Jungle Creations secures LadBible's Harley Johnson as head of new business
Jungle Creations has appointed Harley Johnson as head of new business from viral rival LadBible.
Jungle Creations secures LadBible's Harley Johnson as head of new business
Johnson comes into the London HQ to replace Will Hamnett, who left to operate Jungle's commercial strategy in the US and attract some of the world's largest brands.
New hire Johnson will lead the UK commercial strategy, and will build upon existing partnerships with Baileys, Hasbro and The National Lottery. He will look to entice brands into long-term partnerships and funnel them towards the output of Jungle's full service creative agency, The Wild.
Johnson has previously held partnership roles at LadBible and finished there working across the gaming verticals on accounts from Diageo (Smirnoff), Unilever (Lynx) and Three - including the launch of branded channel 'Relaxing Stuff'. Before that he held positions at D&AD.
Jamie Bolding, founder and chief executive of Jungle Creations, said: “He brings with him a wealth of experience within the space we operate and will be instrumental in helping us build on the success we’re having with clients and brand partnerships thus far.”
Johnson added: “I am heavily focused on creating brand partnerships that generate real-world impact, that genuinely affect youth culture and the causes our audience and those beyond it, truly care about. I can’t wait to get started.”
Recently, Jungle was in talks with influencer marketing agency Goat to explore a merger. The Drum understands those talks have stalled.
When Unilad went into administration and to market, ultimately to be bought out by LadBible, Goat and Jungle were both reportedly in the running for the publisher.
Jungle Creations is the owner of viral social media verticals like VT and food channel Twisted and also runs six London food delivery kitchens. The company boasts 110 million followers across all of its verticals. Additional channels include Four Nine (female facing), Level Fitness, World Unknown (travel and adventure), and Craft Factory (craft).
It is experimenting with e-commerce and personalised products to further monetise its audience.