Octopus advertising and marketing and publicity restructure as Grindon and Brown step up
Posted on August 9, 2021 by Heloise wood
Octopus Publishing Group has announced promotions and a reorganization of its advertising and marketing departments, with both Matt Grindon and Megan Brown …
Octopus Publishing Group has announced promotions and restructuring of its advertising and marketing departments, with both Matt Grindon and Megan Brown moving up to senior positions.
The department will now consist of three hubs – marketing, advertising and campaigns – to “reflect the technical skills within the team” and have increased ambition beyond individual title campaigns, the editor said.
Grindon will be promoted to Marketing Director while Megan will become Campaign Manager within the restructured department. Both continue to report to the director of corporate advertising and marketing, Caroline Brown.
Octopus launched its joint advertising and marketing team in 2014 to reflect its “360-degree approach to campaigns with a dedicated communications team of two people working on each title,” the publisher said. “This holistic campaign approach remains at the heart of Octopus’ advertising and marketing, but is now reinforced with an additional focus on growth in content creation, communities, direct-to-consumer activities and brand partnerships across the list.
Projects include the most recent collaboration between Nourish & Inspire x AllBright, which featured a week-long series of wellbeing and self-development writers from all Octopus imprints, and the upcoming Cookbook Confidential and Fane series of virtual cookalongs kicking off this fall . ”
On the marketing team, Grindon (pictured right), who recently won a BMS Award for his work on Florence Givens Women Don’t Owe You Pretty, will continue to focus on digital marketing, consumer insights, content creation and direct-to-consumer activities . Campaign manager Charlotte Sanders reporting to Grindon will also focus on social media, data analysis and platform development.
On the advertising side, PPC Award-winning Assistant Advertising Director Karen Baker and Senior Publicity Manager Vik Scales will work with Brown to lead ad campaigns for titles that work across all imprints. Major campaigns for the fall include Troy Deeney’s memoirs and cookbooks by Wagamama and Monica Galetti.
In the newly created campaign hub, Brown and Campaign Officer Hazel O’Brien will continue to work on title campaigns, but will also focus on growing Octopus’ dedicated consumer communities, including Cookbook Confidential, as well as their social platforms. This includes activities on their newly launched special website for booksellers and a special Twitter feed for booksellers.
In addition, Rosa Patel strengthens the team as an advertising and marketing assistant and supports all department functions.
Anna Bond, MD at Octopus said, “’It’s a pleasure to see the creative energy in Caroline’s advertising and marketing team. This new structure takes into account the ever-changing needs of our authors, consumers and booksellers and allows us to bring them together to ensure that every book we publish reaches the broadest possible audience. ”
Brown commented, “It’s an incredibly exciting time to be with Octopus. We recently announced the new structure for all of our imprints and now is the perfect time to increase our advertising and marketing ambitions in parallel. We pride ourselves on our 360 degree approach to campaigns and this new structure allows us to expand even further. ”
