Eccleshare New CEO At Clear Channel Outdoor
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. has named William Eccleshare, currently CEO of the company’s International division and with major advertising agency leadership experience, as the CEO of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings.
Eccleshare will oversee the two divisions of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings: Clear Channel Outdoor Americas and Clear Channel International, positioning the company to use all its assets on a coordinated global basis, leveraging its full scale, relationships and best practices to provide the most innovative and responsive advertising and marketing programs for its clients.
In addition, Eccleshare will work with advertisers to develop new marketing strategies using Clear Channel’s groundbreaking new Digital Networks across the world. In this new role, Eccleshare will replace the interim Office of the CEO currently in place for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings.
Ron Cooper, CEO of the company’s Americas division, will be leaving the company after assisting with Eccleshare’s transition. Eccleshare will be based in the U.K. for an interim period and will later relocate to New York City.
Eccleshare has been CEO of Clear Channel International since 2009. Prior to joining Clear Channel, he served in leadership roles at a number of major advertising agencies, including as chairman and CEO at BBDO EMEA; chairman of Young and Rubicam/Wunderman EMEA; chairman and CEO of Ammirati Puris Lintas for Northern Europe; global strategic planning director of J. Walter Thompson Worldwide; and CEO, PPGH/JWT Amsterdam. He has also been a partner and leader of the marketing practice at McKinsey & Co..
“William’s experience is the perfect match for the priorities of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings today,” says Bob Pittman, executive chairman, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. Board of Directors, and CEO of CC Media Holdings Inc. “His success in building Clear Channel International and taking it to new levels of success, coupled with his experience developing strong relationships with both clients and agencies and his extensive advertising agency background, means that Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings will be able to serve partners with our full range of assets, including digital; learn from experiences in all areas of the world where we operate; and tap the company’s talent around the globe — enabling us to reinvent how we do business with all of our advertising and marketing partners.
“William successfully grew our International revenue over the last two years as CEO of CCI, and is uniquely qualified to lead our consolidated outdoor business.”
Eccleshare says, “I have seen first-hand the tremendous opportunities available to us in the outdoor marketplace and the value we generate by developing and sharing our expertise. I am looking forward to working with the Clear Channel teams across more than 40 markets across the globe to accelerate our momentum.”
The company also announced that momentum of its Outdoor business continued in 2011 even whilefacing a challenging advertising market. Revenues for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. increased 7.4% and 2.9%, for the full year 2011 and fourth quarter 2011, respectively. Excluding the impact of movements in foreign exchange rates, revenues rose 4.2% and 2.4% for the full year 2011 and fourth quarter 2011, respectively.
The company will be reporting its full financial results on February 21, 2012.
Through its billboards, street furniture displays, transit displays, and other out-of-home advertising displays, Clear Channel Outdoor reaches over 141 million adults each month in the U.S. and an additional 374 million internationally, with close to one million displays in over 40 countries across five continents, including 49 of the 50 largest markets in the United States Among its offerings is a growing digital platform including over 750 digital displays across 37 U.S. markets.
Clear Channel International operates in 30 countries across Asia, Australia and Europe in a wide variety of formats and operates over 3,500 municipal advertising contracts worldwide.
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