Two of Acast’s former top executives have left the company to launch Telling, a new UK-based podcast media agency and consultancy with a focus on performance marketing.
Georgie Holt, Acast’s former regional managing director for the Americas, and former US head of sales and brand partnerships Christiana Brenton announced their departure from Acast on Friday last week to pursue this new business.
Holt has been part of the Acast team for three years, working across both UK and US markets, while Brenton joined four years ago, covering the UK, US and Australia. Most recently, the pair led the transformation of the US sales team after moving to New York 18 months ago.
Now, the duo have returned to the UK to launch Telling, with the objective to support US-based direct-to-consumer brands to reach more customers in the UK and Europe, as well as work with new and existing DTC companies in the region to reach their podcast marketing goals.
“With our collective experience in the industry, most recently in the US, Christiana and I see there is a huge opportunity in the UK & European market for exponential growth in performance marketing spend in podcasting due to the exceptional results it achieves for advertisers,” said Holt. “We both love podcasts with their ever evolving
potential and we are here to ensure the long-term success of the industry and the amazing creators, publishers, platforms and companies that make it so special.”
“We have seen through our experience how effective performance marketing is in the US and we understand the reasons why its potential just hasn’t been fulfilled here in the UK,” said Brenton. “We know we can change that. We want to help more brands understand the power of performance and how through the right combination of podcasts, flighting and ad creative, we can drive measurable growth for advertisers.”
Much like Acast CEO Ross Adams, Holt was hired to Acast from the UK media industry before being brought over to grow the company’s US business, and previously served as the executive director of The Stylist Group’s branded content arm Stylist Studios, as well as group publishing director before that, and as publisher for Cosmopolitan at Hearst UK.
Brenton has worked for Acast over the past four years across three of Acast’s key global regions - the UK, US, and Australia - and has held a number of senior roles, including group business director and key account director. Prior to that, Brenton worked at Sydney’s Nova Entertainment for five years with her most recent role there being group sales manager.
Acast US vice president of sales Ricardo Neto will be replacing Brenton following her departure from the company. According to an Acast spokesperson, Tiffany Ashitey, Creator Network director for the US will be acting US MD for the foreseeable future.
