Melissa Hopkins has spoken publicly for the first time since being made redundant as Seven West Media’s chief marketing and audience officer.
Hopkins was one of three big-name departures announced by the network on Wednesday, which also included chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette and Seven Melbourne’s head of sport and managing director Lewis Martin.
In a statement given exclusively to Mumbrella on Thursday, Hopkins said she is proud of the work she has done with the group since joining in December 2022 from Optus.
“I am proud of my contribution over the past 15 months at Seven, the connections I have built, initiatives led and the external perspectives I have been able to provide as Seven firmly shapes itself as a digital first business,” she said.
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“I leave with respect, my head high and excited to see how Jeff and the team look to drive sustainable change in the category.”
Under a new operating model, SWM will have three divisions: Television, Digital and Western Australia, “designed to deliver on the strategy that includes optimising its television business and delivering on the digital future”.
As part of the changes, Seven said that “a number of redundancies and other cost actions are being taken”, on the back of up to 150 jobs reportedly cut.
It’s since been reported that Seven is looking to axe $100 million in costs on the back of a tough advertising landscape and the end of its multi-million dollar news media deal with Meta.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Seven CEO Jeff Howard paid respect to Hopkins on her departure.
“Melissa made a significant difference to the way Seven takes itself to market and how we talk to both viewers and advertisers,” he said.
In 15 months, she built a new marketing and creative team, led key marketing and brand initiatives and helped refocus Seven as a digital first business.”
On a new episode of the Mumbrellacast, editor Neil Griffiths and publisher Adam Lang discussed the major announcement just hours after it was made, noting the string of controversies that has plagued the network lately, including the sacking of crime reporter and occasional newsreader, Robert Ovadia, just last week.
Listen to the full episode here.
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