News

5 May 2008

ENDEMOL SET FOR EXPANSION IN BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT

Endemol Group today announced the appointment of Marco Di Gioacchino to the newly created role of Executive Director, Branded Entertainment.

Marco will work with Endemol's operating companies around the world in partnering leading brands with the Group's entertainment properties.

The move represents the start of a global initiative by Endemol to significantly expand its advertiser related business activities. This follows successes in major territories such as the UK, the USA and in Europe where Endemol has already established itself as a market leader in branded entertainment.

Recent credits in this area include Orange Playlist for ITV1 and Vodafone Live Music Awards for Channel 4 in the UK; Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, sponsored by Sears, for ABC and Band in a Bubble, sponsored by Dr. Pepper, for MTV in the USA; and Life and Cooking with Unilever for RTL4 in the Netherlands.

Marco Bassetti, Chief Operating Officer of Endemol Group comments: "Branded content is an area where we see a fast growing number of opportunities in key markets around the world. Marco has an impressive track record of working with leading brands and I'm delighted to have him joining us."

Marco Di Gioacchino adds: "The market for branded content looks set to grow significantly as part of the changing landscape of the broadcasting and advertising industries. Endemol has already strongly positioned itself to lead the way in this area and I'm very much looking forward to building on that."

Marco was formerly at Publitalia, the leading TV advertising company within Mediaset group where as New Media Marketing Director he provided big advertisers and media agencies with integrated communication solutions for on and off-line media.

Before that he worked as a management consultant at Deloitte and Touche where he was engaged in a wide range of marketing projects for the consumer products industry.

In his new position as Executive Director, Branded Entertainment Marco will be based in Endemol's offices in London.