Weve appoints LivingSocial’s Nigel Clarkson as commercial director

Previously director of sales and marketing across LivingSocial’s 130-strong UK and Ireland team, Clarkson will take up his new role in November, reporting to Weve CEO David Sear.

Part of his responsibilities will include bridging the gap between the amount of time consumers spend on their mobile phones and the amount of budget advertisers allocate to mobile experiences.

He said: “Many demographics now spend significantly more time with mobile than any other media, whether interacting, consuming or spending. Our challenge is to convert the time spent to ad budgets spent.

"We are seeing that behavior is shifting away from fixed locations, so the ability to target the right people wherever they are, and whenever they are in a purchasing mind-set or location, using Weve’s massive insight, is very exciting from an advertising and marketing point of view.”

Sear said: “We are a turbo-charged start-up, which means the ability to think quickly, recruit and train the right staff and focus on key goals are key qualities we were looking for in this role. Nigel arrives at Weve with all these qualities and is also has a great reputation in media sales and is renowned for being a team player and leader.

"I also want to publicly thank Alison for her incredible work and commitment and for the significant commercial foundations she has put in place and that Nigel can now build on.”

The appointment follows a string of new hires this summer, including former Microsoft group creative media strategist Nigel Kwan, who heads up Weve’s creative solutions.

Meanwhile, former Vevo account director John Longhurst as a group head, and Will Dorling and Lauren Dick as agency managers from The Guardian and Vibrant Media respectively. It also appointed Kerry food’s new partnerships manager for retail and FMCG Stuart Hefner.

Weve, which launched earlier this year, has a combined opt-in customer database of more than 17 million.

Since launch, it has partnered with hundreds of brands, including Heineken which signed a £500,000 deal to work with Starcom MediaVest to explore opportunities using the platform.

Weve is also trialling "one-tap" loyalty services with retailers via near-field communications technology.

Alison Reay plans to return to focusing on her own consultancy, which will include some project work with Weve.