VBS hires Five's sales head Jamie West

by Arif Durrani, mediaweek.co.uk 12-May-09, 07:00

LONDON - Viacom Brand Solutions, the sales house for MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, has appointed Five's head of sales, Jamie West, as investment director.

He replaces Ross Belcher, who left Viacom at the beginning of May to become client strategy director at Telegraph Media Group. West will work with Damon Lafford, also an investment director, across advertising and agency trading relationships.

He has responsibility for developing new advertising models across TV, online and mobile, and reports to sales director Mark Swift.

West joined Five in 2002 as head of sales. He started his media career at Yorkshire-Tyne Tees TV and went on to work for the Sci Fi channel at NBC Universal between 1997 and 2000.

Nick Bampton, managing director of Viacom Brand Solutions, said West would strengthen his team as it endeavours to adopt its "progression through recession" strategy, based on creating new advertising models.

West added: "There are very few companies I would leave Five to join, but VBS is renowned as a dynamic and innovative sales team and I couldn't turn this opportunity down."