Brennan, founder of Media Native and previously research & strategy director at Thinkbox, will work on behalf of Newsworks in the UK for a minimum of 12 months. He will oversee the main elements of Newsworks’ insight programme, defining the role of newsbrands as a marketing channel in the 21st century.
There are already a number of initiatives in the planning stage and a full programme of projects has been planned for 2014.
Rufus Olins, chief executive of Newsworks, said: “Dave is a rare beast, combining a forensic approach to research and a wonderful ability to unearth and articulate the real story with showmanship and humour. We are greatly looking forward to working with him and I am confident that he will become a key member of the Newsworks team.”
Brennan added: “I am hugely excited to be working with Rufus and the team at Newsworks and looking forward to helping define the role of newsbrands as a dynamic, effective and exciting marketing channel for 21st century advertisers. At Thinkbox, I was fortunate to have been given the opportunity to create an alternative narrative to the ‘TV is dead’ misconception of the time, and I am convinced that newsbrands have reached a similar stage in their evolution, where the evidence points to a revival in fortunes. We now need a way of telling newsbrands’ story through high quality, thought-provoking and relevant insight.”
