What have Ford, Starbucks and MTV got in common? Spotify has struck partnerships with all of them with the aim of extending the reach of the music streaming service. And driving each deal is Jorge Espinel, previously the head of 21st Century Fox and News Corp’s digital strategy, who joined Spotify in 2014 as head of global business development.
He was also instrumental in hooking up Spotify with Facebook’s new music feature Music Stories that lets users sample the music shared into a Facebook feed.
Espinel is attending IBC2016 perhaps on the lookout for new broadcaster partners. He will participate as a panelist in the session ‘The Evolution of the Consumer Experience: Portability and discovery’ (9 September, 09:30, Room E102) in which the on-demand, two way and multi-screen consumer experience will be analysed.
The ability to drive growth and galvanise organisations around a brand purpose is something Kerris Bright, CMO at Virgin Media, has focused razor-sharp attention on throughout her career. However, she was not always a marketer. She was once a scientist and has a PhD in molecular neuroscience – not a typical background for a CMO.
She’s on the panel too, along with Haydn Jones, account MD, Fujitsu UK and Ireland. According to Jones, the average consumer now spends less time watching traditional broadcast TV but more and more time watching content online.
“The modern audience now watches content on their phone while they commute, or while sunbathing on the beach, on their tablet in bed. In short, they watch it however, whenever and wherever they want,” he says.
They are joined by James Currell, COO, Viacom International Media Networks for UK, Australia, Russia and Eastern Europe. Currell played a leading role in Viacom’s acquisition of Channel 5 Broadcasting in September 2014 and, subsequently, the negotiation of an extended five-year affiliate and advertising sales partnership with Sky.
