Former Googler Penry Price Is LinkedIn’s New Ad Sales Chief
Posted in: Uncategorized
Penry Price — a former top sales executive at Google who left two years ago to helm the ad-targeting firm Media6Degrees (recently renamed Dstillery) — has been tapped to lead ad sales for LinkedIn.
Mr. Price will step into the role of VP-global sales for LinkedIn’s marketing solutions business. Sales from that division composed 24% of LinkedIn’s revenue in the second quarter, but advertising is considered to be a growing area of focus for the company, which makes most of its money on tools for recruiters.
The hire of Mr. Price in an equivalent role to the one held by Facebook’s Carolyn Everson and Twitter’s Adam Bain is a signal to brands and agencies that LinkedIn has serious ambitions for its ad business, which had already become apparent through its new positioning as a content-marketing platform. Earlier this year, it introduced sponsored updates, its version of native ads that appear in users’ news feeds. It’s busily pitching them to marketers who are intrigued by the proliferation of content on the platform, which includes contributed pieces by the likes of Bill Gates and Richard Branson and business headlines served in the “LinkedIn Today” module at the top of the home page.
Post a Comment