O2 UK has appointed a new managing director at Weve, the m-payment joint venture that did not work and so turned itself into a mobile advertising specialist instead.
Nigel Clarkson, who until now has been in charge of Weve’s commercial, marketing and advertising operations within the digital sales division, has now been put in charge of the whole business.
One of his first tasks will be to restructure Weve in order to fully integrate it with new parent O2, which acquired the company in May. The deal saw customers of O2 WiFi, and members of its loyalty scheme, Priority, signed up to receiving Weve ads, providing the operator with a rich new seam of data to mine.
"While the original blueprint for Weve has now changed, the vision of all the things that could and should be possible through mobile advertising will be accelerated" by the O2 deal, said Clarkson.
"With one agile and ambitious owner, we can now offer business customers the benefit of greater scale, with over 30 million opt-ins across all of O2’s digital disciplines," he said.
Weve started life as Project Oscar in June 2011, a joint venture between EE, O2 and Vodafone.
It aimed to make operators the nexus of the m-payment sector by developing mobile wallet and coupon solutions, and by being a platform provider and relationship manager for banks, retailers, payment processors and advertisers.
However, it was February 2014 before Weve made its first payment-related announcements of any significance; at that time it partnered with MasterCard and launched Pouch, a mobile loyalty app.
Indeed, by the time then-CEO David Sear left Weve in June 2014 to join online payment firm Skrill, it was clear that Weve’s future lay in mobile advertising.
Sear’s interim replacement, Tim Hipperson – former CEO of media agency ZenithOptimedia – brought in senior managers with media and advertising backgrounds to help remodel Weve.
Hipperson’s tenure came to an end with the O2 deal. He will remain in a consulting role until the end of July to help with the transition.
"Tim has done a tremendous job setting up the next phase of Weve’s growth during extremely challenging circumstances," said an O2 spokesman, in an email to Total Telecom.
Meanwhile, new managing director Clarkson will report to Robert Franks, managing director of O2 commerce.
"We see huge potential to accelerate the growth of Weve’s business as part of O2’s digital commerce portfolio," Franks said. "Nigel’s experience, passion and expertise make him the perfect choice to lead the business forward."
