Digital Media in June 2008 as national sales director and was promoted to commercial director in December 2009. Mr Prentice has two decades years experience in media sales across print, radio and outdoor, having worked for AUSTEREO, Cody Outdoor and APN. Prior to joining News Digital Media he was general manager, sales and marketing for APN Outdoor. Mr Prentice was appointed chairman of The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia in July 2011.

End. For more information contact:

Stephen Browning Phone | 612 8114 7850 or Mobile | 0432 961 773 Email | stephen.browning@newsdigitalmedia.com.au