INMOBI TAKES ON GOOGLE WITH AUSTRALIAN LAUNCH
INMOBI TAKES ON GOOGLE WITH AUSTRALIAN LAUNCH
InMobi hires top notch talent to expand local presence
6 February 2012 l Sydney
Naveen Tewari, CEO of the world’s largest independent mobile advertising network, InMobi, has announced the company’s challenge to Google in Australia with its aggressive expansion plans for the burgeoning local mobile advertising market.
InMobi is already serving one billion impressions every quarter to Australians through existing relationships with global publishers such as Rovio (Angry Birds) and Outfit 7 (Talking Tom). Globally, InMobi serves more than 70 billion mobile ad impressions a month.
The move into the Australia market is off the back of a major capital investment of $US200 million from the largest telecommunications and media conglomerate in the Asia Pacific region, Softbank.
Tewari announced 13 new appointments in Australia, including Francisco Cordero as Manager and Regional Director – Australia and New Zealand.
“Australia is a key market for InMobi and we have made a major commitment by hiring a seriously high-powered executive team,” Tewari said.
“Francisco is exactly the kind of energetic and experienced leader to rapidly expand our presence here. He will be heading up a senior team of experienced thought leaders in the mobile space,” he said.
Significantly, Cordero will also be leading a first wave of engagement with industry leaders as the founding member and acting Co-chair of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) to spearhead the formation of an Australian Local Council. The MMA is a 700-member, not-for-profit global organisation with a remit to establish mobile as an indispensible part of the marketing mix.
Cordero comes to InMobi from Groupon where he was responsible for building the Australian and New Zealand operation. He has a wealth of digital experience working with companies such as AOL, Bebo, Yahoo!7, ninemsn, and Lycos UK.
Other senior hires for the Australian launch include Marc Fine, formerly of Optus, as Head of Marketing; Jeremy Pell, formerly of ACP as Group Sales Manager; Brendan Watmore, formerly of Ninemsn, as Head of Strategy; Richard Knott from Optus as Head of Business Development; and NZ Head of Sales Mark Copplestone formerly of Groupon and TVNZ.
InMobi is also set to launch a Melbourne office in the coming weeks.
“We have recruited some of the best digital thinkers in the Australian industry to help us become as big a force here as we are in global mobile advertising,” Cordero said.
Australia has one of the highest smartphone penetration levels in the world making up 65% of the Australian mobile phone market. Standard and affordable data plans from Australian telcos are also driving up mobile web browsing rates, making mobile advertising an increasingly important way to reach consumers.