Objective: To help identify/hire key sales/marketing personnel for a magazine/digital brand that was relocating its commercial operation to New York City; meet the specific/unique corporate cultural spec; consult/provide direction for new organizational chart and integrated sales/marketing team
Background: Soon after being installed as the President of The Atlantic Consumer Media Group, Justin Smith decided to move from a centralized sales/marketing team based in Washington DC to a decentralized sales/marketing team – relocating the commercial division of The Atlantic to New York City. Only 2 of the 20 sales/marketing positions based in DC decided to stay on after this transition. As such, not only did Justin need to hire 18 new employees, he also needed to fill key positions within the organization – quickly. Justin retained our services to help him find the following key members of his management team: Publisher, Associate Publisher/Sales, Associate Publisher/Marketing and National Digital Sales Director. Justin also wanted us to help him find star talent with name recognition which would, in turn, give his division industry “buzz” – helping to make it the “most desired media company to work for in magazine/digital publishing arena.”
As Justin was essentially building his team from scratch, he sought Mercury Group’s counsel on how to organize the sales/marketing force around the country. Mercury Group was also consulted on how the print and digital properties should be organized: integrated or separately. In drawing upon 30+ years of sales and sales/management experience, Mercury Group was able to provide both empirical and in-market feedback. All recommendations were adopted – particularly Mercury Group’s belief in developing an integrated sales team.
Results: While each position had their own particular need/spec, the cultural criteria and expectations were the same for all the hires: passion/understanding for The Atlantic, possess an intellectually curiosity and all employees must have a “spirit of generosity” – ie – being good to fellow employees. Beginning with the Publisher search – in which to quote Justin – was “the prefect hire, one I couldn’t have found and recruited without Mercury Group”, we completed the remaining searches quickly and efficiently. The team we put in place has been called the “dream team” – a group of people building upon a unique culture – helping to make our client’s division one of the most respected places to work In the magazine/publishing arena.
“In relocating The Atlantic’s commercial operations to NYC, we had to rebuild an integrated sales and marketing team from scratch. The Mercury Group consulted on everything from the organization chart to divisions of responsibilities to the identification and recruitment of top-tier talent. Due to their invaluable expertise and counsel, we assembled one of the best teams in publishing.”
- Justin B. Smith, President, Atlantic Consumer Media, Atlantic Media Company
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