Newsworks hires Vanessa Clifford

Mindshare’s head of press Vanessa Clifford is joining Newsworks, stepping into the newly-created role of director of client services and strategy.

Clifford will join Newsworks, which this week relaunched from the Newspaper Marketing Agency, later this year and be responsible for overseeing and developing the organisation’s relationship with media agencies and advertisers.

She has been brought on board by Newsworks CEO Rufus Olins, who is building a new team to drive the organisation forward and present the industry as part of the new media landscape.

Clifford has worked for Mindshare for the past 11 years and MediaVest for five years previously.

Clifford said: “I am delighted to be joining Rufus and the team at Newsworks at such an exciting time for both Newsworks and the newspaper industry as a whole.

“Although still rooted in the paper product newspapers are so much more than the printed word and I believe my experience of leading an agency press team gives me not only an understanding of the news brands but also a broader experience of media strategies and the interaction between platforms and content in a paid, owned and earned (POE) landscape.”

Olins has also appointed new head of digital content Annabel Colley. Her past experience includes working at the BBC for 14 years – spending three years commissioning multi-platform content.

At MediaTel Group’s Future of National Newspapers event this month, Olins talked about the future of Newsworks (which was still the NMA at the time), saying the trade body “needs to run a multi-platform operation and reflect the industry as a whole”.

For more coverage of the event, click here.