New UK magazine marketing agency to launch in March

Magnetic, the new marketing agency for magazine media in the UK, has announced it will officially open its doors in March.

Cranmer (pictured), former global executive director at Dentsu Aegis Group, will be its first chairman.

Magnetic draws together the UK’s largest consumer magazine businesses in a collaboration which aims to help agencies and advertisers gain more value from the changing media opportunities that magazine brands present. 

Magnetic, previously known as Project Orange, will explore the evolving role that magazine content plays and its influence on consumer behaviour.

Cranmer is Magnetic’s first official appointment following the announcement of Sue Todd as chief executive last year. He brings more than 35 years of advertising experience to the marketing agency including senior global leadership roles at Publicis and WPP groups. Cranmer most recently spent five years as global executive director at Dentsu Aegis Group, where he was responsible for the global roll out of the iProspect and Amnet businesses and acted as CEO/chairman of the Isobar digital agency network.

Cranmer said: “I’m delighted to be part of this exciting new industry initiative. Magazines play a unique role in people’s lives, audiences are growing and content and format options continue to diversify. Our role is to convey the compelling effectiveness of this audience relationship in today’s dynamic media market. There is much to be optimistic about for magazines as quality content increasingly becomes the decisive battleground for attention. We have a wonderful story to tell.”  

Magnetic has also announced the appointment of Jo Tomlin as communications director. Tomlin joins from her role at MediaTel, having previously held marketing and communication positions at Yahoo, AOL, Time Out and Outfront Media.

Sue Todd, chief executive of Magnetic, said: “Mark and Jo bring to Magnetic a brilliant combination of customer and consumer insight alongside deep commercial and marketing experience. They are both, of course, incredibly talented and vastly knowledgeable and this, combined with their passion for the magazine industry, is exactly what Magnetic needs. As a team, we’re looking forward to working in a new way with advertisers to show the return that can be gained by investing in some of the most trusted and valued content spaces in UK advertising.”

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