Rufus Olins, chief executive of the newspaper marketing body Newsworks, has resigned to take up a new role at the Co-operative Group in the autumn. Vanessa Clifford, his deputy, will take over as interim CEO.
Olins is joining the executive board of the Co-op, the food retail and financial services group, as chief membership officer. He will be responsible for the development and communication of the membership offer to its eight million members.
Olins relaunched the Newspaper Marketing Agency as Newsworks in 2012 and is credited with introducing the word ‘newsbrands’ to reflect the multi-platform nature of today’s publishing industry.
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Under his leadership, the company has also established annual industry events including its Shift conference in London and Manchester, created a number of national advertising campaigns and introduced a programme of insight studies.
Collaborative industry-wide projects have also been put in place during Olins’ tenure, most notably the Publishers Advertising Transaction System (PATS) and Publishers Audience Measurement Company (PAMCo).
“It’s been a wonderful journey,” Olins said. “I have huge respect and affection for my team at Newsworks and an undiminished belief in the important role played by the UK’s press. Now I have been offered an extraordinary new opportunity, which I have found impossible to resist.”
James Wildman, chief revenue officer at Trinity Mirror and a Newsworks board member, added: “During his successful tenure, Rufus has led Newsworks with integrity and focus and has driven a collaborative agenda among the UK’s leading publishers. We are grateful for his contribution and wish him well in his next challenge.”
Vanessa Clifford said she will now build on the effectiveness work recently carried out by Newsworks and continue to champion newsbrands for both advertisers and society as a whole.
