Meredith National Media Group Announces New Sales And Marketing Structure

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Mar 26, 2018, 01:00 ET

NEW YORK, March 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP; www.meredith.com) – the leading media and marketing company serving 175 million American consumers including 80 percent of U.S. Millennial women every month – today unveiled a new sales and marketing structure for its National Media Group.

The new structure strengthens the role of its newly-acquired brands from Time Inc. and The Foundry in its go-to-market efforts. It also continues to leverage the collective strength of Meredith corporate and digital sales and marketing personnel in delivering on the key needs of its marketing clients and agency partners.

"Meredith offers our clients and partners an unparalleled combination of trusted brands, coveted audience reach, actionable insights and analytics, and innovative marketing solutions that drive best-in-class results," said Meredith National Media Group President Jon Werther. "To fully capitalize upon our portfolio of brands and capabilities, we are aligning our sales and marketing activities within an account-driven and solution-oriented go-to-market approach that continues to place our iconic and trusted brands front and center."

Meredith's new National Media Group sales structure puts in place strategic account teams comprised of brand, corporate and digital sellers and marketers, with a principal point of contact for each key account. Sellers and sales-focused marketers from former Time Inc. category teams are being integrated into one of these new teams. In addition, The Foundry and its creative ideation, branded content, and native capabilities are being integrated more tightly within Meredith's digital business unit. This is a clear reflection of the importance of these capabilities to Meredith's advertising revenue growth objectives.

From a brand sales and marketing perspective, Doug Olson, President Meredith Magazines, will expand his portfolio oversight to include a broader mix of Lifestyle, Food and Luxury brands. Reporting to Olson will be Group Publishers Stephen Bohlinger, Giulio Capua, Laura Frerer-Schmidt, Mark Josephson, Daren Mazzucca and Carey Witmer, each of whom will oversee the following portfolio of brands:

Bohlinger will continue as Publisher of Better Homes & Gardens while also overseeing Family Circle, with Lee Slattery as Publisher; and Southern Living and Coastal Living, with Deirdre Finnegan as Publisher of both titles.
Capua, most recently with Condé Nast, will join Meredith in mid-April and will oversee Meredith's portfolio of luxury titles, including Food & Wine, with Tom Bair as Publisher; and Travel + Leisure, with Jay Meyer as Publisher.
Frerer-Schmidt, former Publisher of Women's Health, will be the new Publisher of InStyle, and will also oversee Shape, with Ann Gobel as Publisher.
Josephson will continue as Publisher of The Magnolia Journal while also overseeing Midwest Living, with Melissa Luebbe as Publisher; Parents, Parents Latina, Ser Padres and Family Fun, with Steve Grune as Group Publisher; and Traditional Home, with Beth McDonough as Publisher.
Mazzucca will serve as Publisher of Real Simple and continue to oversee Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings, with Chris Guilfoyle as Publisher of both titles.
Witmer will continue as Publisher of Rachael Ray Every Day and oversee Meredith's portfolio of food and health titles, including Cooking Light, with Denis Gallagher as Publisher; Eating Well, with Tiffany Ehasz as Publisher; and Health, with Brendan Smyth as Publisher. A Publisher of Allrecipes will be named shortly.

This sales approach also will apply to titles for which Meredith has announced that it will be exploring a sale. Mike Schneider will serve as Group Publisher and Publisher of Fortune and Money, reporting to Olson. Danny Lee, Publisher of Sports Illustrated; and Jorg Stratman, Publisher of TIME, will report to Schneider.

As part of his role as EVP/President of PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly, Bruce Gersh will oversee the following Publishers: Cece Ryan (PEOPLE); Ellie Duque (Entertainment Weekly); and Monique Manso (People en Español).

Meredith's Corporate Sales team, led by EVP/Chief Revenue Officer Michael Brownstein, will continue to serve as a central point of contact for Meredith's largest cross-channel and cross-portfolio partnerships – in close coordination with Meredith's brand and digital sales and marketing teams – and ensure that client and agency communications are streamlined as part of these partnerships.

Meredith's Digital Sales team, led by Senior Vice President Marla Newman, will drive the company's largest digital advertising initiatives across the Meredith portfolio. Her group will be focused on leveraging the company's full suite of digital platforms and proprietary ad technology products, and creating scalable and innovative digital solutions. Newman will continue to report to Meredith Digital President Stan Pavlovsky.

Finally, The Foundry will become the central creative lab and branded/native content studio for the company. Chris Hercik will expand his existing role to serve as Chief Creative Officer, reporting into Pavlovsky. Hercik will oversee branded/native content creation in addition to all marketing functions for the unit. Studio M, Meredith's former branded content creation arm, will be merged into The Foundry.

"We are excited to extend our successful go-to-market approach to our newly-acquired Time Inc. brands, and to scale The Foundry's capabilities across all of our sales efforts," said Werther. "Clients and agency partners told us that this approach best balances their needs for relevant brand, category, ad product and platform expertise – and their desire for actionable insights and analytics – within a simplified sales communication structure. As clients and agency partners increasingly seek to work with fewer media companies more strategically, we believe that our portfolio of brands and capabilities – together with our go-to-market approach – positions Meredith with an unparalleled ability to drive their strategic advertising and marketing objectives."

ABOUT MEREDITH CORPORATION

Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP; meredith.com) has been committed to service journalism for more than 115 years. Today, Meredith uses multiple distribution platforms — including broadcast television, print, digital, mobile and video — to provide consumers with content they desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising and marketing partners.

Meredith's National Media Group reaches 175 million unduplicated American consumers every month, including 80 percent of U.S. Millennial women. Meredith is a leader in creating content across media platforms and life stages in key consumer interest areas such as entertainment, food, lifestyle, home, parenting, beauty and fashion. Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. and at walmart.com, as well as innovative business-to-business marketing solutions provided by Meredith Xcelerated Marketing.

Meredith's Local Media Group includes 17 television stations reaching more than 11 percent of U.S. households. Meredith's portfolio is concentrated in large, fast-growing markets, with seven stations in the nation's Top 25 and 13 in Top 50 markets. Meredith's stations produce more than 700 hours of local news and entertainment content each week, and operate leading local digital destinations.

SOURCE Meredith Corporation