HALIFAX — Kids and family entertainment company WildBrain announced today three high-level executive appointments.
Damon Berger (above) is joining the company in the newly created position of chief marketing officer (CMO). Stephanie Betts (below left) has been promoted to chief content officer (CCO), and Deirdre Brennan (below right) has been promoted to chief operating officer (COO).
Berger reports to WildBrain CEO Eric Ellenbogen, while Betts and Brennan report to WildBrain president Josh Scherba.
“In the role of CMO, Berger will drive new business and revenue through opportunities in media sales, social commerce and digital marketing. He will be developing best-in-class partnerships and client services that leverage WildBrain’s extensive portfolio of capabilities, assets and IP, as well as the Company’s international leadership position in the kids’ and family entertainment space,” reads a press release.
With an initial focus on the company’s YouTube-based AVOD business, WildBrain Spark, “Berger will build and lead an international team of digital marketing specialists, working with groups across the global WildBrain organization to identify and exploit new commercial opportunities in the consumer-facing digital space,” the release says.
Before joining WildBrain, Berger held executive positions in marketing and business development at Mattel, Fullscreen, What’s Trending and 20th Century Fox.
In her new role as CCO, Betts will oversee WildBrain’s content slate and will cultivate “an artist-led culture of creativity and talent in both animation and live-action production at WildBrain Studios,” the release says.
Brennan is taking on an expanded role as COO, continuing her oversight of WildBrain’s distribution and television business and integrating WildBrain Spark into this portfolio.
“We have made great strides in the last two years aligning all the parts of our business to respond to the opportunities in the evolving media landscape,” said Ellenbogen, in the press release.
“These executive appointments build on those successes, with Damon joining the team to push into new opportunities and emerging revenue streams in the advertising and direct-to-consumer space; Stephanie bringing her passion for creative excellence to an expanded role at our studio; and Deirdre continuing the important work she’s done integrating our content and distribution operations. There are exciting times ahead for our audiences and investors as we continue to activate our incredible vault of IP.”
With this management realignment, the role of managing director at WildBrain Spark will no longer exist and Jon Gisby is leaving the company.
“We are grateful to Jon for his passion and commitment,” Ellenbogen said. “Under his leadership WildBrain Spark became a leading global distributor of premium kids’ content with gold-standard capabilities in content creation, ad sales, data science and digital brand building. Now is the right time to further integrate these capabilities across the group, and all of Jon’s colleagues join me in wishing him the best.”
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Photos provided by WildBrain.
