London, UK August 24, 2004: Further positioning itself as the preeminent television rights, sales and production house, Octagon CSI announced the appointment of two senior executives today. Australian television executive Michael McKay takes on the role of International Head of Production while industry veteran Stewart Mison assumes the role of Vice President, Brandcasting. The appointments were announced by Chris Guinness, president of Octagon CSI.
McKay will oversee all the company’s production throughout the world, excluding the Americas and is expected to build upon Octagon’s traditional sports production base to include light entertainment and reality style programming. McKay is familiar with reality programming having served as a producer for CBS reality series ‘Amazing Race’ and as executive producer for the innovative docu-reality series ‘Reel Race’ which will shortly air on Discovery Channels International.
McKay created ActiveTV in 1988, which quickly became one of Australia’s most respected production houses. He was a partner in the advertising funded programming agency CSA limited. As part of the appointment, Octagon will acquire McKay’s interests in CSA. He brings extensive experience in advertiser funded programming (AFP), having created several successful series in Australia and elsewhere.
As Vice President, Brandcasting, Mison will build a brandcasting division within CSI, which will speacialise in the creation, development and implementation of AFP initiatives. Mison is expected to offer this programming alternative to existing clients within all the divisions of Octagon as well as to sister agencies within the IPG family.
Mison’s background includes tenure at Trans World International, the television arm of IMG. At TWI, he ran the barter syndication for the 1994 Winter Olympics and worked closely on broadcast issues with the IOC, Nike and Coca-Cola. For the past ten years, Mison has run his own media asset management consultancy, specialising in branded content, AFP, distribution leveraging, barter syndication, licensing and merchandising and tax funding.
‘Octagon always has its finger on the pulse,’ said Guinness. ‘We recognize the intrinsic value of advertising funded programming and believe clients will receive a unique benefit from this service. With their extensive and unmatched experience, both McKay and Mison will play a vital role in our goal to make AFP a significant part of our business.’
Octagon is one of the world’s leading sports and entertainment event marketing companies with global expertise in consulting, athletes & personalities, event management, property representation, marketing solutions, licensing and merchandising, talent procurement and television rights and production. As part of The Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), one of the world’s leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services, Octagon employs more than 1,000 people in 60 offices around the world. For further information please visit: www.octagon.com.
For more information contact:
Director, Worldwide Communications & Marketing
Octagon
1270 Avenue of the Americas, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10020
Tel: 212-841-7026
Email: chris.oneill@octagon.com
Website: www.octagon.com