Former Head of Marketing for Orange enlisted to help move mobile industry forward.
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has appointed Jonathan Mew, former Orange head of marketing, as its first head of mobile. In this next stage of the IAB’s mission to grow mobile advertising in the UK, Mew has been enlisted to champion the medium and further educate advertisers and agencies on its potential.
The hire comes a month after the IAB officially widened its remit to serve the mobile advertising industry, following consensus from all five UK networks. Reporting to Marketing Director, Kieron Matthews, one of Mew’s core responsibilities will be to manage the IAB Mobile Steering Group (MSG) which features senior representation from 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone UK.
Starting on 3 November, Mew will also be charged with driving the IAB’s strategy in the mobile arena via a series of ongoing initiatives including dedicated events, educational publications and research essential to its development. A key part of his role will also involve reaching out to the UK’s marketing community, through bespoke presentations and the promotion of best practice within mobile advertising.
He will also head-up the IAB Mobile Council, which was launched in November last year. The Council is responsible for the implementation of many of the IAB’s mobile initiatives and currently boasts expert members from across the industry. Over the next 12 months and beyond, Mew will be spearheading collaboration between the IAB Mobile Council membership which comprises major publishers, agencies, advertisers and technology companies.
At Orange, Mew controlled the trade and consumer marketing strategies for the fixed and mobile portals, along with media research. In his time there he marketed the launch of Orange’s converged and mobile advertising opportunities, helping Orange to become the most recognised multi-platform media owner. Mew also focused on education, overseeing the launch of Exposure, the first consumer study to measure the impact and acceptability of mobile advertising.
Before Orange, he worked at Freeserve then Wanadoo looking after trade marketing, promoting their advertising portfolio to advertisers and the marketing industry. Previous to that he worked in both marketing and media research at Carlton TV, then part of ITV.
Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the Internet Advertising Bureau, said: "Jon Mew is a great catch for the IAB and the mobile industry. With his considerable experience at Orange over the last 5 years, he's perfectly placed to educate and inspire agencies and advertisers to do more with mobile. There's a high degree of interest in the medium, so I'm sure Jon will be in great demand!"
Jonathan Mew, head of mobile at the Internet Advertising Bureau, said: “I’m delighted to join the IAB at such an exciting time. There is a real hunger and high expectation for mobile advertising as no other medium offers the same impact or targeting capabilities. Understanding amongst advertisers and agencies is still relatively low, and I’ll be working with them to change that.”
Shan Henderson, head of mobile advertising at Vodafone UK said: “We’re really pleased Jon has joined the IAB. His experience will be invaluable in moving the industry forward and ensuring we will be best placed to meet the needs of advertisers and agencies.”
Last week, the IAB revealed the results from their first research study into the mobile advertising industry, which found that the medium is set to become a mainstay of UK marketing plans over the next two years despite a current disconnect between usage and understanding of the medium. The IAB’s Mobile Council surveyed 115 agencies, media planners, creatives and advertisers and found that 62 per cent of respondents foresee mobile spend will grow over the next two years, with the medium becoming a standard feature of budgets by 2010.
For more information about this press release please contact Amy Kean senior marketing and PR manager, IAB, 07739372042.
