The mobile marketing industry is ever-changing, and that applies to the people as much as the technology. Movers & Shakers is our regular feature following the hottest hires in the industry, so you can keep track of who’s joined which company, and what they’re doing there.

Keith Weed named as president of Advertising Association
Keith Weed, the chief marketing and communications officer of Unilever, is taking on the role of president of the Advertising Association. A loud voice for transparency and accountability in the digital marketing space, Weed will serve as president from 1 September onwards, when current president Andy Duncan, CEO of Travelopia, completes his tenure.

As president, Weed will guide the strategic direction of the Association’s work as it partners with brands, marketers, government agencies and more to showcase UK advertising to the world. Weed will work alongside the Association’s chairman, James Murphy of Adam&Eve DDB, and chief executive Stephen Woodford to head up a council of industry leaders from media owners, agencies and brands that collectively shape the voice of advertising.

As the top marketing executive at the world’s second largest advertising, Weed is responsible for Unilever’s marketing, communications and sustainable business functions, a role which has seen him lead the creation of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and direct significant advances in digital marketing and through Unilever’s #Unstereotype initiative. He was named ‘World’s Most Influential CMO’ by Forbes in 2017 and 2018, and ‘Global Marketing of the Year’ by the World Federation of Advertisers.

“It’s an honour to take on the role of president of the Advertising Association at such an exciting time for the industry,” said Weed. “I look forward to working with Stephen and the team to continue to build trust in advertising and cultivate world-class talent across the UK.”

Pure360 announces Mark Ash as new CEO
Marketing automation suite Pure360 has unveiled Mark Ash as its new CEO, taking over from Stuart Dawson, who moves on to become non-executive director for several companies. With 20 years’ experience in digital marketing technology, Ash will play a pivotal role in the development of Pure360’s core platform as well as helping clients reach new levels of marketing performance.

Ash joins Pure360 having held a number of senior leadership roles, most recently as global vice president of services at conversion platform Yieldify. Prior to this, he served as UK general manager and senior vice president of digital marketing services at Mapp Digital, and managing director of Teradata Interactive. He began his career at DoubleClick during the early days of digital advertising and has also led the growth of a number of digital marketing business units.

“I am incredibly excited to be leading Pure360 at such an important time in the company’s history,” said Ash. “I share, alongside the fantastic Pure360 team, a commitment to help clients succeed in the rapidly evolving digital marketing landscape. My goal is to put our customers in the position to be the best they can be, by harnessing our innovation technology solutions and services, enabling them to exceed their marketing goals.”

“There couldn’t be a better time for Pure360 to hire someone like Mark and I’m excited we were able to attract such impressive talent,” said David Kelly, chairman of Pure360. “Mark has a vast experience in the digital marketing space and this will be invaluable as we deepen the relationshsips with our existing customers and further develop the platform and services offering. Helping clients achieve marketing results has been central to the DNA of Pure360 and Mark has a proven track record in achieving this throughout his career.”

Diane Perlman appointed CMO at Blis
Location data technology firm Blis has revealed a new chief marketing officer in the form of Diane Perlman, an industry veteran who will oversee the company’s global marketing strategy. An established marketing leader with big brand, startup, scaleup and agency-side experience, Perlman comes to Blis after having spent the last nine months as Interim CMO at video ad tech company Unruly.

Perlman previously led the UK marketing communications for Windows Phone at Microsoft and later created and ran the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator, graduating nearly 40 startups. She was subsequently the chief marketing officer at global startup accelerator MassChallenge. Her appointment at Blis comes off the heels of US growth for the firm, where the division is on track to more than triple year-on-year revenue in 2018.

“I am very impressed with Blis and its mission to provide transparency to brands through its proprietary data and insights verification platform in a post-GDPR world,” said Perlman. “It’s super exciting to be joining Blis at such a big milestone in their US growth, and I look forward to leveraging my expertise to help scale the business further both in the US and globally.”

News Corps’ Storyful makes Ben Berkowitz editor-in-chief
Ben Berkowitz is coming on board Storyful, News Corps’ social-media driven news organisation, as the firm’s new editor-in-chief, replacing Mandy Jenkins. Berkowitz was previously vice president of digital at WNBC, and has two decades of news experience with NBC, Thomson Reuters, the Associated Press and more.

Berkowitz will take over responsibility for Storyful’s global editorial operation in August, driving long-term strategy and maintaining day-to-day oversight of Storyful’s newsroom, including offices in Dublin, New York, London, Hong Kong and Sydney. He will also lead new initiatives such as News Intelligence, the company’s investigative research service for newsrooms, and training programs designed to combat misinformation on social media for the world’s largest media companies.

“I’m thrilled to be joining a team on the cutting edge of data-driven projects while also maintaining a top-rate, globally recognised standard for its journalism,” said Berkowitz. “I can’t wait to learn more about the business and begin working with all of our great partners.”

Publicis Media makes two promotions, strengthening UK leadership
Sue Frogley, CEO of Publicis Media, has unveiled two key promotions to her UK leadership team with immediate effect, with Mark Howley assuming the newly created role of chief operating officer for Publicis Media UK and Natalie Cummins stepping up to become CEO at Zenith UK, having held the title of managing director since 2015.

Cummins, who joined Zenith as part of the firm’s graduate programme, has held a series of senior roles at the agency, and has worked across an impressive roster of clients including RBS, Coty, BA, Costa and O2. Howley will work closely with Frogley, with his new role focusing on growing client business by creating even greater collaboration between the agency brands and practices, as well as driving the overall business performance of Publicis Media.

“Mark has done a superb job at Zenith UK with a retention and organic growth rate record that is second to none,” said Frogley. “In the eight months we have worked together we have collaborated well and he deserves this promotion – his strategic acumen, and business sense will ensure our practices are fully primed to deliver against our agency requirements and client opportunities. I am also delighted to appoint Natalie to this important role as Zenith CEO. Natalie is well respected by clients and media owners alike. In this significant 30th year for Zenith, Natalie will take the lead in developing this iconic agency brand for further and future success as it unlocks its ROI+ proposition for clients.”