Mobile marketing firm Velti has announced three new appointments in London, to support the company’s growth. Honey Arneja joins the firm as director of loyalty, Rob Beecroft is Velti’s new director of brand and agency, and Chris Boddice has been hired as director of advertising. All three join the company with significant experience of the mobile marketing and advertising industry.
Arneja joins Velti from Buongiorno, where she held the position of director of marketing and CRM, responsible for developing, selling and managing opt-in and top-up loyalty programs such as O2 Top-Up Surprises. She has previously worked for Vodafone, O2 Mobile and Dunnhumby, in senior roles driving loyalty and CRM functions. Reporting to George Kapetanakis, VP of marketing propositions, she will be responsible for the development of the company’s loyalty and communities propositions.
Beecroft joins Velti as director of brand and agency sales for Western Europe. Previously, he worked for AdIQ, where, as sales director, he was responsible for developing mobile strategies for General Motors, Sony Ericsson, The COI and Oxfam, among others. He will be responsible for developing existing sales relationships and building new revenue streams with brands and agencies across Europe, reporting to Velti’s VP of business development in Western Europe, Mike Walsh.
Boddice joins Velti from O2 Media, where he was head of client services. During his time with O2, Boddice was part of the management team dedicated to building the new operator media business and managing sales and agency relationships. At Velti, he will also report to Kapetanakis, and will be responsible for the design and implementation of permission-based mobile CRM programs for mobile operators and brands. Prior to his role with O2, Boddice held senior positions with agencies including TBWA and The Marketing Store, as well as client-side roles with Sainsbury’s and Ford.
Mike Walsh, Velti’s VP of business development in Western Europe says: “These new hires allow us to focus on strategic areas key to our customers, such as consumer loyalty, which strengthens the brand’s relationship with its consumers and enhances communication among the parties.”
Velti currently employs more than 450 people worldwide, with over 120 of these in sales and marketing. The company also employs more than 240 software engineers and developers to deliver its mobile marketing and advertising campaigns. In 2009, it delivered more than 2,000 mobile campaigns.