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Snakk Media shifts new sales boss into Asia

Monday 19 October 2015, 12:35PM

By Julie Landry

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand, 19 October 2015 – As part of its strategy to accelerate growth in the fast-growing mobile ad market in Southeast Asia, Snakk Media has appointed Katie Birch to the newly created position of Head of Commercial for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Katie will shift from Melbourne to Singapore before the end of year.

Ms Birch joins Snakk following 12 years of direct and agency media sales experience with companies including Southern Cross Austereo, EYE Corp Media, Sensis Digital Media, Mi9 and Big Mobile.

The explosive growth of smartphone users in Southeast Asia has led to increased advertiser demand for mobile creative and advertising technology services, and Snakk expects revenues from this region to be key to its future success.

Group CEO Mark Ryan says: “Katie will lead our sales teams, develop strategic trading partnerships and help us grow share across Australia, New Zealand, and in particular Southeast Asia. She’s got the drive, personality and the rare mobile media experience we need to grow Snakk in a burgeoning regional mobile advertising market.

“This appointment is part of our commitment to shift Snakk’s ‘centre of gravity’ to this region over the next 12-24 months. Our small team in Singapore is currently servicing an enormous Southeast Asian population that is over 25 times the size of Australia and New Zealand. There is a large and untapped opportunity there for Snakk, and the time is right to have Katie’s role based out of these markets.”

Ms Birch says: “I'm excited to be joining Snakk at this stage of their growth. They have a great business in Australia and New Zealand, with fantastic potential in new Asia Pacific markets. I joined Snakk because I am attracted to its innovative mix of mobile ad technology and creativity. Most importantly the team has a real focus on giving brands and agencies the best mobile ad products and services, something which is so important in our very competitive sector. I can tell already it’s going to be quite a ride with Snakk!”

Research recently released by London-based Edison Investment Research indicates that Asia Pacific mobile ad spend is forecast to outpace global trends. The mobile and tablet advertising spend in some Southeast Asian markets is currently about 11% of all money spent on digital advertising. By comparison, the US mobile advertising spend is predicted to surpass desktop for the first time this year and account for more than half of the total digital ad spend for 2015.

Snakk’s Singapore-based headquarters has run campaigns for global brands including Unilever, Visa, Ikea, McDonald’s and Airbnb. These campaigns extended into Asian regions as diverse as Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, India and Macau, as well as venturing into Brazil, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.

Snakk Share Offer open until 30 Oct
Investors wanting to take part in Snakk’s new Share Offer, which opened 12 October and aims to raise up to $NZ2.3m have until 30 October to do so. See www.snakkoffer.com for the Offer Document and more details. View the Edison Investment Research report, a comprehensive 14-page review of Snakk Media, the mobile media landscape and the opportunities ahead, which is also of the opinion that Snakk is potentially trading at a 50% discount to its competitors and peers (research released 8 October 2015).

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact:
Julie Landry, +64 21 895 098, Julie.Landry@snakkmedia.com

For investors enquiries, please contact:
Malcolm Lindeque, Company Secretary, +64 21 464 392, investors@snakkmedia.com
www.snk.co.nz, www.twitter.com/snakkmedia

About Snakk Media Ltd
Mobile advertising technology company Snakk Media offers a full suite of mobile creative, content and technology services, empowering the world's leading brands and agencies to accurately reach and engage with consumers on their mobile devices. The company generates revenue every time it successfully targets and delivers an ad across its networks of mobile websites, apps and games. The ads are targeted to ensure the right audiences see them at the right time and place.

Snakk’s business units include Represent Media, a division that sells mobile ad inventory for premium publishers, and Touch Create, a mobile-first creative agency that complements Snakk’s portfolio of audience-targeting, geo-location and native advertising technologies.

Snakk was one of the first public companies in the world that met the rigorous social and environmental performance standards required to become a certified B Corporation.