Bloomberg Media Hires Colm Murphy as Global Head of Strategy

The former CSO of The&Partnership brings his agency ties to the publisher

Bloomberg Media announced in an internal memo this morning that it has hired Colm Murphy as its new global head of strategy, a role that takes effect next Monday.

Murphy comes to Bloomberg Media from The&Partnership and its sister media agency, m/SIX, where he served as chief strategy officer. He is filling a position that has been vacant for a year, after former global head of strategy Anne Kawalerski was promoted to the role of global chief marketing officer. 

In his new role, ​​Colm will report to Kawalerski and work closely with stakeholders in sales, marketing, data science, insights, Bloomberg Media Studios and the publisher’s events divisions.

“Colm shares in Bloomberg Media’s understanding that the most effective solutions sit at the nexus of data insight, close client relationships, creative problem solving and innovation and sees our data driven, consultative approach with clients as a key differentiator in the media landscape,” Kawalerski wrote in the memo.

Prior to his tenure at The&Partnership, Colm worked as the CSO at McCann NY and was the head of strategy at Droga5 New York. He began his career in London working for JWT, now ​​Wunderman Thompson.

In his 15 years working with brands, Colm has helped build business for clients including JP Morgan Chase, Rolex, Mailchimp, Under Armour, Nestlé, Mondelēz, The Wall Street Journal and others.

Colm will no doubt use his agency connections to strengthen Bloomberg Media’s advertising business, which is on track to record its strongest year ever, according to an internal memo from the publisher.

In 2021, global advertising and events revenue grew by 73%, including a 47% lift in core advertising. Meanwhile, digital advertising revenue has risen 59%, TV advertising 30%, radio advertising 35% and print advertising 28%.

In an internal email, Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith said the publisher was on track to deliver its highest-earning year in company history.

“The story of the first half makes it clear that we’re not just outpacing a tough early pandemic Q2 of 2020 but also the pre-pandemic Q1 of last year, as well as our record-setting revenue in 2019,” Smith wrote. “When compared to 2019, our first half ad revenue is up by 30%. These numbers set an important new high water mark for Bloomberg Media’s global revenue.”

With the momentum of a record-setting year behind it, Colm will inherit a digital advertising business operating at its peak. Combined with Colm’s agency connections, the Bloomberg ad sales department stands primed for future success.